There’s a special kind of magic in the air when holiday lights start appearing around the neighborhood. Many homeowners take pride in creating their own festive displays, spending weekends untangling wires and climbing ladders. While the DIY spirit is admirable, it often leads to common mistakes that can turn a joyful project into a frustrating—and sometimes hazardous—experience. That’s where professional holiday light installers come in, helping you avoid costly errors and achieve a polished, safe result.
At True Sentiment, we’ve seen it all. For over a decade, we’ve helped homeowners across Los Angeles transform their lighting visions into stunning realities. This article will walk you through five common DIY holiday lighting mistakes we frequently encounter and explain how professional holiday light installers can make all the difference. By understanding these pitfalls, you can decide whether to tackle the job yourself or bring in an expert to ensure your home shines brightly and safely all season long.
1. Using the Wrong Lights for the Job
One of the most frequent issues we see is the use of incorrect or poor-quality lights. A homeowner might grab a few boxes of indoor lights from a discount store, not realizing they aren’t built to withstand rain, wind, or the California sun. This mistake not only leads to malfunctioning lights but also poses a serious safety risk.
The DIY Mistake
- Indoor Lights Outdoors: Using lights rated for indoor use outside is a recipe for disaster. They lack the weather-resistant seals needed to protect against moisture, which can cause short circuits and fire hazards.
- Inconsistent Colors and Brightness: Mixing different brands and types of lights often results in a patchy, unprofessional look. One string might have a warm, golden glow while another has a cool, blue-white tint, creating a jarring and uneven display.
- Overlooking Bulb Type: Choosing between incandescent and LED bulbs has a big impact. Incandescent consume more energy and get hot to the touch, while LEDs are energy-efficient and remain cool, making them a safer and more cost-effective option.
The Professional Fix
As professional holiday light installers, we only use commercial-grade, outdoor-rated LED lights. These products are designed for durability and consistent performance. We ensure every bulb in your display matches in color temperature and brightness, creating a cohesive, high-end look. Our team helps you select the right type of lighting to achieve your desired aesthetic, whether it’s classic C9 bulbs for the roofline or elegant mini lights for wrapping trees.
2. Unbalanced and Awkward Design
You have a beautiful vision in your head, but translating it to your home’s exterior is another story. Many DIY installations lack a clear design plan, resulting in a display that feels unbalanced or haphazard. Lights might be clustered in one area while other parts of the house are left dark, or the scale of the decorations might not fit the architecture.
The DIY Mistake
- No Focal Point: Without a central theme or focal point, the eye doesn’t know where to look. The display can feel cluttered and chaotic rather than intentional and elegant.
- Ignoring Architecture: Great lighting design complements a home’s architectural features. A common mistake is stringing lights without considering the lines of the roof, windows, and entryways, which can obscure your home’s best features.
- “More Is More” Mentality: It’s easy to get carried away and overload your home with lights. This can look messy and overwhelming instead of festive and tasteful.
The Professional Fix
Our process starts with a design consultation. We work with you to create a custom lighting plan that highlights your home’s unique character. We map out exactly where lights will go to create balance, symmetry, and visual appeal. By focusing on key features like gables, pillars, and entryways, we design a display that feels integrated and sophisticated. The goal is to create a welcoming scene that enhances your home’s natural beauty.
3. Overloaded Circuits and Unsafe Connections
Electrical safety is the most critical aspect of holiday lighting, yet it’s the one most often overlooked in DIY projects. Plugging too many strands into a single outlet or using multiple frayed extension cords can overload circuits, trip breakers, and create significant fire hazards.
The DIY Mistake
- Daisy-Chaining Cords: Connecting multiple extension cords together can cause voltage drops and overheating, posing a serious fire risk.
- Exceeding Circuit Capacity: Most standard household circuits are rated for 15 or 20 amps. Overloading them with hundreds of lights can easily cause a power outage or, in worse cases, an electrical fire.
- Exposed Connections: Leaving plugs and connections exposed to the elements is dangerous. Rain, sprinklers, and morning dew can seep into connections and cause short circuits.
The Professional Fix
Safety is our top priority. Our experienced installers understand electrical loads and how to distribute them safely across multiple circuits. We use heavy-duty, outdoor-rated extension cords and timers to manage your display efficiently. All connections are properly secured and weatherproofed to prevent moisture damage. We ensure your entire setup is not only beautiful but also fully compliant with safety standards, giving you peace of mind all season long.
4. Damaging Your Property
In the quest to secure lights, it’s easy to cause unintended damage to your home. Using staples, nails, or the wrong type of clips can leave behind permanent holes in your roof, siding, and gutters. Over time, this damage can lead to water intrusion, rot, and costly repairs.
The DIY Mistake
- Puncturing Surfaces: Staple guns and nails are a quick way to hang lights, but they create holes that compromise your home’s protective exterior.
- Incorrect Clips: Using clips that are not designed for your specific surface (like shingle tabs on a metal roof) can cause them to fail, leading to dangling lights and damaged materials.
- Harming Trees and Shrubs: Wrapping trees too tightly or using materials that constrict growth can damage the bark and harm your plants.
The Professional Fix
We use a variety of non-damaging fasteners and clips specifically designed for different surfaces. For rooflines, we use clips that attach to gutters or slide under shingles without the need for nails or screws. For brick and stucco, we can use temporary adhesives or specialized clips that leave no trace. Our team takes great care to protect your property during installation and removal, ensuring your home looks just as good in January as it did in December.
5. The Post-Holiday Takedown and Storage Headache
Putting up the lights is only half the battle. When the holidays are over, you’re faced with the tedious task of taking everything down, untangling the wires, and finding a place to store it all. This often results in a jumbled mess of lights that makes next year’s installation even more difficult.
The DIY Mistake
- Procrastinating Removal: Leaving lights up long after the season ends can cause them to become brittle from sun exposure, shortening their lifespan.
- Improper Storage: Tossing lights into a bin without properly wrapping them leads to a tangled nightmare the following year.
- No System for Organization: Without labeling or a clear storage system, you’ll have to guess which strands go where next season.
The Professional Fix
Our service doesn’t end with installation. We handle the entire process, including timely takedown after the holidays. We carefully remove every light and cord, label them according to your custom design plan, and store them securely in our facility. When next year rolls around, your lights are organized, tested, and ready for a seamless re-installation. This turn-key solution saves you time, stress, and valuable storage space in your garage.
Let the Professionals Light Up Your Holidays
A beautifully lit home is one of the best parts of the holiday season. While a DIY approach can be rewarding, it often comes with frustrations and risks that can take the joy out of the experience. By hiring professional holiday light installers like True Sentiment, you get a stunning, custom design without any of the hazards or hassles.
With over ten years of experience creating dramatic landscape scenes for residential and commercial spaces in Los Angeles, we are your trusted partner for enhancing your outdoor living this holiday season. Let us handle the details so you can focus on what truly matters: making memories with your loved ones.