If you are considering adding ambiance lighting to your outdoor space, do it! Lighting can evoke a variety of feelings, usually consisting of warm and fuzzies. I have always had a sense of calm and tranquility from glowing lights at night. While the ones we chose are bigger than a firefly, they remind me of summer nights with bugs lighting up as far as you can see in the evening sky.
Last summer, our back porch ambiance went up quite a bit just by adding a set of string lights.
These lights were easy cause I added a hook to the ceiling + two in the corners and bam, hung.
I knew adding them to our entire backyard would be epic. It seemed like an easy enough project, as so many do. The reality led us down a path of broken glass, and broken dreams.
Our first attempt ended in failure because even a rather light weight string light takes a good bit of effort to hold up in the air at the correct height. The math of having enough support for each section of the lights is what was our ultimate failure. We didn’t have enough posts and were trying to string the lights too far.
Our fence around the pool is built in metal sections. My husband came up with the genius idea of using a 2×2 piece of metal and an additional piece of fencing together to extend sections high into the air.
If you don’t have a fence and are looking for another solution try these poles off Amazon. They stick into the ground and do the same thing.
We used electrical tape, but it still didn’t hold it strong enough. It snapped apart sending the glass lights to the ground and glass flying.
The string light sections themselves need to have a knot tied so the plugs don’t pull apart. Once the knot was tied, we then wrapped it from the base of the cord around to the connecting cord base. in electrical tape to protect from precipitation.
The solution also entailed ensuring the strings had solid support. We added a saddle strap to lock the string light cord onto the poles, in addition to a traditional hook. With more poles to hold the weight, a more secure way to attach the strings together, and also a more secure way to attach it to the pole, the outcome was success!
If you are having trouble check about the weight. It just may need a support closer than it has.
We did not string the lights OVER the pool just in case something failed and it did fall. Nothing is perfect and when it comes to electricity and water you can’t take any chances.
Shop everything you’ll need below to complete this project in your yard.
They say nothing good comes easily in life, and these strings light held true. Worth it, but took a little more brain power than first thought.
A 15 minute quick project turned into an entire day, but it was worth it. The outcome is incredible and has us so excited for summer nights!
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Gorgeous! How many strings of lights did you have to buy?
We had four strings I believe 48’ each