Decorating Guides
Twinkle Lights Keep the Holiday Spirit Year-Round
Hate to take down your outdoor lights after the holidays? Here are 12 great ways to use these festive sparklers inside your home
It’s December, and twinkle lights are on full display along residential streets across the country. Although your neighbors may give you funny looks if you leave your lights up past January, you don’t have to put the sparkling strands back in the dusty attic. Consider this your license to buck tradition and keep the lights glowing all year … on the inside.
1. Warm welcome. Announce an arrival with lights around the door frame. Twinkle lights also work well as nightlights since they give off a warm glow that won’t wake up light sleepers.
2. Enchanting retreat. Twinkle lights are an inexpensive way to define a cozy nook. Magical for grown-ups and kids alike, a haven like this takes precious little to set up. Paint a low section of wall, tack up lights in a tepee formation and start snuggling on a mattress or cushions.
3. Celestial canopy. Twinkle lights in the bedroom deliver the effect of sleeping under the stars. Layering a canopy of sheers underneath softens their light.
4. Brilliant branch. Evergreens aren’t the only kind of trees that deserve to be spruced up with lights. Much like candles, strings of tiny LED lights can’t help but spread romance throughout a room, especially when they emanate from bare branches. There’s a reason why brides and wedding planners favor branches and candles on their tablescapes.
5. Headboard border. Refresh a thrift-store headboard by wrapping it in holiday lights. I challenge you to find any unloved furniture in your home that can’t be made resplendent with this simple hack.
6. High-end ceiling. Twinkling lights aren’t necessarily a DIY proposition, nor are they always a budget option. Here, Swarovski crystals aligned with the zodiac and illuminated by a fiber-optic ceiling kit create a brilliant light feature that mimics starlight.
7. Radiant room divider. For those accustomed to snowy Decembers, admiring falling snowflakes from a well-lit vantage is a heartwarming winter tradition. As wonderful as thick drapery panels are for insulation during the cold-weather months, sometimes a bare window with nothing but holiday lights just feels right.
8. Flickering fireplace. Whether it gets used or not, the fireplace endures as a powerful symbol of hearth and home. But it’s not necessarily the brick or even the mantel that gives fireplaces their power: It’s the warmth and light they imply. Some people recruit candles for the job; others recruit tangles of holiday lights instead.
9. Dazzling mirror. When holiday lights dress up a mirror, their reflection doubles the warm glow.
10. Instant indoor-outdoor style. Wrapping a single beam with lights adds a festive elegance at any time of year. Pair them with a wintry garland for the holidays, or spread fresh flowers across the table for a summery alfresco dining experience indoors.
11. Glittering glass. We think of string lights as a wintertime treat, but they can also evoke fireflies in summer. Whether you see fireflies or glittering diamonds in this humble glass stand, the vignette becomes an unexpected work of art for all seasons.
12. Luminous loft. We don’t often specify bunk beds for our grown-up master bedrooms, so few adults are likely to reap the rewards of having a sitting area like this, with the feeling of a pergola overhead. But I could see kids, college students and those lucky studio dwellers with lofted beds living the dream under the glow of LED string lights.
Tell us: Do you keep twinkle lights up all year? Please show us your display in the Comments.
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Tell us: Do you keep twinkle lights up all year? Please show us your display in the Comments.
More
12 Ways to Light Your Kitchen With LEDs
Hang the Perfect LIght Over Your Holiday Table
