Decorating windows so the whole front of the house reads

The three things you can put in a window

The rule that matters more than any product choice

The practical consequence is that windows are a buy-once purchase. Count them, buy the set that covers them in one order, and accept a spare or two rather than a second order next year. The set sizes are ranked on window candles.

Which windows to include

Not necessarily all of them. Two rules keep it sane.

Include a window only if you can reach it twice. Once to put the candle in and once to take it out. A candle in a window you cannot reach comfortably stays there until March.

Symmetry beats completeness. Four windows lit in a symmetrical pattern looks better than seven lit and one dark. If one upper window is inaccessible, leave its opposite number dark too and the facade reads as a decision.

Sizing a wreath to a pane, not a door

A window wreath is sized against the pane opening rather than the frame, and it wants to sit entirely inside the glass so it reads as deliberate from the street. Our conventions for that are set out on wreaths for windows and interior walls.

Power is the constraint that decides the product. There is rarely an outlet at a sill, so a battery pre-lit wreath with an integrated timer is usually the only workable lit option. Where the wreath is unlit and the candle does the lighting, a flatter piece like the 88-tip Decorative Collection wreath hangs better in a shallow reveal.

Framing a window with a string

The third layer is a string run around the opening, and it is the one to do least of. It reads at close range rather than from the road, so it earns its place on a window people walk past — a porch window, a bay onto a path — and not on an upper floor.

Wire colour is the whole decision, because a framing string is visible against the frame in daylight for far more hours than it is lit at night. On white frames the white-wire Northlight string disappears; on dark frames the green-wire version does. Same 100 LEDs and 33 feet either way, so this is a free decision made before you order.

Inside the glass or outside it

Inside, almost always. An interior string needs no weather rating, no outdoor cord and no fixing to the building, and through glass it looks essentially the same from the street. The exceptions are a deep external reveal, and a window you want lit as part of an outdoor scheme rather than an indoor one.

If it does go outside, it needs an outdoor-rated cord and the same drip-loop discipline as the rest of the display — that is on outdoor light safety.

When four candles is the right answer

On a small home, or where only a bay window faces the street, a large set is money spent on candles that live in a drawer. The four-candle GOOTHY set publishes a 9-inch height and an explicit 6-hours-on, 18-hours-off cycle, which makes it the easiest small set to plan around. Two windows done properly beats six done partially.