Christmas tends to get all the credit as the time of year for festive lights, you don’t have to keep every other holiday in the dark. In fact, if you are a major fan of the fall season, you absolutely can brighten up your autumnal décor with some twinkly string lights. Here’s how.
Integrate Lights Into Your Seasonal Decorations
The easiest way to use Christmas lights in fall décor is to weave strings of lights into and around other decorations. For example, if you have a fall wreath to decorate your front door, you can wrap a strand or two of lights around the ring amidst the rest of the décor to add an attractive twinkle. The same goes for garlands you rest on your dining table, mantle or entertainment center; a strand of Christmas lights here gives a little extra umph to your existing décor. You can place lights around pumpkins placed around your home, or you can integrate them into baskets of fall décor, like pinecones or birch twigs.
Perhaps the ultimate rustic fall décor is a light jar, which involves filling a mason jar with Christmas lights. You can collect a number of jars of different sizes and shapes and fill them with strings of lights with slightly different light temperatures to add visual interest to your fall décor in your home.
Attach Fall Accents to Your Christmas Lights
You can hang your Christmas lights anywhere indoors for whimsical and atmospheric illumination, but if you want your lights to say “fall!” you might consider dressing them up in some seasonal trappings. You can find pre-made autumn lights with autumnal accents, or even lights shaped like leaves or acorns, but if you want a more natural look, you might need to get crafty with your Christmas lights. You can alter string lights you already own by hot gluing colorful fall leaves (real or artificial) along the strand or onto every light. You can do the same with other hallmarks of fall, like acorns and pinecones, though it is important to note that these will likely weigh down your lights, requiring them to rest on a table or in a basket instead of hanging or wrapping around architectural features of your home.
Make a Fairy Light Fire Pit
Usually, fall isn’t quite cold enough to warrant a roaring fire, but that doesn’t mean you should deprive yourself of the comforting warm glow. If you have a fireplace in your home, you can place strings of white, orange and red lights inside to give the appearance of a warm fire. You can pile up logs or rocks to give the lights something to wind around, or you can hang the lights on the back of your fireplace for a more orderly look. If you don’t have a fireplace in your home, you can make a similar scene outdoors with a firepit — but you should be careful to use Christmas lights rated for outdoor applications.
Craft a Seasonal Tree and Decorate It
Every year, the appearance of Christmas trees in hardware stores around the country signals the beginning of the winter holiday season, but if you are interested in using a tree to celebrate the fall season, you best be prepared to make it yourself. Fortunately, there are a few ways to make a gorgeous seasonal tree that says fall and twinkles with lights.
First and easiest, you can purchase an artificial Christmas tree and decorate it with fall ornaments. You can find traditional Christmas globe ornaments in colors like orange, red and brown, and you can make garlands of fallen leaves to wrap around the tree. Pre-lit trees are convenient, and if you purchase a tree that allows you to change the color of the integrated lights, you can light your tree in yellow and orange to drive the feeling of the season.
If you are looking for a completely unique autumn tree, you can craft one from scratch. This DIY uses a tomato cage and a garland of fake fall leaves as well as a string of white Christmas lights to produce a gorgeous indoor topiary to celebrate fall.
Your home should be as warm and welcoming in fall as it is during Christmas. Using strings of lights in your fall décor is an easy way to add interest and excitement to the season.
