Heading Outdoors: Lighting

Happy Wednesday! I'm back with an outdoor update. So last week, I told you guys that I had plans to hook up our balcony on a budget; especially, if it's looking like this piece of sadness:

So, first up: lighting! (and how I conquered it!)

I've always known that I would use clear globe string lights in our outdoor space. I kinda fell like they're the only way to go. I got the lights ($20 at Target for both sets), then I had to figure out how to get up up and hanging.

I headed to Home Depot looking for something measuring about 8 feet tall and that wouldn't wobble in the wind.

Found: a 1" x 1" x 8 ft. square metal pole

I also picked up some zip ties.

Insert pole in corner of balcony...

Use zip ties to secure pole to corner of balcony...

Cut the extra length from the zip ties...

Call your pole secure!

To get the lights going, I screwed a little cup hook into our overhang and wound the dead end of the lights around it.

Then, I had to figure out to attached the lights to the pole. If I were smart, I would've drilled a hole into one side of the pole and screwed in another cup hook BEFORE I secured it to the railings. But, since I was super lazy and didn't want to undo all that back-breaking work, I just rigged the lights up there with another zip tie. Hey, it worked.

I screwed three more cup hooks into the building and just kept stringing until I had the letter "M". I'm still thinking of ways to tackle the extra length of lights. It's the end that will have to be plugged in so it's gonna have to be a pretty creative solution. I'm open to any suggestions if you have any.

So, the balcony still looks like crap, but at least the crap will be well lit! LOL!

Up next: plants, plants and more plants, and tackling the trash can. Fun times!

Xoxo,

Coco