Festoon Light Enchantment

The Versatility of Festoon Lighting

There really is something about light that mesmerises and transforms the human spirit. Tourists chase the bright Aussie sun for its warm, healthy properties. Outdoor barbies roll on longer when soft globes light into the night. It was only natural then, to put this happiness on a string, which these days is famously known as festoon lighting.

Home Décor

Unless your home’s lighting was managed by a designer, you’d have a space somewhere around the house that’s lacking a little ambience. Could be a mantelpiece, a bedroom corner or perhaps your whole verandah. Festoon lighting creates that soft, whimsical look, invites you stay and helps you to use a space much better.

There are ‘plug and play’ strings of lights so all you need to do is wind or secure them to the area and then flick the switch. If it’s an outdoor area, your much safer bet – for longer operation and the absence of ‘festoon droop’ (where the lights sag from their fixed position) – is to have the lights fitted by an expert.

As opposed to fairy lights, festoon lights are easier to maintain. If one bulb goes, it’s easy to switch out the faulty one for a new one without having to replace the entire set.

To give your home that warm lighting effect, Urban Lighting suggests festoon lighting:

• Around the outside porch – front or back
• On bookshelves – for practicality as much as mood lighting
• Draped on a ceiling fitting over the dining table
• In a heart shape (or any other shape if you’re artistically minded) on a bedroom door
• Along a bedhead for reading and a magnificent mood enhancer

Outdoor Lighting

This is really where festoon lighting excels. It makes you want to jump the fence to join a neighbour’s well-lit barbeque!

The most common use is to wrap the entire roof awning with lights and you can choose from various types of bulb designs. Some are the same size as normal bulbs. Some half the size. Some even come as more decorative pieces, in individual cages.

Other outdoor applications include wrapping the lights around a balcony (great for apartment and unit living), along fences and if you have neither, try draping your festoon lighting around a ladder – very bohemian!

Festoon Lighting for Events

Anniversaries & Birthdays

At work or at home, an anniversary is a big occasion that should be suitably celebrated. If you’re DIYing an anniversary or Birthday, welcome the guest of honour with hundreds of festoon lights around the ceiling. It sure beats an eyeball-searing spotlight, and who has room for that anyway?

For the intimate wedding anniversary, you can’t beat a romantic atmosphere of a string of festoon lights leading your partner from the front door to the dining table. It beats rose petals because lights are reusable for the next celebration.

If it’s an outdoor celebration, solar festoon lighting is perfect. Look for the flush style that wraps beautifully around a tree, it creates a beautiful ambient lighting.

Parties/Weddings

Grander occasions demand a more enchanting space. Large parties and weddings are where festoon lighting first burst forth. Under a grand marquee or in a ballroom, you can dance under your very own starry universe of festoon lighting. Drape out from the centre of the ceiling for a big top effect or fix them randomly for that big sky moment without the weather intervening.

For outdoor weddings, festoon lighting has been hung on massive trees for a wondrous photo opportunity with whimsical effect. It’s easy to continue the theme around the garden because festoon lighting is so easy to wrap around bushes and trees.

So we ask: why should Christmas trees get all the festoon fun? Light leads the way for our souls as much as our eyes. It emboldens us and brings us together. To begin your fascination with festoon lighting, or to feed the passion, come and meet the other lovers of light – Urban Lighting – where our incredible array of festoon lighting is waiting to dazzle at our Willoughby and Annandale showrooms.