Small, Medium, and Large Christmas Lighting Displays

By Maria Bargelini of DFW Christmas Lights .Com. Your source for Christmas lighting in Dallas

Not sure what you want or what you can afford? Below are some general descriptions of small, medium and large jobs. Prices vary depending on the size of the home. Things like the height of the roof, width of trees, length of paths, the addition of greenery, and difficulty of installation will determine final cost.

Small Jobs (less than $500): Most companies won’t even quote a job this small.  At DFW Christmas Lights we have a separate crew dedicated just to this price range. A typical installation in this price range is usually a one story house that has the roof and windows outlined in C7/9 bulbs, with a timer and greenery (usually supplied by the client). Typically a wreath is hung up at the peak of the roof and garland in hung up at the entryway. A small price tag doesn’t mean you can’t get a great display, you still have plenty of options.

Medium Christmas Lights Display (Avg. $1200-$2000): At this price range you have a lot of options. You can do trees, motifs  or outlines. We’ll help you figure out which display best reflects your personality, theme, or budget. A typical Christmas lighting installation in this range will include outlines of the roof line, sides of house, windows, or pathway. The standard roof height range is usually 25-30 feet tall, where special equipment isn’t necessary.

Large Christmas Lighting Displays (Avg. range 4000-15,000): At this price we can customize a truly spectacular display . We can design magnificent entryways, incorporate lighted greenery and really add sparkle to the season. With so many options our designers can show you different themes, colors, and details to give you several choices as to what your home can look like this season, and in the seasons to come, as you add to your display. We can fully customize a display to be completed now or one that can grow over time as your budget allows. These roofs are usually 40 feet + and require special equipment to install roof lights and greenery.

These are general descriptions, prices vary according to the size of the house and application of the lights. For more information you can call us at 214-257-8155, leave a comment below, or email us Sales@DFWChristmasLigths.Com for details or to send a photo of your home that we can add virtual lights to.

DFW Christmas Lights is owned and operated by Dallas Curb Appeal, A full service Landscape Contractor helping you Love Where You Live.

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By Maria Bargellini of DFW Christmas Lights

The hottest trend in Christmas Lighting is still LED’s, or Light emitting diodes for you techies. The manufacturers continually surprise us with new shapes and sizes and even colors. Below are the Pro’s and Con’s of these energy saving lights.

Pros

• The LED’s don’t get hot–although they will be warm
• LED’s use up to 90% times less energy than their incandescent counterparts. Exact percentages vary by manufacture.
• You can connect 50 LED light strands compared to 6 incandescent strands end to end.
• LED’s can last up to 100,000 hours
• Beautiful vibrant color
• LED’s are more durable because they are made out of plastic. In fact the actual diode is not what you see. It’s the plastic covering the protects it that most people associate with the light.
• They come in a variety of different shapes and sizes to fit your individual taste.
• Because you can run so many you usually don’t have to pay for an electrician to come out and run new outlets

Cons

• They can cost more than 2-3 times more per strand or bulb — making them by far more expensive. With smaller displays the cost of the material is much more than you electrical savings.
• LED diodes (bulbs) cannot be replace in most light sets.
• Newer sets do not flicker but older or cheaper sets will flicker slightly.
• Cool white color isn’t for everyone (warm white is available)
• They haven’t been able to match the yellow glow of incandescents just yet.

You should buy LED’s if:

• You personally prefer the look of them
• You have a large Christmas lighting display
• You plan to use color–they have great color options
• You do not have enough electricity to run Incandescent lights

Who Shouldn’t buy LED’s

• People on a budget–
• Renters –You would have to live in the apartment or house for over a dozen + years to make your money back
• People who are sensitive to the flicker that occurs on cheap or old brands of LED’s. Some people get headaches from looking at them.–Some people don’t even notice.
• People who love that golden glow –you won’t be happy with LED’s
• People who plan to mix the two types of bulbs. The colors are not the same and will be noticeable. It’s a personal preference but I do not like the look of mixed lights.

Keep in mind that average lamp (bulb) life varies by manufacturer and it is just that “an average”. It’s the average lamp life of a bulb in their testing facility in optimum conditions. There’s a reason why they are not guarantied or warrantied by any manufacture that I am aware of.  Most of these bulbs, especially the cheap ones travel thousands of miles to get from point A in Asia somewhere and to point F, which is on your tree or home. In closing, although LED’s use less energy and cost less to run unless you have a large lighting display, like the way they look,  or expect to use them repeatedly for about a dozen years you will not make up the material cost. So if you’re on a budget I would pass. I like the warm white LED’s, not a fan of the cool white–too blue, but I love the colors on their multi and themed lights like candy-cane which is red and white. I hope this article helped you in your decision of whether or not to buy LED’s this season. If you have any questions please leave a comment below or call us at 214-257-8155.

DFW Christmas Lights is owned and operated by Dallas Curb Appeal.Com a full service landscape company helping you Love Where You Live all Year Long.

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Christmas in July Sale

By Maria Bargelini of DFW Christmas Lights .Com. Your source for Christmas lighting in Dallas

Tis the season to book early- fa la la la la …la la la la… It’s almost that time of year again folks..OK  OK OK it’s not almost that time of year for you guys-but it is for me. In July I put the Christmas carols on and start preparing for the season so that we can bring you a Holiday without the hassle.

Book Early and Save!

Why you should book now

• Guarantee: By booking early you are guaranteed to be installed by Thanksgiving and lit by Black Friday, or whenever you choose.

• Payment Installments: Booking early allows you to pay in installments. You’ll have months to spread out your payments instead of paying it at a time when you’re buying all kinds of stuff.

• Save 5-10%: Most people use their savings as an opportunity to add more lights while others chose to keep it in their pockets. Either way if you wait until peak season you will either have less lights or will pay 5-10% more.

• Have More Time: You’ll have more time to decide what you want. We can digitally install different themes on your house allowing you the opportunity to chose instead of having to make a hurried decision when you have precious little time.

• Check it off the list early: During the holiday you’re worrying about food, indoor decor, gifts, guest, etc. Check us off your list early and worry about one less thing.

Maria Bargellini is the President of Dallas Curb Appeal A full service Landscape Contractor offering a full range of services to help you Love Where You Live all year long.

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By Maria Bargellini of DFW Christmas Lights

With Christmas Lights there’s always that eternal question. What to do ..what to do? The fantastic thing about Christmas lights is that you are not married to your display. You can change the colors, the bulb types, the layout. You can add, take away, and change. This short article is about outlining your home. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to do the entire thing. You can do as little or as much as you like–you can even add additional lights over time. Click here to go to see Outlined House samples.

Things to Consider when Outlining

• Height: The taller your roof–the more expensive it is. Anything over 40 feet is going to require the use of special equipment to get up that high. In addition preparation have to made to ensure that the lawn or driveway is protected from any damage.
• Type of roof: If your roof is in obvious need of repair, metal, or has Spanish tile -you may be subject to extra charges for difficulty or due to the required use of equipment.
• Building material: Brick, unpainted siding  and stone surfaces are the best to materials in terms of install. Painted surfaces, such as in the case of trim, window frames, and stucco houses present a bit of a challenge because there is a risk of peeling the paint at removal time.
• Maintenance: Bad weather can knock out incandescent bulbs. If you have a service plan you have nothing to worry about. Every time a bulbs goes out–even if it’s on the tippy top– you simple have to make a call and it will be replaced ASAP. Without a service plan you will still get the same quality service but it will be an additional cost.

Best things to outline

• Roof-lines: By far the most popular selection. This gives your house height, and can really show off the architecture.
• Sides: Adding the sides defines the shape of your house.
• Corners: You can turn the corners at your roof line so that is visible from 2 streets. This is usually done on houses that are on corners.
• Windows: There are no rules, if you want to outline just one, a few, the ones on top, or the ones on bottom you can.
• Entry Ways: You can use garland to go around the door frame or you can use lights. You can even use multiple layers of either to make a bold statement–”Party over here”
• Pathways: There’s no better way for showing the direction to the festivities that lighting your pathway.
• Flower Beds: This one isn’t as common and most people do both the paths and the beds together. But remember no rules. I think they look just as good when they are done alone. They are usually done is a curving pattern that leads the eyes toward the ends of your home adding width.
• The Architecturally interesting: Arches, separations and defined areas can add impact and make your home stand out. You can add lights to railing, columns, pillars, porches etc. Look at your home in a different way. You don’t have to light the same old same old.

DFW Christmas Lights is owned and operated by Dallas Curb Appeal, A full service Landscape Contractor helping you Love Where You Live.

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Have a Hassle Free and Stress Free Holiday

BY Maria Bargellini Holiday Lighting Designer and President of DFW Christmas Lights.

With Christmas Light Design as well as Landscape design it’s best to get an overall picture of what you want your display to look like in the years to come. For instance, let say the design you want cost $2000, but you don’t have that much money to spend right now–no problem. Design the Christmas Lighting display you want now and spend what you can when you can with the overall end result in mind. The likes are cut and spliced according to the lines of your house, making it easy to add new runs.

Here’s a house that we installed in 2008. It was basic and pretty. Lighting the peaks made it look enormous at night. The garland around the door made the entry way feel more inviting. Lighting the pathway really showed their guest which way the party was.

By the next year we added the sides along the entry way, this gave the house as well as the entry way more definition. We chose a few trees in the yard to give it depth and variety. We balanced 2 evergreen shrubs with a triangular shape on one side and outlined a deciduous tree on the right. We even added multi colored strands on 2 small topiaries by the door for a little pop of color.

This coming season we hope to add an outline to the windows as in this virtual Christmas Design to really turn the dial up a notch.  This is a computer generated display of what the house would look like if we outlined the windows and lower awnings. It’s a great tool to use for clients that are more visual and it also helps parents include their children in the process- by letting them help chose the display for the family. Be warned–kids love colored lights- so if you are set on white/clear lights, you might want to have them chose after you received the samples rather than before where they can request pink and purple lights.

DFW Christmas Lights is owned and operated by Dallas Curb Appeal, a full service landscape contractor offering services to help you Love where you live.

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