Hello Australia, and a Merry Christmas to you all.

[JP122424]

I'm just getting started on my Christmas lighting journey. I have done some out of the box Home Depot, Walmart things but, now I want to design and build some of my own light structures. Nothing elaborate, just a Bethlehem star for next season and some color changing tree ornaments for a front yard tree. I'm a retired design engineer and have always played with things electrical as a side interest.
My internet searching has been a bit discouraging as most of my searches have lead me to more out of the box solutions. This site, however, appears to be more of what I have in mind. I'll drop back after reading the 101 manual and let you know if my thirst has been quenched .
As a side note: Just after the Sydney 2000 Olympics I was in Sydney, Canberra and a few other Australian cities at Christmas time and noted that there weren't that many private homes with Christmas lighting displays. So, it's very cool to see the many beautiful displays you are now showing.

 

[MikeKrebs]

Welcome JP122424! This site and doityourselfchristmas.com should be top of the list for DIY stuff. There are lots of cool prepackaged stuff that is coming out but you will find that people on these forums are very inventive. I don't do facebook but there is a lot of activity there as well. Secondary forums are diychristmas.org and falconchristmas.com. There is a wealth of ideas buried in these forums for the way to approach many aspects of the blinky flashy hobby.

 

[Skymaster]

As a side note: Just after the Sydney 2000 Olympics I was in Sydney, Canberra and a few other Australian cities at Christmas time and noted that there weren't that many private homes with Christmas lighting displays. So, it's very cool to see the many beautiful displays you are now showing.

Welcome @JP122424 !

I've lived here in Sydney my whole life, and definitely since the 00's the number of decorated houses dad been increasing. There was one on the street I lived in 2003-2005, long gone now, but was the talk of the town, the only one for a decent distance.