5 Stunning Ways To Use Fairy Lights At Home

Your fairy lights don't need to be stuffed away for eleven out of the twelve months of the year anymore - these whimsical decorations can be admired all year round with the right styling. Fairy lights decor can be enjoyed outdoors or inside every room of your home, thanks to their increasing availability in colour, shape and size, so no matter your fairy lights ideas, you can bring them to life with Spotlight!

We're delighted to offer you a fantastic range of vibrant fairy lights, rope lights and even sensor lights to help you light your way to a beautiful home. This guide will help you make your choice of fairy light, and then provide some amazing ideas on how to hang fairy lights around your space in style.

Quick Links

• Types of fairy lights
• Why hang fairy lights at home?
• Fairy lights in a jar or bottle
• Fairy lights bedroom ideas
• Fairy lights in garden ideas
• Fairy light string with photos
• Fairy lights around mirrors

Types Of Fairy Lights

There are two factors that determine the types of fairy lights you can find - bulb type and string style.

Fairy light bulb types

• Large bulbs - large, rounded lights like pear, arbitrary or globe-shaped lights will make their presence known as string lights. These larger bulbs can give off an old Hollywood sense of glam, or even a more industrial look in the right-designed space.
• Small bulbs - candle and tubular-style bulbs are used when you want more emphasis on the emitted light itself, and less on the bulb.
• Cool light - cool light is white and harsh, quite similar to strong sunlight.
• Warm light - warm light is yellow and soft, more similar to candlelight.
• Coloured light - fairy light bulbs can emit all sorts of colours, with every bulb the same colour or a rainbow of colours being displayed at once.

Fairy light string styles

• Straight strings - these simple string lights have small light bulbs embedded along the string itself, creating one single, long strand.
• Hanging strings - these are string lights that feature straight base string (sometimes with embedded lights, sometimes without) and then have strings hanging parallel from the main string. These hanging strings will feature the bulk of the lights.

Why Hang Fairy Lights At Home?

If you think fairy lights are just for Christmas time, think again! These small, delightful lights are the perfect way to add a little warmth, ambience and, dare we say, magic to your home, without making it seem like you've stepped into an enchanted forest (unless that's what you want! In which case, go for it).

Fairy lights can help you light up a dim corner, highlight an artistic space or simply provide more ambient light for reading, cooking, sewing and other fun activities. They can make any event a little more enchanting, or your quiet night at home that little bit more cosy! So grab yourself some fairy lights today, and let's add a little magic to your home with some of our wonderful fairy lights ideas.

1. Fairy Lights In A Jar Or Bottle

Create a contained, glowing source of light by gently arranging a string of fairy lights inside a glass jar or bottle. Look for any clear glass vessel - whether it be a flower vase, a crystal decanter or even a clean, empty champagne bottle - that you can fit your fairy lights in without them looking cramped. You will want fairy lights that attach to a small battery - this battery can be hidden under the lid of your bottle or even underneath the vessel itself.

Place your finished jar on a mantle, shelf, bathroom vanity or on a side table. They can work wonderfully as an alternative to table lamps, especially when you are winding down at night, or even as decor on your dining table. Fairy lights in a bottle or jar can also be used as mood lighting outdoors - place them around a pool or along a garden bed for maximum impact!

2. Fairy Lights Bedroom Ideas

One of the best places to decorate with fairy lights is the bedroom - whether you are an adult or a child, fairy lights can be manipulated in many ways to elevate the look and feel of your space. Some of our favourite fairy lights bedroom ideas include:

• A twinkling indoor sky - replicate a starry night indoors by winding a string of fairy lights across your bedroom ceiling. These can work well as a replacement for a traditional nightlight for children, or in any child's bedroom as pure decoration. If you want to make a pattern that hangs close to the ceiling, use small command hooks or suction hooks to adhere your fairy lights to the top of the room. Otherwise, let them hang loose from the sides of the ceiling. Try hanging them in strips across the room for a tranquil night sky, or wind them in a spiral pattern for a particularly galaxy-like effect.
• A magical bedframe - if you have a bed frame with posts, winding some fairy lights around them can take them from pretty to downright gorgeous! Lighting up your bedframe this way is a great alternative to switching on your overhead light as you get ready for bed or are just waking up in the morning, as the gentler light is less harsh on your eyes.
• An enchanting canopy - give yourself the royal treatment by adding a few fairy lights to your bed's canopy if you have one! And if you don't, you can also make a canopy using sheer material and curtain rods A canopy on its own adds a sense of grandeur to any space - add some fairy lights for a little whimsy and beautiful diffused light through the sheer material.

3. Fairy Lights In Garden Ideas

Fairy lights are right at home outdoors, although it's important to choose ones that can withstand outdoor weather conditions like rain and wind. Here are some beautiful outdoor fairy light ideas you can try in your front or backyard:

• Sparkling tree fairy lights - one of the most popular ways to use fairy lights outdoors is to wind them up a tree trunk and through the branches, showing off the structure of the tree. While this can be a lengthy task, tree fairy lights certainly pay off in the end - you'll have a magnificent, eye-catching piece of decor that will really light up your outdoor space. Make sure to choose lights that don't emit heat, as you don't want the lights to damage your tree!
• Decorative garden highlights - fairy lights can also be used to dress up some of the older, more neglected things in your yard that might need some love. An old push bike, metal swing set or garden trellis can all benefit from a quick coat of paint and then a few windings of fairy lights across them. This visual upgrade may even elevate these objects to a new level of decor in your backyard - park the bike in your flowerbed or decorate the swing chair with a flower planter and totally transform your backyard!
• Outdoor dining fairy lights - have you ever dined outdoors underneath gorgeous, large-bulbed string lights and loved the experience? Now you can replicate this feeling at home in your own outdoor dining area! Whether it's under a verandah or under the stars, string some warm-toned fairy lights across the top of your space and enjoy alfresco dining in style.

Wondering how to hang fairy lights outside? Try hanging removable hooks over your gutter or use command hooks for walls and fence surfaces if you don't want to hammer in nails.

4. Fairy Light String With Photos

Highlight the good times you've spent with friends and family by creating a string of fairy lights with your photos pegged onto them! You can develop your photos old-school style or grab your Polaroid camera to snap some shots on the spot at any event.

Once you have a good number of developed photos, think about how you want to hang your fairy lights to display them. Simple horizontal lines and zig-zags are great to hang your pictures from - make sure to leave enough space between strings to give your photos room to shine!

This particular fairy lights decor style is best used on a wall, rather than free hanging, as it allows the photos to lay flat for optimal viewing.

5. Fairy Lights Around Mirror

Recreate a Hollywood-style vanity with a string of fairy lights or jazz up a full-length mirror to create an eye-catching piece of home decor!

String lights with larger bulbs will help create a more old-school look around your mirror, especially if you choose bulbs with warm-toned light - white lights from a large bulb may be a little harsh.

If you are creating a vanity on the other hand, cool-toned lights are the best way to ensure your makeup looks as good outside your home as it does in front of your mirror.

You can adhere fairy lights around your mirror frame or around the edge of a frameless mirror. You can also leave a decent gap around your mirror and then line the edge with lights to create a more 'open' look around your mirror.

Discover Magical String And Fairy Lights At Spotlight

Any home can be enhanced with the addition of some fairy lights - choose yours from Spotlight and enjoy the ambience of string lights today!

You can browse our entire range of string lights online or at your nearest Spotlight store - with more ways to pay, it's never been easier to grab what you need from our stores.

Did you know fairy lights can also be used in crafts? Try making our Tulle Fairy Lights project and see for yourself!