Holiday lighting for the house the neighbors photograph.
The house the neighbors take pictures of. Xcel Outdoor Living designs, installs and stores custom holiday lighting for homes and businesses across the Illinois Valley. The display is stored with us out of season, so nothing ever takes up a shelf in your garage, and the lights stay ours while you rent them. We hang them straight, spaced even, and secured for winter. Your only job is flipping the switch. We work out of Spring Valley, Illinois and serve Bureau, LaSalle, Putnam, Marshall, and Lee counties.
How the season runs
- FallThe easy time to hang lights, and the easy time to get the date you want.
- Your free estimateJake comes out and walks the house with you. The design and the number both come after that visit.
- Install dayThe crew brings the lights and hangs them. No ladder of yours leaves the garage.
- DecemberNothing to do. That is the whole reason to hire it out.
- Out of seasonThey are stored with us rather than with you, so the shelf in your garage stays yours.
03 · After dark
Some of our best work only shows up after dark.
Rooflines traced, peaks outlined, porch columns wrapped, every bulb an even step from the next. That spacing is the whole job, and it is the part you notice from the road without knowing why. By mid-December it is the house the kids ask to drive past twice.
Out of season the display is stored with us rather than with you. The lights stay ours and you rent them.
Designed to your house, not draped on it.
No two rooflines are the same, so no two designs are either. We walk the house with you, look at the peaks, gables, and porch lines, and draw a plan that follows the architecture instead of fighting it. Storefronts and offices get the same walk. Full outline or just the street face, the design is built around your house and your call.
Talk through a designSame lights, four different drawings
Your roofline is already a drawing. The design is deciding which of its lines to trace.
See the finished workHung straight, spaced even, stored with us.
Our crew brings the lights and handles every foot of it: the ladders, the clips, the connections. Bulbs get spaced evenly, runs get pulled straight, and everything is turned on and checked before we leave. The first time you see it should be the good part, standing in the driveway, not halfway up a ladder in the wind.
Out of season the display is stored with us rather than stacked in your garage, which is part of what you are paying for rather than an afterthought. The lights stay ours and you rent them.
[Rental terms are not published yet: how a repeat year works, and whether takedown is part of it.]
How an Xcel job runsWhat actually holds a run up
- Shingle clipSlides up under the edge of the shingle and grips it. Nothing goes through the roof.
- Gutter clipHooks over the lip of the gutter and hangs the bulb below it, facing the street.
- Trim clipGrips fascia, rake board, or window trim, for the runs with no gutter to work off.
Not one nail and not one staple. When the lights come off, there is nothing left to patch.
The only thing falling at your house this winter is snow.
The ladder, the frozen gutters, the roof edge in the dark: all ours. You pull into the driveway in the early evening, the house is already glowing, and the only thing left to do is stand there for a second and look at it.
That is the whole product. Not the lights. The evening.
- The ladder work is ours. Roof edges, peaks, and second stories are exactly the places a Saturday project goes wrong.
- Clean lines you can see from the street: even spacing, straight runs, no sag between clips, and no dark gaps mid-roof.
- Hung with clips made for the job, not staples and nails, so your shingles, gutters, and trim are left the way we found them.
- Secured for Illinois winters. Wind, snow, and freeze are the design brief, not a surprise.
You pick the look. We handle the ladder.
The estimate is free. Jake comes out and looks at the house, and the design and the number come after. The lights, the ladders, the install and the storage are ours.
Your only other job is the view from the driveway.
Get a free estimateAsked before almost every season.
Do I own the lights, or do I rent them?
We design the display for your house, hang it, and store it for you out of season, so nothing ever takes up a shelf in your garage. The lights stay ours and you rent them. Ask Jake how a repeat year works when he comes out. The visit is free and the number comes after it.
When should I book?
Earlier than you think. Hanging lights is far easier before the weather turns, and we are usually booking a few weeks out, so a fall call gets the better pick of dates. Call in December and you will get a straight answer about what is still possible rather than a maybe.
Will it damage my roof or gutters?
Nothing gets nailed or stapled into the house. The lights hang on clips made for shingles, gutters, and trim, so nothing is driven through the roof and there is nothing to patch when the season ends.
What kinds of buildings do you light?
Homes and businesses both. Single-story ranches, two-story farmhouses, steep peaks, wraparound porches, and commercial buildings that want the same treatment out front. The design is drawn to the architecture in front of us, so the size and shape of the building is the starting point, not a limit.
Do I have to light the whole house?
Not at all. Plenty of houses look best with the street-facing roofline and the porch lit and nothing else. Front only or full wrap, it is your call, and either way the runs will be straight and the spacing even, because that is the part people actually notice from the road.
Be the house they slow down for.
The estimate is free. Jake comes out and looks at the house, roofline and trees. The number comes after, built on what he saw.
Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PMCall any time.We’re usually booking a few weeks out.
Fully insured & registered