So Becca and I have been wanting to finish off our backyard deck with a little pizazz. Our first idea was to get a pergola, then it was deemed too much, and we wanted something simpler. We liked the idea of a canopy of lightbulbs, so we sprung for some party lights from www.partylights.com.
This was the box that the lights came in. We ordered three sections of 35' and created a triangle shape that converged at the garage (scroll for photos). The website said the lights need support to hold the weight, so we strung stainless steel cables for each length.
Once the cables were up and secure, all you need to do is use zipties to secure the lights to the cable support. It's fairly simple to get them on the line, I suggest getting ones that match the color of your lights.
Here's a close up of a party light bulb socket and the ring that keeps it secure to the support wire.
Each string required some strong supporting hooks on either end.
Once all the lights are clipped on the the wire, we drug them across to confirm length and support strength.
Here all three sets of lights converge, and we had the electrician wire them together and connect them to a switch with a dimmer.
Here I am screwing in 7.5 watt lightbulbs into the lights. This is the fun part.
Mom and Ivy breaking in the lights on the first night.
We like how the tree looks in the glow.
Playing scrabble and listening to podcasts in the backyard.
Testing out the dimmer. It added some extra cost, but we love having control over the amount of light they emit.
