Noma

Choosing Noma Christmas lights for your home

Start with the place the lights will go, because it settles the length, the power and the look. A tree, a mantelpiece, a stair banister and a hedge by the front door ask for quite different things. For a tree, measure its height and its widest point: lights wound in a spiral from the top need far more length than the height alone suggests, and a wide tree takes more cable than a slim one.

Then decide on the look. Lights wound deep into the branches give a tree a full, bright centre, while a single run along a shelf gives a gentler glow, and one place lit well often looks better than several lit at once. If the lights are a present, think about where they will go and whether there is a socket nearby.

What LED, warm white and cluster mean

LED stands for light-emitting diode. An LED makes light from a semiconductor chip rather than a heated filament, so it uses far less electricity than an old filament bulb and generally lasts much longer. You will find many LED sets among the Noma lights we sell, and their low power use makes them a good choice for long winter evenings.

Warm white is the softer, cosier kind of white light, close to the glow of a traditional filament bulb, and some of the Noma sets we sell are warm white. You will find a few Noma cluster lights among the sets we carry: they pack a great many bulbs closely together along the cable, so a short length gives a dense, bright band of light that looks especially full wound through a tree.

Batteries for a shelf, a plug for the tree

Some of the Noma sets we sell run on batteries, and they go where a lead will not stretch: a bookcase, a wreath on a door or a window far from a socket. A battery set is easy to move from room to room, though the batteries need changing now and then, so keep spares in a drawer.

Some plug into a socket instead, and they suit long runs and lights you want on for hours, such as a tree, with no batteries to replace. Plan the route from the socket first, so the lead does not have to stretch and runs along the edge of the room, never under a rug. Among the Noma sets we carry, a few have a timer, which saves you remembering to switch them off at bedtime, and a few have more than one light setting, so you can change the look without changing the set.

Lighting the garden and the front door

Only take a set outside if it is made for outdoor use. If it is Noma outdoor lights you are after, you will find some in the range we sell; a set not described as made for outdoor use belongs indoors. Even an outdoor set does better in a sheltered spot: under the eaves, in a covered porch, or through a tree or shrub out of the worst of the wind.

Keep the plug and any battery box dry and off the ground, ideally under cover, and run the lead where nobody will trip over it. Fix lights with clips or soft ties rather than nails or staples, which can pierce the cable. When Christmas is over, bring the set in rather than leaving it out for the rest of the winter, and let it dry before it goes back in its box.

Some decorations to go with the lights

Alongside the lights, you will also find decorations among the Noma pieces we sell. A few are wreaths and garlands, which suit a door, a mirror, a fireplace or a staircase, and a few feature a star, which looks good in a window, on a wall or close to the tree. Some pieces are plastic, and a few are acrylic, a rigid, lightweight plastic.

Lights and decorations work best together: thread a set through a garland on the mantelpiece, or hang a wreath where a lamp or a lit window catches it. One strong group in a hallway or on a sideboard often reads better than odds and ends scattered around a room.

Cleaning and winding a set away after Twelfth Night

Switch off and unplug a set before you take it down, then unwind it slowly from the branches rather than pulling, which strains the cable. Take the batteries out of any battery set, because batteries left in for months can leak and damage the battery box. Dust lights and decorations with a soft, dry cloth, and keep household sprays away from acrylic, as sprays can cloud it.

Wind the lights loosely in wide loops, or round a reel, so they are less likely to tangle or kink, and store them in a cool, dry cupboard rather than a damp garage or shed. Before the lights go up again, check the cable and the plug or battery box, and put aside any set with a cracked cable or a broken part rather than switching it on.