I’ve always had a major thing for fairy lights. And yet, for whatever reason, I’ve never hung them other than at Christmastime, because the logistical issues have always vexed me: I don’t want them on all the time, but I would like them on some of the time, but I don’t want to have to remember to turn them on because then I’ll just never do it, and et cetera ad lazyfinitum.
But we have a yard now, and not just a yard: no no, a California yard. Which is basically a second living room. We spend a lot of time out there, and there are big windows all over the house leading out to it, so visually it’s just a really significant part of the house. So: fairy light time it was, but not just fairy lights: no no, lighting bug fairy lights. Which are tinier, more delicate versions of traditional ones, and which gently blink off and on, creating the (surprisingly realistic) effect of actual fireflies. It is lovely.
Lovely lovely lovely.
And! I found a solution to my crippling laziness that is so obvious that I’m completely horrified that I only just thought of it, but whatever: I hooked all the lights up to a timer so that they turn on at dusk, pleasantly surprising all of us, and then stay on until about midnight. The best part: our bedroom has windows leading out to the yard on two sides of the bed, so when I’m laying there in our dark bedroom at night watching The Bachelorette (and – soon but not soon enough – Bachelor In Paradise, oh my YES), it feels like I’m floating in this sort of mystical fairyland of gorgeousness. Seriously: it is magical, and beautiful (and utterly beyond my limited photographic abilities to convey in photo form, or I’d show you what our yard looks like at night, but you’ll just have to trust me).
You should get some, and you should hang them, and you should hook them up to a timer. Insta-magic.
Some beyond-the-yard ways to use your firefly lights:
To hang pictures
As a mantle accent
In a birdcage (look for them in flea markets; they’re everywhere and super cool-looking)
Draped on a mirror
To make your child’s (or your) tent the best tent in the whole entire world
Wrapped around an old chandelier frame
