Let’s just say it out loud, shall we? When it comes to Christmas lights, I’m certifiable.
If you’ve been here before, you know this…heck, half of my posts are about SOME type of lights.
But I outdid myself…not just in “what were you thinking?!” but in the outcome.
In general, I am a mediocre cook and a sub-par house cleaner, so when my kids give me major props they feed the holiday monster in me. This project is A KEEPER!
I’ve been planning to make a magical lighted hallway for Christmas ever since, well, the week after last Christmas. Mr. and I went holiday bargain hunting and visited one of my favorite gift/floral shops…the exquisitely charming Flowers by Nature. (Please check out owner Cheryl’s Gicewicz’s Instagram…her work is beautiful and clearly inspirational!)
Anyway, we went upstairs into the wedding planning area and saw this:
I thought of our back hallway and knew I wanted to try this look at our house. With all the wild grapevines we have around our yard, I had an fair idea of how we’d construct our interpretation.
A few weeks ago, Mr. and I pulled down several vines and twisted them into a long “garland.”
I secured the twisted vines by loosely wrapping a string of Christmas lights around them, then put up small nails along the top of the hallway walls and just started winding and attaching the vines to the nails with paddle wire.
That’s when the name for this project briefly became “Christmas in the Upside Down” (which you will understand if you follow the Stranger Things series.)
This could be me, lol:
But “Christmas in the Upside Down” actually had a purpose…it was the foundation for more vines, and more lights…which I kept adding until I was satisfied with the arrangement and coverage.
And once that happened, I applied clear Command Hooks to the ceiling in spots that would allow all my ornaments to hang freely.
I wanted lots of reflection, so I chose iridescent, mercury-finish, and silver ornaments.
(Sidenote: I bought the large Vickerman finial ornaments for half-off during our Flowers by Nature trip…which they decorated beautifully with layers of lush ribbon. The ornaments are actually plastic and weigh nothing!)
So are you ready to see how “Christmas in the Upside Down” was renamed “Magical Lighted Hallway for Christmas”?
Well, I can’t wait to show you!
As a first-time effort, it probably took about three to four hours to figure out the logistics and get it all installed. Worth it? We think so!
Although we have a front door, EVERYONE uses our back door. I’m really happy that this will be the first impression for guests and holiday visitors….and the plumber, who loved it!
(Our ceilings are nine feet on the first floor, but I think this could be done anywhere if you keep things tighter to the ceiling….I let ours drop down quite a bit.)
Next year, I might just put it up earlier in the fall and deck it out first for Halloween (Hogwarts Great Hall?) and for Thanksgiving. Then it will already be in place for Christmas.
You are a keeper DIL!!!
For a first timer, you could easily skip the grapevine and just go with white wired lights to keep it simple…I did that last year (see pics on Instagram). Use thin nails where the walls meet the ceiling, affix the lights to the nail using thin floral wire. Definitely takes some time to get the hang of it.
I’ll put a video on my IG stories within the week.
Any suggestions for a novice on how to do this? Never decorated a ceiling before but my mother in law saw this and fell in love! I’m the crafty one so she asked if I could do it…. I definitely willing to take on a new challenge!
Magical!!! I love fairy lights, I’m crazy for lights! Your upside down looks so beautiful. I don’t think I would want to take it down. Thank you for posting.
I’m so happy that I ran into your blog! I’ve been looking for inspiration for our hallway. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find all the items that I need but I’m sure gonna try. I’m so excited for this project. What you did looks absolutely magical!! I love it so much!!
Welcome, Raquel! I’m glad you ran into me as well! Thanks for letting me know you were here.
I love this! I was looking for ways to make a branch canopy for over my bed and inside my heavy curtains. I’m painting the ceiling to look like the night sky with glow in the dark stars. This will be perfect! I never thought of using grapevines.
Hi, Amber! I’m just about to start this year’s edition…waiting for the snow to melt to harvest the grapevines.
I had a great add to last year’s set up that would be perfect for your canopy…a dimmer switch. It was nice to be able to lower the brightness of the lights and would be perfect for over a bed.
Also, my daughter got the most amazing star projector for her room. It’s spectacular! You can see it here on my IG projecting in our family room ceiling: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeUHLv3F8f0/?igshid=1l1mngz52soc2
Soooooooo, still checking out your blog. Lady you have great style and can decorate your assets off!!👀👀 I’m going to attempt to try this ceiling decorating, lol, lolololol, I can do it!🙏👀
Hello, again, Shugunna! You visited a post AND stayed for more?! Woohoo! Thank you again for reading and leaving such a lovely comment. Not going to pretend this hallway doesn’t take several hours to do…OR that when I take it down it isn’t a mess or I don’t have to fix nail holes at the top of the walls. BUT…this has become the ONE THING that my family talks about all year. I’ll be doing this forever!
Yes, it looks like hard work but so worth it. I showed my 8 year and she loves it as well. So hopefully I will do a good version. We will see😯
I’ll echo the comments above – love this! It’s giving me ideas for a Christmas party in a large church basement room with less-than-beautiful lights. I did something similar several years ago for my winter wedding, but this is much more elaborate and really fun! I don’t know if I could pull it off just for this dinner, but for a wedding it would be worth it! Thank you for sharing this –
Ooh, I bet your wedding was beautiful. Do you have it Pinned or posted somewhere? Me wants to see!
I’ve done several ceilings for one-nighters. Tons of obscene work, but my ego dined well on the compliments. You just have to decide how crazy you’re willing to make yourself and if it’s worth it. For a wedding? Absolutely!
WOW! Love, love, love! I’ve been looking for a way to add interest in the master bath. This is it! So glad I found you! Thank you so much. A new follower
Hello, Franiq!
Glad you were here and that you enjoyed the post. Master bath, eh? Sounds romantic! (I would, however, make sure everything is very properly secured so romance does not become…well…electrifying.)
Wow! I am in love with this. Look at the sparkles reflecting in the pictures on the wall. Amazing!
🙂 gwingal
Thank you! We’re definitely going to miss it when it comes down. 😢
Wondering if you were able to use it again or if you just have to start with new vines every year.
Great question!
We probably could, bc i’ve taken it outside afterward. I expected it to get brittle, but it’s still surprisingly flexible. Because i need to prune the wild vines, i usually grab new ones.
I dont think you could hang it the same way from year to year, though.
Ditto what Jodie says. And pin this all over Pinterest. I will help get the ball rolling by pinning it myself. Like something out of a fairy tale Christmas. Just gorgeous. Everyone who enters your home this holiday season will be dazzled and delighted.
Thanks, Leslie…we are really enjoying it. I just really love white lights, they’re so enchanting. Your comment is so supportive! Thank you. (I really have to read up on what makes a Pin click… )
OMG, Em!!! This is more than fabulous…this is incredible!!
I think you need to submit this to the home decor magazines, and the DIY websites!!! This is something I totally would do (if I had half the patience and brains that you do!!)
Seriously…I want you to consider spreading the word about this—it’ such a magical look!!
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
That’s so nice of you to say! It was how I spent my B-day (aside from my good-hair day…which ended up getting stuck in the grapevines haha). I’m still clomping my way around social media. You’re DEFinitely the one with the brains on all this stuff. Hey…in all your spare time, you could do a social media marketing seminar to all us fledgling bloggers, lol!
Thanks for your kind words thought…not much doesn’t look good in white string lights 🙂