#String #Lights #Brilliance #Holidays #WorthPoint
Years ago, I walked into a hardware store and asked for string lights for my patio. “What—string lights?” the clerk said. “It’s not Christmas for another six months!”
Fast forward to today, and I’m thrilled that the magic of string lights is now everywhere, in every season, twinkling on landscapes, porches, patios, and backyard sheds.
Maybe it’s the movie scenes in a cozy café lit by the warm glimmer of lights, or perhaps I don’t want the holidays to end, but here in the Midwest, string lights help me endure the cold, dark winter months until spring arrives. And when spring finally comes, my patio, porch, and she shed are decked out in warm light once the sun sets. Even better, since the introduction of energy-saving LED lights, I don’t have to worry about a spike in my energy bill.
The Year the Holidays Went Dark
Why all this abundance of string-light love? Maybe it’s because of the anguish some of us suffered in the early 1970s when holiday lights across the country went dark. I was nine in 1973, impatiently waiting for Thanksgiving to end so we could string the big colorful outdoor holiday lights on our front door and bushes. But on November 25, President Richard Nixon appeared on television. He told us that a nationwide fuel shortage meant we, as good Americans, must turn down our thermostats and turn off our Christmas lights to save fuel. I was among the scores of kids devastated by the holiday darkness.
A November 1973 New York Times story captured the nation’s reaction, from joyful patriotism to utter dismay:
“It is a step occurring with varying degrees of compliance, sincerity, cynicism, and grumbling in villages, cities, and homes these days, the start of the traditional holiday decorating time,” wrote journalist Andrew H. Malcolm that year. “From New York City to Portland, from Houston to Phoenix, and from Los Angeles to Ludlow Falls, store owners, municipal officials, and neighborhood leaders are pitching in to save electricity, just as President Nixon urged in his recent energy conservation plea.”
Malcolm added, “Macy’s, Saks, and Lord & Taylor will not light outdoor decorations in New York City. The Rockefeller Center tree will be on for 25 percent less time with 25 percent fewer bulbs. At the White House, the Nixon family tree will use no lights, just tinsel; the national Christmas tree across the street will have five spotlights instead of 9,000 individual bulbs.”
The motorized Santa and his sleigh never appeared on our neighbor’s roof that year. My beloved colorful candy lights stayed in the box. And that dark time lasted for several holiday seasons after that because few wanted to be the first to turn the lights back on for fear of being labeled “fuelish,” just like the commercials and posters said.
Ushering In Energy Saving Lights
Since the early 1990s, when energy-saving LED lights became widely available to the consumer public, we have been stringing our lights almost anywhere. Before that, the LEDs were reserved only for commercial applications. H.J. Round invented the first LED light in 1907. By the 1970s, laboratory equipment, electronics, televisions, telephones, radios, wrist watches, and calculators used red or blue LED lights. The 1980s ushered in brighter and more energy-efficient lights. Skip to the late 1990s, and colorful holiday LED lights regularly decorated residential homes and businesses. By the early 2000s, the Capitol Christmas Tree and the Rockefeller Center tree lit up using only LED lights.
Decorating with String Lights
Now that we have durable, energy-saving light strands that glow without heat, it’s never been easier or more fun to add romantic brilliance or even vibrant color to your space, indoors or out.
According to Apartment Therapy, string lights are now a solid staple in the interior decorator’s arsenal, “coming in all shapes, sizes, colors, and kinds, from vintage Edison bulbs to round carnival lights to understated twinkling strings.”
Here are a few ideas to get you started on your string light decorating journey.
1. Remember that LED lights come in warm (yellow undertones) or cool (blue undertones). Knowing this will help you determine the look you want. A romantic or cozy setting requires warm lights, according to a movie-making post on Medium.com. “The sparkle of light is a key generic convention for romantic scenes,” wrote blogger Lewis McGregor. “Both metaphorically and visually, it isolates the romantic couple under the stars.”
2. String lights are available in a wide variety of colors and themes. Many strands feature plastic blow mold covers, from Halloween pumpkins to bumblebees and Snoopy, to enhance themed occasions like birthdays, seasonal, or retirement parties. Who could resist hanging parrot lights on the porch for a Jimmy Buffet pre-concert Parrot Head party?
3. Remember string lights in other forms, like rope or net lighting. I attached grid-shaped net lights to four cast iron antique trellises, adding instant coziness to my back porch. They stay up year-round.
4. Use string lights instead of a real fire in a fireplace to get the look without the mess. Weave warm string lights among natural wood logs for a perfect evening ambiance.
5. Weave clear warm lights in your trees and bushes for a year-round fairy-tale glow. Who needs backyard spotlights when you have soft light drifting down from the trees?
6. Have a shed or fencing in your backyard? Create a light ceiling by stretching string lights from the house to trees, sheds, or fencing. I light up my tiny backyard by stringing lights from my house to my garden shed, allowing me just enough of a glow well into the evening.
7. Go mobile with battery-operated string lights. These beauties are perfect for filling decorative vessels like Mason jars and lanterns.
Photo: Lynda Houston
Commercial Lighting Goes Residential
Now that string lights have become a part of the daily décor, new businesses are springing up around it, like OutdoorLights.com, a company that will install permanent roofline lights that change colors with the holidays and become daily ambient lighting in the off-season. “Adjust your home or business aesthetic for any holiday or special occasion,” their website states. “And for those times you want the simple yet stunning warm white lighting you love, simply adjust the light coloring using an easy-to-use app on your phone or tablet.”
With all these lighting ideas, what could they possibly think of next—string lights that dance to the beat of the music? Wait—that’s already in another Blog post!
Between excursions to hunt for antiques and vintage décor, Lynda Houston is busy restoring her 1950s cottage in Cincinnati, Ohio. She and her partner Dave Beck operate TheRustInPeaceShop on Etsy.
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