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How to hang Christmas Lights the easy way!





 

   

 
Rustic & Refined | Christine

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The best way to hang Christmas Lights!

I admit it, I cannot stand when Christmas lights are crooked …..or the wind takes off with them & they need to be re-done. I live south of the Windy City, so anything outside?

Uhh yeah. I have to remember 40 to 50 MPH wind gusts. And asking hubby to spend hours doing this? He’d rather hit his thumb with a hammer, so I had to get creative.
 

 





 

 
This was our first attempt back in 2008 to hang lights outside. Awful, right? I didn’t exactly inspire my neighborhood to sing Christmas carols. I didn’t even want to look at my house….

How to hang Christmas Lights the easy way 1 (Photo - www.rustic-refined.com)

So I spent many hours researching ways to hang Christmas lights. I surfed websites and called Light Companies, I checked everywhere….to no avail. Well, instead of boring you with all the LONG discussions I had with Hubby (my official Christmas Elf and Ultimate Light Hanger) here is what I finally came up and it works beautifully.

How to hang Christmas Lights the easy way 2 (Photo - www.rustic-refined.com)

And you will NOT believe how fast we get them up and back inside on a chilly day!

Below is my inspiration I found…

How to hang Christmas Lights the easy way 3 (Photo - www.rustic-refined.com)

How to hang Christmas Lights the easy way 4 (Photo - www.rustic-refined.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

We use “J Channel“…..with lights inside!

We purchased enough “J Channel” to fit the length of our ranch house and drilled holes in the bottom of it and pushed each icicle into the holes so they hung downward. The longest part of this project was pushing each icicle strand through the holes that are 2″ apart in the bottom of the channel.

To cut and insert the lights inside the channel took a couple of hours and you only have to do this part once!

To hang the channel (with the lights already strung in it) outside? Took less then 30 minutes.

All you have to do next year is grab your lights still inside the channel, ladder and screws and drill and go. If you do not have a garage or basement where you can store/hang a 10 foot long piece of plastic that houses icicle lights, you can always cut the J Channel in smaller more manageable lengths. We stuck with the 10 footers because it is only 5 or 6 pieces total and we use 3 bicycle hooks mounted to the underside of our joists in the basement to hold these lights year round.

How to hang Christmas Lights the easy way 6 (Photo - www.rustic-refined.com)

The “J” channel we found at Home Depot in the Aluminum siding aisle. This is the channel that goes around windows when you have aluminum siding. It’s cheap!!!

For a 10′ or 12 foot piece, we paid $6.00 and we only needed a few pieces to do the front of the house.

Use the slotted holes (already provided by the manufacturer) to mount to your eaves (We used rust proof screws). Inside that channel we drilled holes JUST BIG ENOUGH to push the icicle lights through.

Below are some pics of the lights being stored in our basement hanging from some large J hooks.

 

How to hang Christmas Lights the easy way 7 (Photo - www.rustic-refined.com)

How to hang Christmas Lights the easy way 8 (Photo - www.rustic-refined.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you find this helpful, think of me when you’re done in less then an hour and back inside sipping Hot Cocoa :-)

 

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Read the original post in the Rustic & Refined

 

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