How to Light Your Room with Christmas Lights for a Cozy Vibe

* All of the lights. *

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Learn how to hang lights on wall in bedroom and get ideas for super cute Christmas light decorations. Perfect for dorms and apartments!

Christmas lights in room guide - 11 insanely cute ways to hang Christmas lights and fairy lights in your room or dorm - lights on wall in bedroom

Whether you’re a first-year or a seasoned upperclassman, you’ve undoubtedly seen plenty of other people’s dorm decor, and have mentally bookmarked a few good ideas to remember for your room next year.

But what if you want to take your room to the next level, quickly and easily? Maybe even add a cozy holiday feel? Today’s post will help you do that. It’s all about hanging Christmas lights in your room for maximum coziness.

Photo walls, which we wrote about recently, are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to decorating ideas. In this article, I’ll do a quick breakdown on dorm room lighting, specifically how to hang Christmas lights in your room for those cozy vibes.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

Related reading: Our All-Time Favorite Christmas Dorm Decor Ideas

Christmas Lights in Room 101: Everything You Need to Know

The quintessential dorm room accent lighting, Christmas lights can be found in nearly every stylish room, in countless arrangements. (They made our official college packing list for a reason!)

They’re inexpensive, chic, and can make a room instantly feel warmer and cozier.

You can find Christmas lights at any local store that carries home furnishings, like TargetChristmas Tree Shops, or on Amazon. You can also find fancier lights on sites like Urban Outfitters (example seen above). These lights usually come in either white or dark green cords, and a multitude of bulb colors, so make sure to keep the colors consistent when you buy them!

Related reading: The Best Aesthetic Room Ideas We’re Stealing ASAP

Things to Do with Christmas Lights in Your Room:

1. Create an entire wall of fairy lights and add photos with clips:

Twinkle Star, 3.5 Inches Indoor Outdoor, LED String Light 66ft Fairy Copper String Lights USB and Adapter Powered with 8 Modes & Timer - lights on wall in bedroom
Buy from Amazon.com

This is a classic way to deck out your room with string lights — it’s so pretty and allows you to add your favorite photos. We also love the idea of using these same lights to spell out words, as seen here.

2. Use them to illuminate your mirror, as seen below:

Christmas lights around a mirror - how to decorate your dorm with Christmas lights - lights on wall in bedroom

Recreate this look:

This has fairy tale vibes and we are here for it! It will make getting ready that much easier, too — you gotta have that good lighting.

Related reading: 16 Cute Room Ideas That’ll Make Your Space Instagram-Worthy

3. Hang them where the wall and the ceiling intersect.

Recreate this look:

oopswow Icicle Lights Outdoor Decorations 300 LED 33ft 8 Modes Curtain Fairy String Light with 50 Drops - lights on wall in bedroom

You’ll get a pretty ring of light around your ceiling — I love how the photo above uses blue for this effect.

4. Or string them across your actual ceiling.

Recreate this look:

Christmas Lights 100 Count Mini Clear Lights 21ft White Wire Christmas Tree String Lights - lights on wall in bedroom

Note: Some dorms are going to tell you you can’t do this, as even if they’re LED they can be considered a fire hazard if your dorm is old school. Check if it’s OK first!

5. Wrap them around the metal frame of your bed, or string them across a headboard.

Recreate this look:

How pretty is this? Such a cute upgrade for a boring standard-issue bed.

6. Use the lights to create a faux headboard for your bed.

Chhristmas lights as a headboard with photos clipped on - lights on wall in bedroom

Recreate this look:

Complete the look with photos clipped on, as seen above. Or try stringing them vertically:

Recreate this look:

If you’re allowed to hang things from your ceiling, and are feeling a bit like Michelangelo, create a swirly or crisscross pattern with lights on your ceiling, as seen here.

Or go all out and cover an entire wall with strings of lights.

Recreate this look:

How cool! Your room will be so glam and photo-worthy.

Or try meandering them through your wall decor for an abstract feel.

Recreate this look:

This is perfect for that *boho* vibe in your room, and it’s also a great way to highlight your favorite photos and prints.

Use strip lights to line your ceiling and corners

If you’ve been on TikTok this year, you’ve seen the strip lights trend that’s everywhere. These super cool lights are sound-reactive and the color can be changed with a remote, so they’re extremely customizable.

The most popular way to attach these is to string them along your ceiling and down the corners of your walls, but you can definitely get creative and use them in other ways. (A lot of people like to put them under or behind furniture for a backlit look.

10. Put them in a clear glass jar or vase and use it as a lamp.

Christmas lights in room ideas - lights in a jar

These are actually battery-powered lights from Target (and they’re under $10!), so you can put them anywhere without worrying about plugging a cord into the wall!

How to Hang Christmas Lights in Your Room:

  • Clear packing tape on the cord works well, especially for when the lights climb the wall.
  • If you’re hanging your Christmas lights, Command hooks work wonders. (There really doesn’t seem to be an occasion where Command hooks or strips don’t work in a dorm.)
  • If you are allowed to put holes in your walls, you can use tacks to hang them easily — just be sure not to puncture any of the wires with the tacks.
  • Want to outline a window in lights? If you’re feeling brave, wrap twisty ties around the cord and staple the ties to the window frame. The staples will come out with a staple remover. (Just make sure you’re allowed to make holes in your walls before you do this.)

 Safety Tips for Using Christmas Lights on Bedroom Walls

  • Use only UL-listed Christmas lights for safety.
  • Make sure that your Christmas lights are not overloaded or damaged.
  • Keep your Christmas lights away from heat sources and open flames.
  • Never leave Christmas lights on unattended.
  • Turn off your Christmas lights before going to bed.

What Do You Think?

Were these tips helpful? How do you arrange your Christmas lights? Have you ever used fairy lights before, and if so, what style and color did you choose? Do you have any lighting shopping tips? What other sorts of fun lighting do you like for your dorm? Let us know with a comment!

If this gave you some good ideas for lights on the wall in bedroom, you might to check out these great picks below –

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in 2011; it was completely updated and revamped in 2023 with new photos and information.

18 thoughts on “How to Light Your Room with Christmas Lights for a Cozy Vibe”

  1. Great ideas! Only problem is it is almost impossible to get Christmas lights this time of year (at least where I am) I went to target and multiple other stores, but none carry them till its closer to Christmas 🙁

    Reply
  2. Try “Big Lots” for mini lights. Usually they have them pretty much all year long. Then carry some really nice lights during the holidays.
    Rite Aid also has mini lights, I got pinkish/purpleish & have them in my Bedroom, very cool looking. Have fun with them!

    Reply
  3. I hung chrismas lights with a staple gun and i accidently broke one 🙁 I replaced the light but now none of them will turn on and i have no clue how to fix it. 🙁

    Reply
  4. I just got finished hanging some stringed paper lanterns in my bedroom (of an apartment) and it looks so cute! Their attached to the wall near the ceiling.

    The article and responses really helped me — I ended up using a combination of packaging tape, command hooks, and then we were able to arrange it to where the surge protector is taped to the wall (using double sided tape) and plugged in to an outlet. That way it’s not doing the funky dangling thing.

    Reply
  5. I got a string of very long, clear fairylights and made them go zigzag but vertically (like the Michelangelo picture above) across the whole of one wall above my bed! I <3 it!

    I think I&#039m way too obsessed with fairylights, though LOL

    Reply
  6. Thanks for all of your responses!

    Hannah – I would recommend Command hooks. In my dorm room I’m using packing tape, but that’s because my walls are glossy and I don’t think packing tape would damage them.

    Reply
  7. So I actually made my headboard out of christmas lights. I bought a blank canvas, strung about 200 lights inside it and hung it up. At night all you can see it tiny dots of light on the white and it looks AMAZING! its like stars 🙂

    Reply
  8. I rarely leave comments anywhere on the net.
    But your site… wow! <3
    I love this article, it gave me so many ideas I want to try out! Your writing is good- you write, you elaborate, but you don&#039t drag on.
    Now I want to color-scheme my room (fall is almost here! :D), I want fairy lights with dixie cups…
    And to think I found about you just yesterday…

    Reply
  9. In most schools, lights like these aren’t allowed in the dorms anymore. This might be better for apartments 🙂

    Reply

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