Is there anything more depressing than taking all your Christmas lights down once the holidays are over every year? Putting lights up is tons of fun, but taking them down is a whole other story.
Well, what if we told you that you don’t necessarily need to pack all your lights up at the end of the holiday season? There are lots of ways that you can decorate with lights to brighten up your home all year round.
If you decide that you’re going to decorate with lights, you shouldn’t just haphazardly throw them up all over the place inside your home. The last thing you want is for your house to look like a frat house.
Instead, you should strategically place them throughout your home to enhance the look and feel of it. Here are some simple string light decoration ideas that will make your home a happier place.
Make Your Fireplace More of a Focal Point
During the holiday season, it’s so easy to make the fireplace in your home a focal point. You can cover it with lights, garland, fake snow, holiday knick-knacks, and, of course, stockings!
But once the holidays are over, there are a lot of homeowners who have a tough time keeping the focus on their fireplaces. Their fireplaces tend to look bare once the stockings get taken down.
This year, why not put everything else away while leaving the lights behind? You can continue to turn your lights on every night to light up your fireplace, even when you’re not using it.
You can also surround the lights with different plants throughout the year to really bring it to life. There are even some homeowners who will stick lights inside their fireplaces during the months they’re not using them to make them glow at night despite the fact that there’s not a fire in them.
Don’t pass up on the chance to make the most of your home’s fireplace all year long. A tasteful string light display can make it feel magical, no matter what time of year it might be.
Construct a Cozy Reading Corner
According to a study conducted in early 2018, about 25 percent of Americans admit that they don’t get around to reading a single book throughout the course of the year. Due in large part to the expansion of technology, it seems as though people just aren’t reading as much as they used to.
Do you fall into this category? If so, one easy way to change that is to put together a cozy reading corner in one of the rooms of your home. You can fill it with seating, pillows, and string lights that will make it look very inviting to those who want to read.
When you take the time to construct a reading corner, it’ll encourage you to read more yourself. You’ll also notice that your kids will suddenly take up a new interest in reading when they can do it while sitting in a special reading corner. They’ll love how comfortable it is, and they’ll be blown away by the beauty of the lights in it.
Add Creative Designs to Blank Walls
Are there blank walls in your home that are just begging you for some attention right now?
You might not be in a position to fill these walls with expensive pieces of art or even modestly-priced wall art. But you can get creative with a few sets of string lights and inject some much-needed life into the walls.
There are some people who will try to do this by simply stringing lights along the top of blank walls. But why go that route when you can string them on the wall itself in all kinds of intricate designs?
You don’t need to be an artist to do it, either. Try stringing your lights in a bunch of different ways to see what might look best. You’re bound to land on something that you love eventually when you try out different designs with string lights.
Customize a Lighted Headboard For Your Kids
Many studies have shown that kids should sleep in bedrooms that are as dark as they can possibly be. Kids’ eyes allow in more light than adults’ eyes, so turning on a nightlight in your child’s room could actually affect their sleep cycle and their quality of sleep.
But if you’ve ever tried to get a child to sleep without a nightlight in their room, you know how difficult it can be. Many kids are scared of the dark and will whine and even cry if you attempt to get them to sleep in a room that’s pitch black.
String lights might provide you with the perfect solution to this problem.
Instead of plugging in a bright nightlight next to your child’s bed, use a small set of string lights to customize a lighted headboard for them. You can use the lights to create something like the moon or stars in the sky.
These lights will let off a gentle light that will produce the same effect as a nightlight. But often times, they won’t be as bright as a nightlight and will allow your child to sleep better at night.
The lights will also add a nice decorative touch to your child’s room. They’ll appreciate you going the extra mile to create a custom headboard for them.
Create a Gorgeous DIY Bed Canopy
Once you hang a lighted headboard up in your child’s room, you might find that you want to incorporate some string lights into your bedroom, too. It’s easy enough to do it if you’re willing to get a little bit creative.
You can create a DIY bed canopy using little more than sheer fabric and some string lights. Hang the fabric up over top of your bed so that it sits right above the area in which you sleep.
Then, place string lights along the edges of the fabric to create a bed canopy that you’ll love. It’ll allow you to relax at night right before you go to sleep and make you feel happier when you wake up to it in the morning.
Dine Underneath the “Stars” During Your Next Dinner Party
Unless you live in a place like California or Florida, eating outside in the wintertime is a definite no-no. It’s way too cold to sit outside under the stars while you eat.
But you can make it feel like you and your guests are eating outside during your next dinner party. Even if it’s freezing cold outside, you can make it seem like you’re dining underneath the stars.
All you need to do is string a few sets of lights over the top of your dining room table and dim your regular lights. It’ll add an ambiance that you wouldn’t get with your regular dining room lighting.
Accent a Few Pieces of Art
If you have pieces of art hanging on the walls of your home that you absolutely love, you should draw as much attention to them as possible.
Some people prefer to do it by hanging a single light over the top of the art. But there are also easy ways to use string lights to accomplish the same effect.
Whether you’re showing off a pricy painting that you bought at an auction or a painting that your 5-year-old did for you, placing string lights around it will give it the attention it deserves.
Light Up Your Patio in the Spring and Summer
As you’ve probably noticed by now, almost all the ideas that we’ve provided you with thus far have shown you how to decorate with lights inside your home. For the most part, you’re going to want to keep your string lights inside in the winter following the holidays.
But once spring and summer roll around, you should also feel free to hang up some of your lights outside your home. Specifically, you can use your holiday lights to light up your patio or another outdoor living area when it gets warm out.
String lights provide just enough light to allow people to see when they’re sitting on your patio. At the same time, they’ll also decorate your patio area and improve the overall look of it.
Don’t hesitate to pull out your Christmas lights in the middle of June or July once you start using your patio on a regular basis. This website has some great options for those who want lights that will work well at any time of the year.
Take the Time to Decorate With Lights Today
You invest a lot of time, money, and energy into buying up a bunch of string lights for the holidays. So what’s the sense in only using them for about a month every year?
Rather than keeping your lights locked up in the basement, you should decorate with lights all year round. You’ll feel happier when you do, and you’ll make your home look its best when you use lights in the right way.
Are you interested in learning some other ways to decorate your home? Read our blog to see how to spruce up any area of your house.
Kath Ramirez
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