The first snow of the season reminded me of a snowy day last year when your favorite local Christmas light installers somehow were allowed on TV. The fine people at 92.1 Citi FM saw fit to come out and get some footage of us installing Christmas lights on a home on Deepwater Cove in the Maples area. If you don’t believe the screen shot above (sorry Jets fans, btw) just watch the video below. It’s true…. I’m the guy staying warm in the brown parka and blue hat.

As far as the nuts and bolts go, we installed C9 pure white LEDs on the full perimeter of the home, plus matching but smaller C6 pure white LEDs on their large deciduous tree in the front. We used white wire to keep the sockets on the house as discrete as possible.  It looks very bright and nice at night and the homeowner was very happy with the installation. If you’re ever interested in something like this you know who to call.

So anyways, hopefully I sounded like I know what I’m talking about! Lots of fun and thanks again to Mark and the crew at 92.1 Citi.

G30 Warm White LEDs on a home in Winnipeg. These lights were installed underneath the soffit.

These are the best LEDs I’ve seen yet and feel quite excited about them. They’re called G30 “super-bright” bulbs and I think you will start seeing them up on houses in Winnipeg more and more in the next few years.

Why are they good? First and foremost, it’s because they’re strikingly bright. They remind me very much of the shine you get from a classic clear incandescent Christmas light bulb – though of course at a tiny fraction of the energy cost. Inside the 1″ diameter bulb are 5 LEDs which have been stacked to send out light at the widest possible angle. They are extremely durable and the lifespan of the bulbs is rated 50,000 hours… which is a really long time.

A Fuschia G30 LED, up close (photo courtesy Big Star Lights)

I also believe the small size of the bulbs is a nice touch – particularly for permanent installs where lights are up year-round and it’s best of the lights aren’t as noticeable when they’re not being used. But they are also a fantastic Christmas light for seasonal installations, too. And, yes, they’re available in all colors – even turquoise.

Bottom left: a store-bought a single warm white LED, Top left: The G30 LED, Top right: our standard 5-LED C9 Christmas bulb.

If this is something that interests you give us a call or fire us an email. Price at the writing of this post is $2.20 per bulb which is around seventy-five cents more than our standard 5-LED Christmas light. It may very well be worth! Enjoy a few more photos below 🙂

Close up of the G30s installed under the soffit, in Winnipeg, MB, CAN

A perspective on how bright these lights are.

It’s tough to beat summer in Winnipeg and one of my favorite things to do is enjoy dinner and drinks at an outdoor patio in the warm night air, under the clear night sky, and (hopefully) under some amazing cafe lighting.

Black Rabbit Bistro in Winnipeg’s Osborne Village neighborhood is one of those spots. At the old Basil’s location, they already had one of the most beautiful patios in Winnipeg complete with European-style overhead trellis, vines, and flowers. We recently worked with them to add cafe lights to help make the atmosphere just as amazing at night as during the day.

Incandescent, suspended lights (also known as festoon lights) were the preferred lights for Black Rabbit and we customized the lengths to fit the patio exactly, creating a clean, professional look. To keep the lights perfectly straight, we attached the socket wire t0 a thin aircraft cable which will help this look sharp on a permanent basis. I enjoy the classic look of the incandescent bulbs and the fact that they are hung low – but not “too low” – matching the height of the wooden trellis.

Below are a few pictures as I thought you might enjoy them as much as I do – but you should definitely drop by yourself. This is a great restaurant and one of the best patios in Winnipeg.