Christmas Lights for a Colonial House: Plan

Count the bays before you count feet

Colonial and Colonial Revival houses are laid out in bays: a center entry with windows paired on each side, and a second-floor window often sitting directly above the front door. This Old House calls the symmetrical facade an essential feature of the style and notes that nearly all Colonial Revival houses have a portico over the entrance. That layout is useful, because it means one measurement repeats. Measure one bay, multiply, then add the door.

The style spread after the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and was the dominant American house type from about 1900 to 1955, so a "colonial" can be clapboard, shingle or brick, side-gabled or gambrel. The plan below assumes a side-gabled front.

Worked example: 44 ft wide, 5 bays, 9 windows, 1 door
Run	Feet	Bulb	Strings (calculator)
Front eave plus short returns	52	C9	1 x 100 ft
9 windows at 14 ft each	126	Mini	3 x 66 ft
Door at 17 ft	17	Mini	shared with windows
Portico pediment, about 12 ft	12	Mini	add one short string or use the door string
Windows and door together	143	Mini	3 x 66 ft

Elevation of a five-bay colonial with the eave, nine window outlines, door and portico drawn as yellow bulb runs with lengths beside each — Worked example: every run on a 44 ft, five-bay front. Diagram drawn from the calculator numbers.

The symmetry check

Count lit windows left of the door and right of it. The numbers must match, floor by floor.
Use one bulb color on every run. A colonial is formal and two colors split the face in half.
Light both end returns. On a side-gabled house they are the only part of the roof line you see from the side street.
Make the portico the brightest point: it is the architectural center of the front.
Stand at the curb and squint. If the right half looks brighter than the left, the string order is wrong, not the bulbs.

Shutters decide how you treat the windows

Shutters are common on colonials, and This Old House notes that board-and-batten shutters with a small cutout almost always date a house to 1930 to 1940. Whatever the age, outline the glass or the opening, not the shutter. Real shutters on hinges must still swing, and fixed ones look wrong with bulbs on them in daylight. A clip on the window casing leaves both alone.

Looks that suit a colonial

All-white elegant: the eave, outlined windows and a wreath on the door. Most colonials look best here.
Window wreaths: one wreath in every window is the no-wiring version of the same symmetry.
Red and green classic: keep it to two colors so the face stays calm.
Classic roofline: just the eave, when the second floor is out of reach.

Reaching the second floor

The eave on a two-story colonial is commonly 18 to 22 ft above grade, so see the ladder numbers on the two-story page. If you cannot reach it, light the first-floor windows, the door and the portico and skip the eave. A half-lit front still reads as symmetrical; a lopsided one does not. Test the strings first with the calculator numbers in hand, and check each set for cracked sockets and frayed wire before it goes up.

Upload a photo of your colonial and see the paired-window look on it before you buy a string. Preview it on my house, free

Frequently asked questions

What lights suit a colonial house?

Warm white on the eave, matching outlines on every window and a bright portico. The style is symmetrical, so even, quiet lighting reads best.

How many lights does a colonial need?

A 44 ft, five-bay front with nine windows needs about 52 ft of C9 on the roof and 143 ft of mini lights on windows and door. Your own count comes from the calculator.

Should I put lights on the shutters?

No. Outline the window and leave shutters bare so they still close and look right by day.

What if I can only do the first floor?

Do both sides equally: all first-floor windows plus the door. Lopsided is worse than short.

Can I mix colors on a colonial?

Two at most. See warm white versus multicolor for how each reads from the street.

Christmas lights for a colonial house