Gemstone Lights: The Architectural Solution

By Mark Williams | Exterior Remodeling Expert

Permanent holiday lighting is absolutely exploding in popularity across North America. My clients are tired of climbing dangerous ladders in freezing weather to hang temporary Christmas lights, only to take them down 30 days later.

While there are many competitors in the space (like JellyFish and EverLights), I consider Gemstone Lights to be one of the premier luxury options. Their system focuses heavily on how the lights look during the remaining 11 months of the year when it isn't Christmas.

The Track System (The Visual Appeal)

The biggest complaint I hear about early permanent lighting systems is that they looked like a bulky, ugly plastic track glued to the front of the house.

Gemstone solved this by creating a highly customized, low-profile aluminum track that mounts just beneath the soffit (the overhang of the roof).

• Color Matching: The track is custom-painted to exactly match the color of your home's soffit or fascia.
• Seamless Integration: Because the track sits perfectly flush against the soffit, the system is virtually invisible from the street during the day. It simply looks like a standard piece of trim metal.
• Downward Wash: The track points the lights downward. Instead of looking like a traditional C9 bulb pointing directly at the street, Gemstone lights "wash" the wall with color, creating a highly modern, sophisticated aesthetic that highlights the home's architecture.

Dedicated Warm White LED (The Real Selling Point)

Most cheap RGB (Red/Green/Blue) strip lights try to create "white" light by turning on the red, green, and blue diodes simultaneously. This usually creates a harsh, bluish-purple light that looks terrible and cheap as year-round architectural lighting.

Gemstone fixtures feature a fourth, dedicated Warm White LED. This is the game changer that makes me recommend this product.

When the holidays are over, you can use the app to turn on only the Warm White LED, setting it to a soft, inviting 2800K glow. This turns the system into premium architectural soffit lighting that mimics traditional, high-end downlighting (which normally costs thousands of dollars to install separately). You get security lighting and holiday lighting in one system.

Pros and Cons from the Field

My Experience (Pros)

• Year-Round Utility: The dedicated warm white LED makes this a true 365-day architectural lighting system.
• Invisible by Day: The custom-matched aluminum tracks hide the messy wires perfectly.
• App Control: The app is incredibly robust, allowing you to control individual bulbs, create zones, and download thousands of pre-made cloud animations.
• Easy Maintenance: The lights are individually connected. If a puck fails in 5 years, my technicians can simply unsnap it and plug a new one in within minutes without cutting wires or soldering.

My Experience (Cons)

• Cost: It is a luxury product with a premium price tag.
• Not a Traditional Look: If you desperately want the old-school look of large bulbs pointing outward at the street, Gemstone's downward wall-wash effect might not be for you.

Estimated Cost Breakdown

Gemstone Lights are not a DIY product; they must be installed by an authorized, trained dealer. Because of the custom aluminum tracks, the proprietary app technology, and professional installation on tall ladders, they are a premium investment. Here are current 2026 estimates:

• Installed Cost: Expect to pay between $22.00 and $30.00 per linear foot.
• Total Project: For an average two-story home requiring 150 linear feet of lighting on the front elevation, expect a total installed cost of $3,300 to $4,500.
• The ROI: If you normally pay a professional company $500 a year to hang and remove temporary Christmas lights, the Gemstone system pays for itself in roughly 7 to 8 years, while offering year-round architectural downlighting for free.

The App Experience

The Gemstone Hub app allows for extreme customization.

• You can select exactly which bulbs turn on (e.g., every 4th bulb).
• You can create custom animations (like chasing red and white lights for Valentine's Day).
• You can set complex timers based on sunrise and sunset in your specific zip code, so you never have to adjust the schedule manually as the seasons change or daylight saving time occurs.

If you have the budget and want the absolute cleanest, most versatile permanent lighting system on the market, Gemstone Lights is incredibly difficult to beat.