Blackstone Christmas Light Installation

Two dates run every Blackstone Christmas light installation we do in El Dorado Hills: the second Friday in November and January 10. Those come straight out of the Blackstone Master Association’s design guidelines, which say Christmas decorations may be installed as early as that Friday and must come down no later than the 10th. We book both trips as a pair, so you’re never the house on Blackstone Parkway still lit in the third week of January.

One catch. The copy the association posts publicly is the Custom Lot Design Guidelines, adopted in January 2022. Blackstone describes itself as a blend of custom and production homes, and the guideline for production lots sits behind the homeowner login, where we can’t read it. If you own on a custom lot, the dates above are your rule. If you’re in a production village, log in and confirm your version says the same thing. And since boards amend guidelines, check the current copy whichever kind of lot you own.

That same custom lot document has a general paragraph on exterior decorations for any holiday: up six weeks ahead, gone within two weeks after. We schedule Christmas removals for the first days of January, which is inside either rule. Call (530) 457-4771 and both dates go on the calendar together.

Holiday lighting in Blackstone doesn’t need an application to the Architectural Committee. It does come with conditions, and they’re reasonable ones for a crew to build around.

• Keep it inconspicuous. The wording is that holiday lighting must be as inconspicuous as possible. We read that as clean lines on the architecture, cords tucked along trim and downspouts, no tangle across the lawn.
• Don’t infringe on neighbors. Nothing aimed at the bedroom window next door. Timers cut the display late in the evening.
• Stay out of Association Common Area. Entry medians, the slopes the association owns and any open space it holds behind your fence are not yours to decorate, and we won’t put a single stake there.
• Respect the night sky ordinance. Light goes on the house and the yard, not up into the dark.

One thing that trips people up: cafe and bistro string lights are a separate category in Blackstone, with their own rear-yard rules and an 11 pm shutoff. A December roofline is not that. It falls under holiday lighting.

Blackstone isn’t the only place nearby with a rule in writing. Serrano has its own, and our El Dorado Hills holiday lighting page covers the wider area.

Blackstone spreads across roughly 990 acres off Latrobe Road at the south end of El Dorado Hills, with about 350 acres of that left as open space laced with trails. With that much open ground, a good number of back fences face it, which means some rooflines get seen from a trail or from across a draw as much as from the street. Tell us where your house gets looked at from and we’ll put the light on that face.

Roofline lights come first. We haven’t seen your roof, so photos decide the method: clips made for tile on a tile edge, gutter clips on a gutter, and no fasteners driven into anything. Pillar wraps go on porch columns where a house has them. Tree wraps go on trees inside your own lot line only. Stake lighting traces a walk or the driveway edge, kept back from irrigation heads. Up at the entry, a lit wreath on the garage gable plus lit garland framing the door adds plenty and puts zero hardware in the yard.

The lights are ours, hauled in and hauled back out. You don’t buy a strand or store a bin. If wind works a clip loose, you ring (530) 457-4771 and we come reset the run.

Blackstone is gated, so we’ll need to be on your list or have a code for both trips. Quotes are done on a call to (530) 457-4771, or off pictures you send by text or through the contact page: the front straight on, each side of the garage, and the view from the street if the house sits up off the road. Mention it if you’re near The Club at Blackstone or front Blackstone Parkway itself.

The residential lighting page walks through what a full install includes. For Blackstone it comes down to two things: nothing goes in the common area, and nothing of ours is still on your house after the 10th.

What are the Christmas light dates in Blackstone?

The Blackstone Custom Lot Design Guidelines allow Christmas decorations from the second Friday in November and require them down no later than January 10. That public copy applies to custom lots, so production lot owners should confirm their own guideline through the homeowner login.

Do I have to apply to the Architectural Committee before putting up holiday lights?

No. The guideline permits holiday lighting and decorations without committee approval, as long as they follow the conditions on neighbors, common area and the night sky ordinance.

Can you light the slope or the median in front of my Blackstone home?

Not if it’s Association Common Area. The guideline says holiday lighting may not be installed there, so we keep everything on your lot.

Are bistro lights on my patio treated the same as Christmas lights?

No. Blackstone regulates cafe and string lights separately, with rear-yard placement and an 11 pm shutoff. Seasonal holiday lighting has its own section and its own dates.