The Promontory Christmas Light Installation

The Promontory climbs the west edge of El Dorado Hills until the lots start looking down on Folsom Lake, and nearly every lighting question here begins with a slope. How tall is the front of the house on the downhill side? Can a ladder stand on that grade? Who can see the roofline, and from how far below? For The Promontory Christmas light installation we want those answers worked out before a truck is loaded, and we work them out from your photos. The number is (530) 457-4771.

A house on the view side of The Promontory gets seen twice. Once from its own street, where the garage and entry face the neighbors. And once from below, where the back of the house stands two tall stories over the hill and shows to every road and yard beneath it. Most owners light the street side and stop. Some want the lake-facing eave lit too, because that’s the face that shows from the roads and yards below. Either plan works. We just need to know which before we count ladders.

Tall downhill elevations are where technique matters. If the roof is tile, our clips seat on the tile edge and the crew stays on ladders at the eave, not tramping over the field tiles. If it’s a gutter, the clip rides the gutter lip. On steep side yards we sometimes skip a section a ladder can’t safely reach and put that light somewhere it shows better. You’ll hear that from us on the phone, not on install day.

About five tract builders worked here beginning around 2000, alongside custom villages, so there is no standard Promontory house.

• Bella Lago is the custom village, so no two fronts match and photos matter most there.
• Villa Lago is the gated Toll Brothers enclave on the hill by the park. We need gate entry arranged for both the install and the removal.
• Le Capitan is 39 gated custom homesites on a hilltop. Up there the house is a landmark after dark, and a clean, complete outline beats a busy yard.
• Kalithea, gated and counted under the same association, is thick with oaks. Trunks there take wraps well, and canopy can hide a roofline, so sometimes the trees should be the show.

A local realtor’s light-viewing roundup once noted that many of the best displays in El Dorado Hills sit behind gates. Up here that’s easy to believe.

We’re across El Dorado Hills all season, from Ridgeview’s custom hillside homes to the flat streets by Town Center, and we make the short hop over to Folsom too.

The Promontory is run by a master association, with Network Community Management listed as its manager. Its rules and design guidelines aren’t posted publicly, and we haven’t seen them, so no dates here. If your association sets a display window, read us the current wording (the number is (530) 457-4771) and both of our trips, the hanging and the January takedown, get booked to its dates. For what it’s worth, the county’s outdoor lighting ordinance carves out seasonal and holiday lighting, so the association’s own rules are the ones to read.

Whatever the document says, our lights hang from clips and nothing goes on the association’s trees or entry monuments.

Roofline lights on the gables and eaves that face the street, the valley, or both. Tree wraps on the oaks and on any younger tree out front with enough trunk to carry one. Pillar and column wraps at covered entries. Stake lighting up a sloped walk or along a driveway that bends, set between sprinkler heads and angled so the line holds on a grade. Lit wreaths high on a gable where a hillside house has wall to spare. Lit garland around the door or on a balcony rail that faces the view. Our Christmas light installation page explains each one in more depth.

We carry in all the lights and carry them out again in January, clips included. You store nothing.

Homes near Promontory Community Park on Alexandra Way, near Kalithea Park, and on the routes to Lakeview Elementary see more passing feet and headlights in December than a quiet court does. If that’s your street, the entry is worth extra attention: wreath, garland, a pair of wrapped columns. People pass close and slow.

Text or email a street shot and a downhill shot, or send both through the contact form, and we’ll work up the quote by phone at (530) 457-4771.

Tell us which side faces the lake. That’s usually the side worth the extra ladder.

Does The Promontory have set dates for Christmas lights?

It has a master association, but its rules are not public and we could not confirm a holiday window. Ask the association or its manager for the current rule, pass it to us, and we will schedule around it.

My rear wall looks out at Folsom Lake. Is lighting that side realistic?

Usually, yes. It depends on the grade under that wall and how high the eave sits. Send a photo taken from below and we’ll say plainly which sections a ladder can reach.

I live in a gated village like Villa Lago or Le Capitan. How does access work?

You arrange gate entry for us on two dates, the install and the January removal. We confirm both with you in advance so nothing is left to the day of.

Will big oaks in front block my roofline lights?

They can. Where canopy hides the eaves from the street, we often shift the plan toward trunk wraps and the entry, which show through the branches better.