The Christmas Lighting Hack That'll Turn Your Hallway Into A Winter Wonderland

The holidays truly are the season of lights – Christmas lights, that is!  And during no other span of the year will you find so many options available online and in home stores when everyone is decorating for Christmas. Icicle lights, which can usually be found cascading off the roofline of homes or glittering in a doorway, window, or mantle, are one of the most fun formats for getting a little bit of sparkle and illumination, but there are actually some great DIY endeavors that put these string lights to even more creative uses. TikTok user @craftylumberjacks recently showed off how they turn their hallway into a magical winter wonderland using a grid of icicle lights that they leave up all year long. Even better, they are wired into an ordinary hallway light fixture, making turning them on and off as easy as flipping a switch.

Icicle lights are relatively inexpensive during the holiday season and widely available, often found on sale in the weeks around Christmas when it's a great time to pick up a large number to try out this fun DIY. To create the lighted ceiling in @craftylumberjack's video, you will need several sets of icicle lights, a two-socket adaptor, plug-in adaptors, command hooks, and some zip ties the same color as your light cords. If you manage to catch the icicle lights on sale, you can create a beautiful twinkling ceiling for well under $20. 

In the video, @craftylumberjacks changes out the ordinary bulb in the central light fixture with an adaptor that allows two sockets, using a plug-in adaptor for the lights on each side. When plugged in, the lights will work by simply flipping the hall switch, keeping all the cords out of sight above and out of mind. Using some command hooks designed for outdoor lights, they then create a grid on the ceiling with the icicle lights, fastening the hanging parts crisscrossed together with zip ties to join the strands together, creating a web of lights that hangs and glistens overhead. 

This is also a great project to use webbed lights, often sold to go over bushes and trees in your yard, using the same socket adaptors. You can also use dangling snowflakes or star lights. If you do not have a ceiling socket in the area you wish to hang lights, battery-operated lights will work as well and get you through the holiday season without dangling cords. Use flashing lights or colored LED lights for an extra burst of color, or all white for a sparkling winter wonderland look, especially when combined with other holiday decor. This also makes a great DIY for the underhang of your porch, foyer/entryway, or dim stairwell.