Christmas lights aren’t for Christmas only. Strands of small lights are surprisingly versatile and work great in DIY home decor projects. When January arrives, instead of putting your lights away, keep them out once the rest of the Christmas decorations are down. Find out ways to add creative illumination to your home’s decor with Christmas light strands.
Create a Bedroom Canopy
With a sheer curtain or some tulle, you can create a number of fabulous bedroom looks with your repurposed Christmas lights. Hang the tulle from a central spot on the ceiling and allow it to drape on either side of the bed. Include a few strands of lights in with the tulle to make a bed that evokes a fairytale land.
You can also create a lighted headboard by evenly spacing strands of lights down the wall behind your bed. Cover the headboard with a sheer curtain for a softer look or let the headboard glow by itself.
Outline a Mirror or Picture Frame
Give your mirror a new look by outlining it with white Christmas lights. The mirror will reflect the lights when they’re on, providing your room with extra light. In your bathroom, the mirror becomes like a twist on Hollywood’s lighted mirrors.
This same idea works well on picture frames. Create a collage of your favorite photos on the wall, then form a rectangle around them with your white Christmas lights.
Illuminate Your Outdoor Space
White outdoor LED lights, like net lights from Christmas Lights Etc., make a wonderful addition to your back garden or your front porch. String them along the ceiling of the porch or across your deck, then turn them on the next time you’re outdoors or during your spring garden parties.
Make a Lantern String
With pingpong balls and a strand of LED Christmas lights, you can make a string of cute round lanterns. This technique works with multicolored lights, white lights, or monochromatic lights.
Get white pingpong balls and use a utility knife to cut a small X shape in each pingpong ball. Push the LED light through the X, and you’ve created a small lantern. These versatile strands look great in many parts of the house depending on what color lights you choose. Make sure the lights you choose are LED lights so the pingpong balls don’t melt from the heat of the bulb.
Craft a Wall Tree
This idea takes planning, but the result is stunning. You’ll need white Christmas lights with dark green wires, so that the wires stand out against a white wall. For dark walls, use lighting with white wires instead.
Next, lightly draw or trace a winter tree pattern on your wall, emphasizing twisting, upright branches. Then, depending on whether you want to make holes in your wall, use light clips, staples, nails, or removable hooks to shape the strands of lights into the tree pattern. For thicker areas of the design, go back and forth with the lights to create the texture of tree bark.
After the New Year’s Day holiday, don’t put away your Christmas lights. Instead of decorating with strands of lights you use only once a year, put them to work throughout the year with these DIY lighting ideas.
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