Christmas Lights

[InglewoodFan]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I'm jumping on the Gemstone Lights bandwagon today. I don't live in a large house (1300 square feet, two story). But obviously the smaller the house, the cheaper the install.

I'll be getting the 1st and 2nd storey done and the quote is just under $1800 including GST.

I was personally expecting it to cost $2500 or more, but after a neighbour got it done for about $1600 (with fewer lights due to the design of their home), I figured I'd ask for my own quote. I was kind of thinking that my wife would be my voice of reason and talk me out of it, but then she's like "so we can do orange and purple at Halloween!?!" and that was that. She loves Halloween.

And of course I can throw some red and white up on Canada Day, Flames colours on big game days, Norwich City (the tacky but fabulous yellow and green) if they get promoted again, etc. I'm not really interested in the moving and flashy options, but I do like the idea of changing up the static patterns for special occasions. And I can have a different Christmas pattern for every day of the week if I want to.

Frivolous, yes, but the thought of not having to get up on the ladder anymore is appealing as well.

Super cool. Are you getting just the front or the front and sides of your house done for that? I just showed my wife and she is very enthusiastic about the idea.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Torture

I'm just happy to have my lights plugged into a WiFi outlet so that I can say "OK Google, Turn on all the Christmas Lights".

I feel like I live in the future

My 20 year old timer turns them on at dusk and off after a set time. All by itself.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

My 20 year old timer turns them on at dusk and off after a set time. All by itself.

My timer didn’t want to work this year, after I installed in soffit porch lights, if I turn on those lights, the light sensor thought it was now too bright outside.

So I picked up a geeni outdoor controller from Home Depot for $25, and quickly programmed on off times, and it’s been working perfectly. Even added a morning window for the lights to be on, before sunrise.

[rohara66]

Life hack. Have a soffit plug (to plug your lights into) controlled by a switch in the house (tucked into a closet) and then upgrade said switch to a wifi switch.



They come on 18 minutes prior to dusk and turn off at 11pm. Never touch a thing.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

My 20 year old timer turns them on at dusk and off after a set time. All by itself.

I can program the wifi switch to do that too, but I right now I like the magic of controlling lights with my voice. It's the little things.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by InglewoodFan

Super cool. Are you getting just the front or the front and sides of your house done for that? I just showed my wife and she is very enthusiastic about the idea.

Just the front. It wraps around the sides a little bit where the eaves overhang the porch but ends there. I am guessing that I have a total of 75 linear feet in total for the whole job.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I'm jumping on the Gemstone Lights bandwagon today. I don't live in a large house (1300 square feet, two story). But obviously the smaller the house, the cheaper the install.

I'll be getting the 1st and 2nd storey done and the quote is just under $1800 including GST.

I was personally expecting it to cost $2500 or more, but after a neighbour got it done for about $1600 (with fewer lights due to the design of their home), I figured I'd ask for my own quote. I was kind of thinking that my wife would be my voice of reason and talk me out of it, but then she's like "so we can do orange and purple at Halloween!?!" and that was that. She loves Halloween.

And of course I can throw some red and white up on Canada Day, Flames colours on big game days, Norwich City (the tacky but fabulous yellow and green) if they get promoted again, etc. I'm not really interested in the moving and flashy options, but I do like the idea of changing up the static patterns for special occasions. And I can have a different Christmas pattern for every day of the week if I want to.

Frivolous, yes, but the thought of not having to get up on the ladder anymore is appealing as well.

I was going to do this a few weeks ago, but they couldn’t guarantee pre-Christmas installation. I’ll look into it again in the new year, because while those other applications are awesome, this is the main point.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

My wife makes fun of me, but at 4:30 all the outdoor lights come one, as do all the indoor lights. At 10:30 they go off.

She thinks I'm weird having EVERYTHING on timers, but it keeps the house Christmasy and bright and I don't have the lift a finger.

[stampsx2]

I also love gemstone lights. So many different, patterns, themes and color combinations you can do. When you’re bored or waiting in a long line, it’s A great time to make your own light pattern.

The lights have every nfl, nhl, nba, cfl sports team theme. Now if gemstone could just find a way to light up the lights every time the flames score, that would be fun.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

My wife makes fun of me, but at 4:30 all the outdoor lights come one, as do all the indoor lights. At 10:30 they go off.

She thinks I'm weird having EVERYTHING on timers, but it keeps the house Christmasy and bright and I don't have the lift a finger.

My indoor lights have been turned on exactly once, and have been left on since.

My front outdoor lights are on from 7:00 am to 8:30 am, and then from 5 pm until 12:30 am.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Torture

I can program the wifi switch to do that too, but I right now I like the magic of controlling lights with my voice. It's the little things.

My kids are in love with the Google hubs I installed into our walls in various places during the pandemic. Literally. My 5 year old had a kindergarten project about his family, which prompted this conversation.

Me: so who is in your family?
Son: Mommy, daddy, me, brother, and Google.
Me: Google isn't part of our family.
Son: She lives in our house and we talk to her, it's not nice to say she isn't part of our family.
Me: ...

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

I also love gemstone lights. So many different, patterns, themes and color combinations you can do. When you’re bored or waiting in a long line, it’s A great time to make your own light pattern.

The lights have every nfl, nhl, nba, cfl sports team theme. Now if gemstone could just find a way to light up the lights every time the flames score, that would be fun.

LED lights are a gateway drug I am sure of it. Be thankful you don't have full and total control!

[Boblobla]

I got Gemstone done this year as well and it is awesome.

[frostiex]

i know the thread is older. I was inquiring about gemstone light too, but it came to $6600?? is there a reason why it is so much?
I do have it all around my house. jsut looking at old threads at about 2200 is quite a difference.

[ken0042]

Following up on frostiex's question- could some of you who had pricing give us an idea of cost per linear foot? Or if the cost was more for lights higher up; or other options you may have added on?

[zarrell]

What is gemstone? Are we talking that permanently installed "track lighting" for your soffits? The kind you can change color on? I asked a guy installing that on a jobsite for a local custom home builder and he said $20/ft approximately.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Following up on frostiex's question- could some of you who had pricing give us an idea of cost per linear foot? Or if the cost was more for lights higher up; or other options you may have added on?

Originally Posted by zarrell

What is gemstone? Are we talking that permanently installed "track lighting" for your soffits? The kind you can change color on? I asked a guy installing that on a jobsite for a local custom home builder and he said $20/ft approximately.

Yeah - that's about right. I just had them installed and it came to $21 per linear foot plus $175 for the controller box. And then GST, of course.

My house is a small-ish (~1300 square feet) two-storey by Calgary standards, so it was just shy of $1800 all-in. This included the lower roof above the porch, and also the upper roof.

Of course, my sister's family liked the idea and requested a quote, but they've got a bigger/wider house and more peaks on the roof, and it came to about $3800 all-in.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Those green clips had middling reviews, so I grabbed these, as they were cheaper, and you got more. They worked well, and none broke:

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/n...1204p.html#srp

I skipped the smart lights because I don't trust that they will be supported in 5 years, and grabbed these ones:

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/n...3961p.html#srp

They have a remote. The only downer is you can't program one colour, other than white. So they are all full colour sequences. But it has a timer built in. I bought 3 strings, and they sync up if plugged together, so you only need one remote.

Those clips work great but don't have reusability. If you leave them on the house they become brittle for the next year. However they're cheap enough that I don't mind buying a new box every three years.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by frostiex

i know the thread is older. I was inquiring about gemstone light too, but it came to $6600?? is there a reason why it is so much?
I do have it all around my house. jsut looking at old threads at about 2200 is quite a difference.

My quote was basically for the front of my house and about 5 feet down the sides. I don’t need the lights all the way around and down the sides and such, so that’s probably why there’s such a price difference? It basically comes down to how many linear feet you need.

[Fuzz]

I don't plan on taking them down until the spring, but what's protocol for using them? I've just left the timer running, but I assume at some point I need to shut them down. Do you leave them on all winter, or end it in January?