Patio charm with light strings
Enjoying a wonderfully relaxing evening on the patio of the Belmont Hotel after an inspiring day at Dallas Market.It is heaven to kick off the high heels and stay "at home" on the patio with an appetizer and a glass of wine. Nature is offering a spectacular show with lightning and a tremendous downpour. Coming from New Mexico, any rain is reason for dancing and singing. OK, I am restraining myself , but I am grinning from ear to ear. Love this charming hotel! The Belmont is a mid-century gem in Dallas. An oasis close to Dallas Market.
The patio is illuminated with commercial string lights, which add a wonderfully warm atmosphere. I have had similar lights on my deck for many years and love them for their warm glow and the fact that we can actually read by the light. We have draped the strings so the bulbs are closer together where we like to sit and spaced further apart where we just need them for mood lighting. Today I visited American Lighting at Dallas Market to look at their new LED "bulbs" for these commercial light strings. They are not cheap (I cringed a bit, since we have to replace a lot of them!) but of course the energy savings will make up for the expense over time. Each bulb is currently 10W and we'll be reducing that to 1W! The LED bulbs are available in a variety of color temperatures, but the 2700K ones looked the closest to our current incandescent bulbs. I'll keep you posted!
