Christmas is a time to go all-out, especially if your neighbors really go for it too. Adding lights to your home is a great way to foster community engagement and add some Christmas spirit to your neighborhood.
We think that permanent color-changing lights are a great solution if you hate the installation process associated with traditional string lights and you just want to enjoy the festive spirit without having to scramble up on your roof!
Permanent color-changing Christmas lights may be a new concept to you. If so, read on to find out why we think they’re so great.
What are Permanent Color Changing Christmas Lights?
Permanent Christmas lights are the best way to bring holiday cheer to your home. This is especially true if you’re frustrated with the longevity of your store-bought color-changing Christmas lights. If you’re tired of string lights that must be replaced every year or two, our permanent Christmas lights are the perfect solution.
Our residential track lights are installed and then stay there all year—and for years to come, and because they’re inconspicuous and designed to match your home, they won’t stand out when they’re still up in July!
We love our smart flood lights as a permanent solution to holiday decor, too. While you might not associate flood lights with Christmas lights, they’re actually brilliant at lighting up outdoor scenes and creating a soft, welcoming vibe during the holidays: we think the floodlights are surprisingly versatile!
These can be set to any color you like. This means that at Christmas time, you can switch between red and green and create a festive vibe just by tapping a few buttons in an app rather than having to dig out lights each year and install them yourself.
You might also be interested in: Best Outdoor Christmas Lights
How do Color Changing Christmas Lights Work?
Traditional color-changing string lights can be set to a handful of different colors, often via a remote, giving you a few options to customize your holiday lights.
However, our permanent lights allow you access to millions of color options, which can be controlled by an app on your phone. You can set them to warm white for a cozy winter vibe, choose an icy blue-and-white theme, or stick to classic red and green.
Our app allows you to pick specific shades to have full control over the color scheme. Or, you can pick from one of our premade light combinations: it’s totally up to you.
Controlling Your Color Changing Christmas Lights with the Hub2 App
The Gemstone Lights Hub2 App gives you full control over your color-changing Christmas lights. You can choose from over 16 million different colors for your lights and even enter a hex code to get the exact color match you’re looking for.
Hub2 lets you create patterns made up of up to 20 different colors, and you can even animate them by choosing from our list of dozens of motion animations. Your patterns will sync with the cloud, so you can access them from any device linked to your account.
You can also use the app to set up to 64 timers and control your lights from anywhere. If you wanted to, you could simply “set and forget” your color-changing Christmas lights.
Professional and Permanent Installation
At Gemstone Lights, our permanent lights are installed by professional installation teams via our authorized dealers.
Once they’re in, they’re in for decades to come. Whether you choose flood lights or track lights, you’ll end up with a permanent lighting solution that you can use throughout the year, not just at Christmas.
Color-Changing Residential Track Lights: Join in the Holiday Spirit
Residential track lights are versatile and fun to control, so let’s explore their capabilities.
With residential track lights, you can:
- Create fun patterns: this is especially fun at Christmas time!
- Control the lights using our app: this gives you an enormous amount of control in terms of colors and patterns (far more than traditional color-changing string lights).
- Save presets for specific occasions: you might want to welcome in guests to your team’s colors when they come to watch the big game or have something more subtle for dinner parties.
- Have the lights switch on with a timer: The app allows you to control the timing of your lights, so you can get the Christmas spirit going before you even get home from work.
- Join in with the holiday spirit in your neighborhood: coordinate with your neighbors to create a matching theme for your whole street.
- Find any color: the color selector on the app allows you to find the perfect hue. You can even enter a hex code for an exact match.
Commercial Track Lights: Christmas in the Local Community
Of course, it’s not just homeowners who can benefit from permanent color-changing outdoor lighting. Joining in with festive decor can help foster a great sense of community spirit, and your customers will love visiting your business if you make it look warm and welcoming on a cold winter night.
With commercial track lights, you can:
- Set permissions: this means that only managers or supervisors can access the lighting.
- Group timers: you can set one timer for a group of devices to increase efficiency, save you time, and synchronize performances across all your lighting systems.
- Single out specific lights: for example, you can have red-and-green flashing lights all around the building and bright white lights over the entryway so visitors know where to go.
- Join in with the neighboring buildings: if you’re going for a whole community theme, for example.
- Set up twinkling patterns: if your business is joining in with community events, like parades or late-night shopping, you can stand out from the crowd.
- Control the app from anywhere: you can also control the lights of multiple buildings with the same app.
Permanent Flood Lights: Perfect for Creating Christmas Vibes
Flood lights provide washes of light, so they give a different effect than track lights. With our smart lights, you can:
- Draw attention to the outdoor decorations: use them to draw attention to decor you might have, like a Nativity scene.
- Pick any hue: using the color wheel, you can get really specific about your chosen color.
- Create a dramatic effect: this helps to draw attention to your home, whether you want to stand out from the crowd or join in with a neighborhood display.
- Have the lights come on using a timer: this way, your whole family can enjoy the lights when they arrive home.
- Pick a different lighting pattern: you can change colors every day in the run-up to Christmas, like a lighting advent calendar!
True Warm White Light
One of the biggest problems we noticed with many LED lights was their inability to produce a true warm white—a must for cozy holiday decorating. We’ve designed our lights to have many color options, including a true warm white. In fact, the lights can produce a range of 2800k Warm White—7000k Daylight, so there are many options there.
You may want to experiment to find the perfect warm white (some people prefer more of an amber hue), but the good news is you can switch them up whenever you like, and you can save your own patterns and presets so you won’t lose your perfect white.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Let’s check out the advantages and disadvantages of color-changing Christmas lights:
Advantages of Permanent Color-Changing Christmas Lights
There are a few big advantages of permanent color-changing lights:
- No DIY installation – you won’t have to drag your ladder out every year to put Christmas lights up anymore!
- Protected against the elements – our lights were created to withstand the harsh Canadian elements, so they’ll still work in high winds, snow, cold temperatures, and more. Plus, the wires are tucked away in a track, so you won’t have to worry about them being chewed by squirrels!
- Endless color options – you don’t just have to stick with the premade color patterns you get with string lights. Instead, you can have full control.
- Can be used all year round – our lights can be used all year round, and because they’re dimmable and make great architectural lighting, they won’t look out of place in the warmer months
- Flexibility – you can have your lights come on automatically even when you’re not home, or you can switch them on yourself using the app, even if you’re still at work
Disadvantages of Permanent Color-Changing Christmas Lights
Here are the downsides of permanent color-changing Christmas lights:
- Higher cost up front – there is a higher installation cost, of course, compared to installing string lights yourself, but you will be able to enjoy lower costs on energy bills and replacement bulbs if you pick permanent lights
- Not traditional – if you prefer the look of conventional string lights, then this may not work for you
Ideas and Inspiration
Now, let’s take a look at some of the things you can do with our color-changing smart Christmas lights.
Red and Green
Combinations of red, green, and either white or gold are the classic Christmas combination. You can’t go wrong with that! No matter the shape of your home, our track lights blend in perfectly.
You can have moving patterns, or you can stick to static red and green. The good thing about permanent lighting is the amount of choice you’ll get. You’re not stuck with bright red and green—you can choose something more subtle using the color picker. You can also play around with different patterns and timing until you find something that works perfectly for you—which is something you definitely won’t get with string lights.
Classic White
Classic white looks crisp and beautiful at Christmas time, especially if you’re lucky enough to have snow. It creates an icy, cool winter feel that looks gorgeous on any home.
Plus, white lights are a great way to showcase your outdoor decorations. As you can see in the above example, the lights can be set bright enough to light up outdoor spaces so you can really showcase your other decor.
We know how hard it is to find the perfect white. The problem with boxed string lights is that you can’t tell how they’ll look until you’ve installed them, and once they’re up, it’s a lot of effort to get them back down again to return them.
Permanent lights allow you to experiment until you’ve found just the white you want, whether that’s a warm, welcoming glow, or cool white for a striking, Christmassy feel.
Moving Patterns
Christmas is a great time to go all out. In the above example (which you can see in action on our Instagram page), our Tetris pattern causes the lights to dash around the house, attaching to the rest of the lights. It’s a really fun pattern that draws a lot of attention! If your neighborhood really goes all-out for Christmas, our patterns work really well.
Cool Blue
This image almost makes you shiver, doesn’t it? Cool blue is perfect for wintertime, not just Christmas, and it looks beautiful in the snow. If you want to create a dramatic, icy look, a cool white or blue is a good choice.
Again, being able to pick the hue of your lights is a big advantage of permanent lighting. And the thing about snow is that it doesn’t always come along at Christmas; you can go for blue lighting whenever you wake up to a blanket of snow, and it’ll light up your home beautifully, creating an atmosphere that is both welcoming and striking.
Minimal
We have a lot of exciting patterns to offer, but you can always choose something more minimal. The above example looks gorgeous in the snow, with just a few lights dotted around the house, lighting up the home beautifully in a subtle way.
The good thing about our track lights is that you can control individual lights, creating your own unique patterns that aren’t possible with traditional string lights. You can isolate specific lights to be a different color, lighting up doorways, for example, or drawing attention to one part of your home. This flexibility is perfect for homeowners who want to showcase the exterior of their home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: How many color options are available on the app?
Answer: The app offers millions of color options—16 million colors and pattern combinations in total! Our app is available on iOS and Android, and you can isolate individual lights, set patterns, and set your lights on a timer so they switch on automatically.
Question: How much does it cost to run?
Answer: Our smart lights cost around $4.43 per month for an average-sized home to run for 6 hours a day (you can see how we worked this out here). Our bulbs are energy-efficient, so they’re better for your bills (and the planet).
Question: Will the lights get in the way of the guttering on my home?
Answer: No. Our lights are designed not to interfere with the guttering, so you won’t have to worry about water damage to either the lights or your property.
Question: What happens if the bulbs need replacing?
Answer: In the unlikely event that a bulb needs replacing, you can call your authorized dealer, and they’ll come over to fix it for you. The bulbs will be covered under your 10-year warranty, but each dealer handles its own labor warranty.
To Sum Up …
If you want to learn more about having permanent color-changing Christmas lights installed in your home, contact one of our Authorized Dealers. They’ll answer your questions and give you a quote.
Also read: Best Commercial Outdoor Christmas Lights for 2024