How to Avoid Being “That House” In Your Neighborhood

Outside Christmas Decorating Tips

By Denise Turner, ASID, CID, CMG
Color Turners

Carolers are singing, shoppers are busily shopping and the Clark Griswold, want-to-be decorators are digging through their dusty attics. Yes! It’s Christmas again. This one is for the overzealous guy or gal who takes the Christmas a bit too far. Every neighborhood has one; a Clark Griswold like in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Even though we all politely nod and chuckle at their over the top Christmas spirit; we equally think of the excess. I wouldn’t want to be there to see the look on their face, in January when they open their utility bills. Possibly these individuals didn’t get the trend memo that everyone’s using their resources wisely. Now don’t get me wrong. I enjoy “tasteful” and I repeat “tasteful” Christmas decorations as much as anyone.

So, if you’re my neighbor who lives around the corner and three houses up, or an aspiring Clark Griswold, here are some tips to avoid being “that house” for Christmas.

Safety First

Does your roofline make Santa quiver in his boots? Then hire professionals to do the job. Decorating with lights typically requires the use of a ladder and used improperly can lead to injuries. Approximately 2,500 people in the US are injured each year hanging Christmas lights. While we all agree that Christmas lights are beautiful, let’s not forget electricity can cause problems if not used properly. Christmas lights can get hot enough to burn or ignite other decorations. Cords can fray, causing a short.

Get A Plan
Preparation will save you time and reduce unnecessary trips to the hardware store. Measure and count garland, lights, hooks and ect.

Less Is More
Don’t over do it. This means don’t make your lawn levitate with multiple inflatables. Sure little kids love them. But seriously, a giant snow globe, a Ferris wheel, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause, Rudolph and a partridge in a pear tree.

Retro Metal Christmas Trees
The aluminum, 1960’s retro Christmas trees are popular again, but some words of caution. Never hang lights on them! The tree can short out the Christmas lights and cause a fire. The tree can also become charged with electricity and can shock someone. So if you don’t want to be the one responsible for electrocuting Santa Clause, be safe.

Please! No Music!!! Under no conditions is it appropriate to blare Christmas music from speakers out into the neighborhood. This especially means those songs by barking dogs or meowing cats.

Light Placement
Don’t just toss the lights around to shrubs and trees. Seriously! It’s not creative and it’s obvious that you were too lazy to drag the ladder out of the garage. Also use some discretion in deciding how many lights and what colors to hang.

Entry Door
A clear path to your front door is important and it should be obvious. Honestly your guests don’t want to wander over the candy cane bridge and through the Elf’s village in order to get to Grandmother’s house.

If you’ve not seen the 1989, Christmas Vacation, do so. It’s a "Top 10 Favorite Christmas Films" and my personal favorites.


Color Turners-Turns The Art Of Color Into Profit
We help businesses and manufacturers make the best decisions where color choices are critical. By providing accurate and tangible ways to significantly reduce your business and manufacturing risks and turn that knowledge into increased sales and customer satisfaction. http://www.colorturners.com/

denise@colorturners.com

Has Lighting Switched-Off Your Money?

Designing with Color & Light

By, Denise Turner, ASID, CID, CMG

Color Turners

Prior to my keynote presentation, this week in Helsinki at LOHAS Pack, I had the pleasure of meeting leaders, in the food manufacturing and packaging industry. In reviewing their packaging, the majority of them had a common challenge…color and light.

While their product’s designs were perfectly fine, the lighting in the grocery stores where their products were on display was not. This article meant to help businesses wrestling with the same challenges.

Have you ever designed a package, applied cosmetic or dressed yourself under one lighting condition and everything looked perfectly fine? But when you looked at the same colors in a different lighting environment they looked horrible? Most likely you experienced a color and light phenomenon, called Metamerism. This happens when two colors appear to match one light source but not in another. This is due to applying different light energies to two colors with different components or pigments.

Light Sources

When selecting colors it’s imperative that you consider the light source, in which the design will ultimately be displayed in. Natural daylight (morning, noon, sunset and the time of year) fluorescent, incandescent and LED affect colors differently. Be sure to view your package designs in their intended position, because colors look vertically and horizontally.

Lighting Conditions
Fluorescent Lighting have rapidly replaced incandescent, saving consumers a bundle on their utility bills. But they’re not all are created equal. The lighting industry has been making great strides in improving the quality of fluorescent lighting, however there’s still work to be done.

LED
LED (Light Emitting Diodes) are lighting the way of the future. Everyone’s on the cut cost-cutting and saving the planet band wagon. It’s important to use our resources wisely. It’s equally important that quality lighting isn’t sacrificed in the process, because poor quality lighting will adversely impact your sales.

CRI

Light quality is measured by CRI (Color Rendering Index).The higher the CRI number for a lamp, the more it renders a “true” color in an environment. The CRI measurement for outdoors is 100. If quality lighting with a higher CRI than CFL is your priority, LED are for you. LEDs have a longer life span than and fluorescents and emit more light per watt. But here’s the catch. To replace your standard light bulb, with an LED will put a dent in your pocket book (about $69.00 USD each). On the up side, you won’t have to replace it for years.

Color Turners-Turns The Art Of Color Into Profit

We help businesses and manufacturers make the best decisions where color choices are critical. By providing accurate and tangible ways to significantly reduce your business and manufacturing risks and turn that knowledge into increased sales and customer satisfaction. http://www.colorturners.com/

denise@colorturners.com