How Not To Over-Decorate Your Home During the Holidays
You know the house. Every neighborhood has one. The one with so many lights that it looks more like a spaceship than a festive celebration. Whether some people go hog wild with lights and outdoor decorations because they simply love to show their holiday cheer or they're in an alpha-male competing with their neighbors doesn't matter. The goal, like anything from clothes to makeup, is to look good, without looking cheap, kitsch or trashy. You can become the envy of your neighborhood without going overboard. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Keep it in proportion. If you have a mansion, then a thousand outdoor lights may be the perfect amount to decorate your estate. For the rest of us, a thousand lights screams overkill, as well as a high energy bill. Think of your home as a drawing from a children's book. Color the lines, but not everything in between them.
-
2
Remember, a little goes a long way. Just like hot pepper sauce, there comes a point when putting too much into a sauce ruins it. Same principle applies to lights, knick-knacks and electronic decorations. Too much stuff actually draws your eye away from detail and makes the tableau of your home a noisy blur. Accent your house to draw carolers' eyes to areas you want them to see. Think of jewelry, for example; a small brooch forces the eye to either a neckline or a hint of cleavage. Too much jewelry and the woman underneath is buried. Your home is a showpiece; show off the home, not the lights.
-
-
3
Pick a color scheme. Not every color of the rainbow needs to be used. Multi-colored lights are fine, but if you decide on solid strings of colored lights avoid getting tangled up in blue, yellow, green and red.. Either choose the same color or a couple complementary colors that enhance one another, instead of competing.
-
4
Consider the amount of blinking lights you have. Blinking lights can be fun, but too many of them become distracting, as if dancing in a club. You don't want to trigger seizures from visitors, do you?
-
5
Not everything in the front lawn needs a decoration. Just because it's there doesn't mean it need its own string of lights. Your goal is elegance, not a bomb-in-yard light and motion explosion.
-
6
Remember: whatever you put up, you're going to have to take down, so save yourself some of the hassle down the line. Ask yourself if you really need that 30 foot inflated, glowing, singing snowman.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Be careful when using a ladder, especially on a slippery surface.
Make sure you use lights made for outdoor use.
As with anything electrical, remember safety first!
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
More Like This
Comments
View all 9 Comments-
ahmedb
Dec 14, 2010
how much money did u make? -
Carrie Sansing
Dec 09, 2010
First off, I'm an extreme decorator by most standards. Hundreds of blow molded figures, 30K lights that are all synced to music. What I would genuinely like to know is what your area of expertise is. Are you an interior designer? A landscape architect? Comparing a brooch that highlights a woman's clevage to what can be done to a house is ridiculous. Christmas needs lights, lots of them to brighten the winter darkness and create a celebration. When you go to a fireworks show on the 4th, would you be content with just one skyrocket? Is the finale overkill? I think not. Your article is lame.
-
geyoung
Dec 09, 2010
I think folks need to consider why people decorate to begin with. There certainly many reasons, but many of the over-the-top decorators (some of which I know personally) really go all out not to win a contest, or meet etiquette rules that some decide are appropriate for others, but rather to make lasting memories for the children that visit their displays. I can still remember from my own childhood (which was many years ago) that one over-the-top house. As a parent I know what displays caught my childrens' eyes, as well as the eyes of other children. Bottom line is each to their own. There tends to be too much pressure to conform to what others think is right these days as it is. I applaud those that choose to be creative, answering to their own conscience, and thinking outside of the box.
-
Ben Archer
Dec 09, 2010
Some of you may be forgetting the possibility that this article will be of value to those interested in "how to not over~decorate" their homes during the holidays, not because the article suggests that this is correct or better than going all out, but that it's an option that can obviously be elaborated.
-
toymaker
Dec 09, 2010
What a joke! This article states a thousand light is enough for a mansion? A thousand lights really doesn't go far. I put 1000 lights on each of my bushes! The bushes look nice and evenly lit. I also put another 45000 on the rest of my house which may be overdoing it a little bit but you should decorate for the kids! Just ask any kid and they'll tell you the more lights the better!
