Storefront and restaurant Christmas lights in Atlanta

For restaurants, the patio is often the most visible part of the building in December. The courtyard pictured shows string lights overhead and lanterns along the seating, a warm, even light that makes an outdoor table feel usable on a cool evening. Overhead strands are run on supports and tensioned so they hang evenly rather than sagging between points.

Patios along Canton Street in Roswell, in downtown Alpharetta, and in Midtown and Inman Park often face the sidewalk directly, so the lighting is seen by everyone walking past. We keep it low enough to feel warm and high enough to stay out of the way of servers.

The entrance is where a customer decides to walk in. Garland framing the door, a wreath at eye level, and a pair of lanterns or potted trees flanking the step, as in the photo, give the door a clear focal point. Windows can be outlined in warm-white mini lights or trimmed with garland, which frames the view into the shop without covering the merchandise.

We match everything to the same color temperature so the entry, the windows, and any roofline or awning read as one design. The approach is the same one described on our wreaths and garland page, scaled for a commercial front.

On many older commercial buildings, the top of the facade is a flat parapet or a cornice, and the ground floor has an awning. A single line of C9 or C7 bulbs along the top edge, or along the front of the awning frame, gives the building a clear outline from down the block. The clip pictured shows how bulbs are held upright at a set spacing without piercing the surface.

Along retail streets in Virginia-Highland, around the square in Decatur, and on the older commercial blocks of Roswell, storefronts sit shoulder to shoulder. A clean line of light at a consistent spacing helps a single business stand apart without looking out of place next to its neighbors. In the shopping centers of Johns Creek and Cumming, the facade is usually a long, even canopy under a property manager's rules, so the design leans on the entry, the windows, and potted trees at the door.

After the holidays, everything comes down in January during the same before-open or after-close windows. Strands are coiled and labeled by area so the same design can go back up next season, and we store them until then. The takedown and storage page covers how that works.

Some businesses prefer a permanent roofline system that can run holiday colors in December and a low accent light the rest of the year. The permanent roofline lighting page explains how it differs from seasonal lighting. Our journal post on storefront holiday lighting in Atlanta has more ideas for restaurants and shops.