Let There be Light! – Carmen Whitlock

Making Your House Your Home – by Carmen Whitlock, Eleglance Home Decor

This time of year with our focus on Christmas, I’d like to offer a few tips on indoor and outdoor holiday lighting for your festive home. Lighting is an important consideration in making our homes festive, warm, safe and inviting.

For lighting Christmas trees, a good rule of thumb is using 100 lights per foot of tree. I suggest using a plug strip designed for trees and attaching it to the trunk for ease of plugging-in strands of lights. Always keep the plug ends to the center of the tree and weave the strand of lights to the front and back of the branches with a simple wrap around the branch to keep them in place. A small piece of wire works well, too. Be sure to remove those silvery UL tags and don’t allow the cords to dangle as they don’t add to the beauty of your tree. Generally, 3 strands plugged in end-to-end is the maximum for safety.

In addition to trees, staircases, fireplace mantles, ledges and other areas offer great places to decorate with holiday lighting. A garland of greenery, ribbon, beaded strands and ornaments is made more attractive and festive with lighting incorporated. Battery-operated light strands are great for areas without a plug outlet and reduce tripping hazards in walkways. During a remodel or new build, be sure to have these kind of special-use outlets placed where you want them and put them on a switch to make it easier to use them during the holidays.

Whether you choose to go with an elaborate or simple outdoor lighting plan, take your time and clip or stake your lights to create an appealing, orderly appearance. If you are building a new home or remodeling, have your electrician put in specific outdoor plugs just for holiday lighting that can be easily turned on/off by a switch located inside your home or garage.

At Eleglance Home Décor, we are prepared to help you with your lighting design in order to make your house your well-lit home. We wish you a very light and bright Merry Christmas!

Posted December 5, 2013