Diwali lighting without the tangle of fairy lights

Every October, Mumbai’s balconies disappear under strings of coloured fairy lights, most of them blinking. They are cheerful for a night, but many homes look busier rather than warmer. If you want your flat to feel festive and calm at the same time, try lighting it in fewer, warmer places.

Start with the doorway, which matters most in a festival home. A pair of brass diyas on either side of the threshold, with a soft lamp inside the door, says welcome better than a hundred bulbs. If you use a string of lights, choose a single warm white colour, 2200K or 2700K, set to steady rather than blinking, and frame the door with it.

Inside, switch off the ceiling lights and use lamps. A table lamp in each corner of the living room, a cane pendant over the dining table set for the family meal and a row of diyas or tea lights along the window sill create the warm, low glow of an old festival home. Our spiral filament bulbs at 2200K look close to the colour of a flame.

On the balcony, a single lantern or a small cluster of warm lights is enough. Keep cables tidy and off the floor, use extension boards with switches and never run indoor fairy lights in the rain. And keep real diyas away from curtains and cane shades. When the festival is over, the lamps stay useful all year, which is more than can be said for a tangle of fairy lights.