Photos of our Christmas Lights - Southern California - Toot Your Horn! Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
I haven't posted any pictures of my house lit up with Christmas Lights over the last two seasons that I've been a member of this forum, so I figured now was as good a time as any.
A little about the display: We've always had a pretty good static display on our house. We started animating the lights to music in 2006. We currently have 6 songs in the playlist (I have more songs animated, but don't use them because I'm not 100% happy with them). Everything except for the nine 4.5' mini-trees in the front yard turns 5 different colors (White, Blue, Red, Green, and Multi-Colored). The mega-tree on top of the roof is 28 feet tall (to the top of the Bethlehem Star) which is 5'2" tall (RichardH - Thanks for the idea and the "How-to"!). Lastly, as you can tell, I like to decorate with lots of lights! I mostly use minis as the power consumption is pretty good with them. We also use c9s and c7s. I only have one inflatable Santa and one reindeer (both for our 17mo. old daughter who loves them more than anything else in the display) that both hang out next to the sign on the left side of the yard.
My wife's car is parked in the driveway and is kind of blocking a 48" wreath that hangs over the garage. We get quite a bit of traffic and live on a great street for it. Our neighbors have been fantastic and three of them helped me get the tree up on the roof this year. Lastly, although she doesn't hang any of the lights herself, I ABSOLUTELY COULD NOT do this display without my wife's help and support!
Enjoy!
-Chris
Last edited on Thursday January 10th, 2008 07:02 am by JellyTheory
All I have to say is WOW and do you have pics of how you do your mega tree on the roof?? Your display looks really nice. Hoping to eventually get to that level of awesomeness. lol
____________________ If life gets tough take it on with 100% passion and grit.
Are those seperate colored icycles or are they seperate colored minis strung along the eves to look like icycles?
That's the first question that popped into my mind as well. And yes, Chris, the display is amazing. Two thumbs up!
Thank you for the compliments! To answer some questions:
- Re: The Mega Tree -
I mounted a steel plate to the both the outside of the roof and the inside of the roof to help distribute the centralized weight of the tree and to prevent it from crashing through the roof. Being in a one story house, I'm able to run extra support from directly underneath the tree in the attic to a load bearing wall that goes all the way to the foundation of the house. The center mast of the tree is a 1 1/2" gas pipe (pretty much the same thing as Water pipe from Home Depot) for the bottom 21 feet of the tree and then reduce it down to a 1 1/4" gas pipe for the top 7 feet of the tree. I use a re-inforcing bracket I made to help support the tree at the reducer coupling. I use guy wire to keep the tree in place. The bethelehem star is secured by fence post brackets and 3/8 steel bolts to the top 1/2 of the second water pipe. I will have to look for the memory stick with some day time shots of the tree for you.
- Re: The Icicles -
Yes, they are icicles. 5 different sets consisting of the following colors: White, Blue, Red, Green, and Multi-colored. I have hooks that I set them in on the underside of the eves about an 1" from the bottom. I also run 5 different sets of minis on the shingles around the the top of the roof and then I run the minis on gutter clips attached to the gutter when I get to the front of the roof line. I'll post a few pictures below with the colors seperated so you can get a better idea of what I'm doing.
Thanks to all of you for the inspiration you have given me over the last two seasons!
The sign has a garland around it with twinkling white lights that are suppose to be always lit when the sign is lit. Unfortunately though, they weren't on when I was taking the picture as it had rained and they popping the GFI.
-Chris
Last edited on Friday January 11th, 2008 01:50 am by JellyTheory
Here are some of the pictures I talked about earlier showing the color seperation between the Roof Outline and the Icicles. It really looks better in person.
Note that everything that is green in the first picture, is red in the second picture and vice-versa.
Hope you enjoy them!
-Chris
Last edited on Friday January 11th, 2008 01:48 am by JellyTheory
The icicles look great! I have tried to have 4 different colors everywhere in my display. However, I haven't ever been able to find red or green icicles locally. I have seen them online but the ones I saw were rather pricey.
That is also a very nice effect with the icicles one color while the mini's are another.
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