Tips For Lighting Your Tree

Here is a 're-blogged' lighting post from last year's Christmas:

Once I got my trees up and filled out with evergreen garland, it was time to light 'em up!  Read on to see the lights I use and how I give each and every branch attention...

(Click here if you missed the post about using garland to improve the look of an artificial tree)

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First up:  Kitchen Tree

Kitchen Tree Lights

For this tree I used three strands of basic led holiday lights in white.  I really like white lights, and use them for all of my trees.  Because I use so much color on my trees within the ornaments, I feel that colored lights would get a bit too busy.

And as you can see, I like a lot of lights!  I want my trees to glow with 'Christmas magic', so I put on about twice the amount of lights actually needed to cover the tree.  I also wrap each branch individually with the light strands.  I start at the bottom of the tree and run my light strand all the way to the trunk.  Whichever branch is closest will be my starting point and I run the lights all the way down the top of the branch to the end. I then run the lights back toward the trunk again, this time along the underside of the branch.  Once back at the trunk, I hop over to the next branch and continue on the same way until each and every branch has been individually lighted.

I learned to light the tree this way from watching Martha Stewart several years ago.  Martha took it a step further and actually ran an extension cord with several outlets up the trunk of her tree so she could plug the lights right into the trunk.....I haven't gone that crazy.....yet.....:D

It only takes the first two strands of lights to cover this tree in the kitchen, then I use the third one just to add extra light.  I love the fact that during the night at Christmas time, we don't need any lamps.  Just turn on the trees and the house is bright enough all right.  I also like to have the trees on all day if we are home.  It makes the atmosphere so much more 'Christmassy'!

Tip:  If you are able to swing it, have each branch of the tree perfectly covered with your light strand (and it's extender outlet plug) ending exactly at the top.  This makes plugging in the star at the top of the tree so much easier.  Somehow, this always works out on my trees!

Kitchen Tree

All lighted and ready to go, this tree is ready for a whole bunch of sweet treats!

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On to the Dining Room....

Dining Room Tree Lights

In the dining room I first used two strands of strands of simple LED holiday lights in white.  After covering the entire tree in these lights, I then followed up with another set of LED holiday lights (also in white).  The second set of lights features a much larger bulb with decorative notching.

I love layering lights, I think the different sizes and textures give the tree a much bigger personality!

The Dining Room Tree

I took a picture of this tree first with just the simple led lights (left) and then again after layering on the larger fancy lights (right).  The layering of the lights gives the overall look a greater depth and richness.

You can sort of see the difference in lighting ---- I had major issues in getting my camera to properly take a photo of the big led lights.  For some reason it kept blurring the larger lights, no matter what setting I used.  I think I have the settings better figured out now, so the upcoming post with ornament pictures should be a lot better ;)

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And on to the Living Room....

Living Room Tree Lights

The living room tree is my big guy, so it gets a total of five strands of lights.  First I strung three strands of the large led lights (the same way I described earlier) and then followed it with two strands of smaller led lights.  For this tree, both sets of lights feature the pretty notching on the bulbs.

The Living Room Tree

This guy is now ready for ornaments and presents!

Kitchen * Dining Room * Living Room

Now that the trees have been filled out with garland and properly lighted, we can move on to decorating.  Come back soon, I'm working overtime to get all of these holiday posts written and published in time for the season :)

Hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2014