Christmas Decorations Part 1

We have not done much decorating of the house in the last few years so I was surprised when Pam asked me to put up lights this year.  Up is actually a misnomer as she wanted them around the flower beds in the front.  After visiting a number of stores I had no problems finding the lights she wanted but could not find the stakes that we have used in the past to put them around flower beds.  Of course she was not worried as I have a garage full of tools (her words).  So here is my solution.

I took 1/2 inch PVC pipe and cut them into 1 foot sections.  I put a 45 degree cut on the bottom to make them easier to insert and cut a 1/4 slot 1.5 inches long at the top to hold the light strand.  A 1/2 inch PVC cap will hold the strand in place.

Here is the PVC before slot and after slot as well as cap.  The red to the side are the caps I have painted with PVC compatible paint.

Here I have painted the PVC stake.  You don't need to paint all the way down as these will be inserted in the ground about 4-6 inches.

Here is the finished product in action.

I made 40 of these to put out 200 ft of lights.

To make forty I bought 4 packages of 10 caps and 8 5ft sticks of PVC.  With paint these ran 15 dollars in materials.  Or about 1/2 of what I expected to pay for the stakes at the store if I could have found them.

More to come

Bruce