One of the best parts of the post-holiday return to normalcy is, well… the return to normalcy. Putting away the decorations, cleaning up the mess left from the madness, and bringing some order and simplicity to your home should be a satisfying and therapeutic experience. But what if you mourn—even just a little bit—the festive glow from the twinkling lights?
Incorporate some sparkle into your everyday decor; use simple white lights to cozy up a corner or compliment your existing lighting.
1. A combination of twigs, twine, and white lights forms an ethereal canopy bed, from Julie Hope.
2. Cara Lynne from ShShh-Shop on etsy uses white lights in her snug studio, seen in the Open Studio series.
3. Bare bulbs dress up a neutral palette in this series by Jennifer Causey in The Makers Project.
4. A beautiful light canopy makes a cozy place to go to bed, from boho girl.
5. Simple white lights dress up a vintage mirror in Emma Jane Noren's home, featured on design*sponge.
6. Dress up a wall with a cute light garland made from dixie cups; here's a tutorial by the Loveliest Day.
7. Combine blank white canvases and white lights to make a dazzling piece of art, from Apartment Therapy.
8. Enclose your bed in a fairy-inspired lightscape with some sheer fabric and twinkle lights; seen on shine from yahoo.
9. Colorful garland lights add whimsy to a corner; via Tabletonic.
10. A literal "star" shines on the wall of Annaleena in her inspired home.
Images: 1. Julie Hope, via flickr; with permission; 2-4. as linked above; 5. Chloé from caught the light; 6. Jenna McKenzie 7-10. as linked above.
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I love that bed!
Last year I put my Christmas lights up around the big window in my bedroom, but unfortunately one of my cats was obsessed with chewing on the bulbs so I had to take it down. :(
I threw some white lights on top of my cabinets this year, and decided to leave them up when the decorations came down. I tucked them to the back of the cabinets, through, so you only see the glow.
Go ahead and spend a little extra on commercial grade twinkle lights. A better quality base, thicker wires, better insulation. For permanent installations extra bit of investment buys a lot of piece of mind. Even better, commercial grade LED lights, safer for you and good for the environment too.
We put up twinkle lights aruond the flowering tree overhanging our front patio 2 Christmases ago, and haven't taken it down since! It's great for romantic dinners and outdoor parties.
So pretty! I could see myself doing something like the garland, or just the bare bulbs, in my daughter's room. She'd love it.
I love little white lights year-round! I've lined my room divider with them and it adds a little whimsy to my home.
Great post! I love the ones where the lights are hidden behind sheer fabrics. So cheerful and happy!
More practical suggestion - tack them up around the inside of the doorframe in an otherwise unlit closet - works like a charm!
We used to have a canopy of netting over our bed. It started one Christmas my husband, Philip said, "Where did we get all these twinkle lights?" , as he went though the boxes of decorations. "They were on sale last year for a dollar a string, so I bought extra...", I said. He disappeared into the bedroom and finally I went in and here he had all these lights going around the room... LOL :D We eventually got a canopy of netting a draped them over the netting and behind...put them on a dimmer and they were really pretty. Hmm...I'm thinking we need to do something like this again....
Good advice Billy Ruffian, I love twinkle lights and do use them all year, on the porches in summer especially. I bought some very nice LED ones at Ikea for my daughter to use in her dorm to make it festive. They weren't cheap, but if the quality is better I'm glad I splurged.
I'll put away the red babbles and Christmas-y figurines but I still leave the greeneries, white lights, white candles, and silver babbles out pretty much for the rest of winter. Winters are long here and it's nice to have lights and some shiny things around the house.
I've always have a strand of colored LED's near my boys twin beds. They add color to the room year round, and are considered their nightlight. But when Christmas is upon us, they suddenly seem very of the season.
what do you call the lights in photo 8? the ones that hang in long strands from a top wire? i'm trying to source them and i can't think of what to search for!
Silly question---is it really safe to have twinkle lights draped around sheer poly fabric?
I have twinkle lights draped under my white West Elm side table, which works well if you want a little illumination without a lot of direct light.
Our dark New England,winters can be so gloomy, this year we are leaving the white lights up for a while. I also hang a few ornaments around the house to cheer me up.
I like the idea of leaving up twinkle lights in an outdoor patio area. But I can't help but think back to my days in interior design school when my professor cautioned us to make sure we had a nice variety of intimate lighting sources in our interiors, less the end user really screw it up by hanging stringed lights or something. :) Heaven forbid! (For the record, I do have some lights hanging up in my apartment. But I will never tell my professor.)
Here in Portland, the extra lights make a world of difference in winter. Anything to chase away the dark drear! My clear LED lights look only a little tacky but so very festive in vases placed in various corners of the living room.
I wrap old strands into tight balls, plug them end to end and use the light balls to light my fireplace.
I do this! I have a string of slightly nicer white lights strung taut up-and-down between two thin white curtain rods on one wall. It looks like lighted branches, and the light it gives off is really pretty. Inspired by a display at Ikea, weirdly!
bejeweled... I didn't notice them getting too warm at all, but you could try them out separately to see if they get hot over a long time before you put them near fabric. We had them up for years and they never seem harmful. And we are pretty careful about these kinds of things... :)
Sea Glass and Buttons... I like your idea for the light balls in the fireplace ;)
Oh... and we used them outside to line our walkway for our dog who was partially blind. He would walk right along the edge and follow the lights home :) We called them "Buddy's runway lights" :)
Thanks Shalmayan. Your post about lighting your dog's path really warmed my heart. So sweet.