Make Holiday Lighting A Snap With The Property Brothers' Smart Upgrade

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Holiday lights add so much extra cheer to this season. Since the sun sets by late afternoon in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, that just means more hours for festive lights to illuminate your home's exterior. Hanging lights outside can be quite the chore even in nice weather, but as chilly winter weather arrives, it makes things even trickier. Brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott from the HGTV series Property Brothers have a little hack that makes things easier: leave the lights up all year. It may sound like one of those things that your neighbors secretly hate about your yard, but this is a little different. On an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, the Scotts mentioned that they use LED lights that can be set to any colors they choose (as opposed to standard, old-school Christmas lights) via your smartphone. 

On the show, Drew shared his strategy, humorously posted on Instagram, for flipping from Halloween to Christmas decorations on November 1st (for him, the official start of Christmas), using color-changing LED string lights. This upgrade makes it easy to use one color scheme (all orange, perhaps) for Halloween, then to Christmas or Hann multi-colored strands whenever you're ready. You could even set the lights to all red for Valentine's Day and green for St. Patrick's Day. Color-changing strands of LED lights can even be set to your favorite team's colors (some are pre-programmed) to celebrate winning the big game. With so many potential events or dates to celebrate, it makes hanging holiday lights seem so much more worth the effort, whether that involves hanging them from your gutters, or high up in massive trees in your yard. You won't have to take them down again, unless you want to. 

To deck your house with all-season holiday lights like Property Brother Drew Scott, look for color-changing light strands designated for outdoor use, such as the Hampton Bay 100-light outdoor/indoor garden string lights sold exclusively at Home Depot. Those listed for indoor use only aren't designed to handle moisture and changing weather conditions. Some color-changing exterior lights are labeled as permanent outdoor lights; these look a little different than old-school Christmas light strands and often have adhesive backing to make them easy to install. 

Some, such as FBZ permanent outdoor lights, offer app control, automatic shutoff, and the option to sync your lights to music. If yours are structurally more like the classic holiday light strands, use hot glue as a simple hack to hang those holiday lights with ease; a little dab on the back of each socket allows you to hang them from virtually any surface, no clips needed. There are a couple of caveats. Double-check on the box how many strings can safely be strung together. The Hampton Bay lights allow for five strings for a total of 175 feet on a single plug. If the box says only two strands can be connected, pay attention: Even a third strand can short out the lights. Also, check any HOA and community regulations on outdoor lighting. Some HOAs haven't caught up to the year-round lighting fad, and expect outdoor lighting to be removed by January or February.

Use your color-swappable lights along a fence line, on a porch railing, or even cover entire trees with them, provided you have an outdoor electrical outlet nearby. And if you're looking for a few more celebrity decorating suggestions, add more holiday spirit to your front porch with decor ideas inspired by celebrity homes.