Can Multi And Clear Lights Co-exist: A Great Debate For Our Time!

[BSebo 10]

Hello all, I'm pretty sure this might be my first actual post (although I might be incorrect about that and I know I won't actually go back and edit once I see the number to the left).

For those of you expecting a grandiose gauntlet to be thrown by reading the topic headline, you may be slightly disappointed. You see, this is more a selfish exercise, though it could turn into something more, I suppose. I just did not want to sound like a newbie in the title.

Getting to the point, I moved this past week and I was considering revamping my display. As someone who likes to start planning for the season in June and July, I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around what I want to do. One main idea I am considering is decorating with both multi colored lights and warm white/incandescent clear lights (not sure on the LED vs. IN yet, thus the /) and I am worried that using the two together would look poor.

So my questions are: 1. How do you, my fellow Christmas lighting enthusiasts, think this would look. 2. Do you or anybody you know decorate with both, and do you have any pictures?

Thanks, everyone! Merry merry!

[Darlene Pino 13]

i think it will look fine. I just finished mixing light colors on a arched walkway that we are using for both Halloween and Christmas, and the mixture of light colors actually looks great. Much better than I ever expected.

[Clyde Lindsey 0]

Ok, I'm going to try to upload pics. (first time in a while) But I had clear lights and multi. They look good to me. My tenants hate "all clear" so I gave it some color. These pics are from 2007. In 2008 I began using LOR. That was fun, I actually used Multi, red, green for the 2008 display(no pics). 2009 and 2010 I went with LED and Red Green Clear designs. There is a YouTube on my channel that is from 2009 that I used LED around the windows and roof line. Then use red and green around some windows and on some of the trees. Also that 2009 vid shows how I used Clear (cool led) on the house, clear (incandescent) and multi lights on a Holdman Tree Line. For 2010 I had purchased enough red/green/clear to do my entire house, I only used Multi LED lights on the gutters. I did purchase 4 cases of mini's last year at Walmart since I got um for 75% off.

I hope this helps you and your decision. Honestly, if I were faced not having enough green/red lights to replenish my display for this year, I would consider using the multi lights. I will be using the Multi and Clear LED this year and may even expand them to around the windows (1 channel for the up and down stairs windows) to give it more sequencing ability.

Go for it, no matter what you do, people will love it.

[Ryan_Johnson 10]

I use white, multi, red, and green. Depending on how it's used it all looks good. Your white and red bring out the striped candy cane thoughts. Red and green together scream Christmas. When the Green comes on, then the red, then the multi (and then back again) I get a lot of people asking "How do you make it only turn on the red/green lights?" They think they're all one string (I know you can do it with CCRs and other newer technology but it's a wow for visitors when they see it done with regular incandescent bulbs.

Go for what you want- it's your display first and foremost.

BTW- you can see several photos of how the colors work in my personal display here: http://www.johnsonschristmascorner.com/Christmas.html

Best of luck and remember to HAVE FUN!

[tfischer 17]

I'm a big fan of solid colors. Too much of any single color and things start to get washed out. As such, I use virtually every color available to me, including clear and multi. Different elements (bushes, trees, etc) all have different colors.

Note that many people are now going to a "multi-layered" approach were a single element can be many colors. For the most part, I haven't embraced this, mainly because I'm pretty old-school

[sforston 0]

I like to think when I use multi with clear, the clear adds a color to the "multiness" of the multi lights!

[twopugh 10]

I use multi, clear, purple, and green (looking to add either blue or red this year). It definitely can work (and should). I think of it like my living room. Solid colored couch - multi colored pillows. It might not look so hot if you had a roof line (strands connected like this) clearclearclearclearmultimultimultimulticlearclearclear on the same channel, but if you had maybe the roof in clear and the windows in multi - not so bad. I know you're looking for different opinions and things to ponder upon, so think about this. A Christmas display is all about what is visually stimulating to YOU. Yeah, you want people to see it - but if you're like me and have approximately, 4 visitors (which equal your in laws and your parents) - YOU have to enjoy what you see. I watched our show almost every night last year. I'm sure it was tacky as all get out, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Hohoho

NP

[chirstmasfan123 10]

we use to use nothing but,multi for years though recently we've added clear to the display via wire frames,and things like that and TBH I think it adds some nice detail to all of the multi lights.