DIY Smart Outdoor Lighting: How to Install Permanent Lights for Year-Round Use
If you’ve ever hung Christmas lights, you know the pain: tangled wires, sketchy ladders, broken bulbs, and freezing fingers. And after all that effort, you still have to take them down a month later. This year, I decided to stop the cycle and upgrade to something permanent: smart outdoor lighting.
These lights are designed to blend into your house during the day, then shine in full color or subtle white glow at night. Whether it’s Christmas, Halloween, the Fourth of July, or just a random Tuesday when you want your house to feel extra polished, these lights do it all. And they’re surprisingly easy to install.
Materials and Planning
Tools/Materials I used for this project:
Permanent Outdoor Lights (I like these but there are lots of alternatives)
The lights themselves are IP67 rated (translation: they can handle pretty much any weather), and they use low-voltage energy-efficient LEDs that are rated for up to 50,000 hours. That’s over 5 years of nonstop nighttime glow.
Watch the Full Install Tutorial
I put together a full walkthrough video that covers:
Unboxing and what’s in the kit
A carport modification I made to mount the lights cleanly
The full installation process (tips, spacing, and how to make it look pro)
A side-by-side comparison with traditional C7 lights
A nighttime demo showing off all the lighting modes
🎥 Watch it here: Permanent Holiday Light Installation
Why I Switched to Smart Outdoor Lights
Every year I put up our holiday string lights. Clips break, bulbs burn out, the cords tangle in storage, and my fingers go numb trying to make them look good. This time around, I decided to try a one-and-done solution that could stay up year-round but also look really good.
These permanent lights mount discreetly under your eaves and are completely customizable. You can control them with an app (or Alexa/ Google), switch between 110+ preset modes, or even set up your own DIY lighting scenes.
My favorite part? You can turn off individual bulbs, change colors by zone, and use them for soft white accent lighting even when it's not the holidays.
Favorite Features
Accent lighting all year: I use the lights in a warm white setting across the carport and front eaves. It adds a polished look without screaming "holiday."
Smart controls: Change scenes, colors, or turn off specific bulbs all from the Lumary app.
No more ladders: Once it’s installed, it’s done. No more climbing up and down every season.
Custom fit: You can clip the wires tight, add extensions, and tailor the layout to your house.
Final Thoughts
I honestly didn’t expect to love these lights as much as I do. What started as a way to avoid hanging holiday lights turned into one of my favorite exterior upgrades. Especially with the year-round accent lighting. They’re functional, subtle, and incredibly satisfying to turn on every night.
Let me know what questions you have, and don’t forget to watch the full video for all the install details!
Want to see the full project video tutorial? Click below.
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