Let there be lights!

Today I worked on the sitting room lights. Remember all of the light wires coming up through the floor by the stairs? I made four lamps from beads and jewelry findings and put the fifth light in the center gable, behind the top of the hanging shelf unit. (More about that below.) I used one of the sample window shades from Lowe's as a floor covering to hide the wires. I had to cut a quarter inch off each side to fit, but it will work. I looks a bit wonky right now because of the snarl of wires under it. When they're sorted out, it will lie flat.

The two lamps lying on the floor will go on the little tables I made. I'm going to drill a hole in the table top and run the wire down through it. The tables will be glued in place. The lamps are jewelry findings with a wooden wheel for a base, which will be painted. The bulb is stuck up inside a plastic bead. I used my handy Dremel to enlarge the hole in the bead so it will fit.

The end tables will be painted cream with sage and brown trim, I think. I cut the ends off some Houseworks pieces for the legs. I have no idea what scale this is. The whole house is sort of elf scale. I'm just eyeballing relationships and going from there.

The lamps on the dresser are also wired in place. I think the bulbs will stay unadorned. If they look too raw when lighted, I'll figure out shades for them. The top of the dresser is a bit rough, but it will have a nice doily or something similar to cover the rough part. I think it adds character to the piece. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!)

This is what the back of the dresser looks like. I drilled four holes and connected them with the Dremel saw blade so as to have a place to pull through the lamp wires. I added an extra piece of wire to each one after I took this photo and now have to wire them up to the stubs left sticking out of the floor.

The wiring for the upper cabinet is hidden behind the door, which will never be opened. The photo below shows the single bulb atop the unit. I surrounded it with little mirrors that won't be seen by the casual observer but will, I hope, help enhance the light and cast it upward for effect.

Both the wall unit and dresser are now glued in place. This gives me a little discomfort, as I have no idea whether the lights will work. It's a sort of Catch 22, as I can't test them until they're reconnected. And I can't reconnect them until they are fixed in their permanent place. I can't think of any reason why they won't work ... so that's what I'm hanging my hat on.

I started the day thinking I'd paint the little bits of furniture, but I kept staring at the pillows on the sofa and chairs and thinking how plain they were. I Googled pine cone clip art and found some pictures for inspiration, then painted the design on the pillows. I thought I'd like tassels on the corners of the pillows, but after tying 16 of them, I decided I didn't like the look at all. Instead, I glued an edging of embroidery floss around them. It added just the little zip they needed.

That finished, I considered the workbench and the need for a ladder. After a few minutes, the light came on. No need for the elves to climb up if the workbench were lowered. Out came the little razor saw, and voila! Problem solved!

I painted the little stools and chairs in primary colors. While waiting for them to dry, I rummaged through my stash again and found a kit for 3 toy boats that has been hanging around since the NAME conference in Kansas City a few years ago. I had fun putting them together. They're stored in a nice plastic shoe box with the rest of the finished interior items.

Since I had the paints out, I added some gold trim to the cookstove. It looks neater than this in real life, as it's too small to see the details. The gold brings out some of the detail. Photographs magnify every little mistake.

With the house emptied, I could run more white tape along the interior joints in the center gable. That will hold the back wall of the cuckoo's house in place as well as make a neater presentation.

I got out some beads and cut one of the upstairs lights off so I could work on lamps, but inspiration eluded me and I had to walk away. I guess there's not much point in doing lamps until I make the furniture they'll sit on. There's always tomorrow.

Making Progress

Well, this morning I got right to work. The new pillows for the hammocks turned out much more to my liking, and the old pillows moved to the sitting area furniture, so they're not a total loss. I like it when things work out.


Here's the upholstery in progress. It was purely a cut and paste operation.



The final product isn't really final. I think there needs to be a bit of trim at the base, but for now I'm considering it finished. The pillows worked well with the cloth, which I found in my stash. No need to hit the fabric store today. I just noticed the threads in the photo ... they're loose. The upholstery isn't falling apart!


And here's the workbench. I don't like that it's blocking a window, but I don't know where else to put it. I could sort of wall off that part of the room by putting it perpendicular to the wall, but then it would be harder to see all of the little items on the bench. Do you see the chair on the bench? I just happened to have two of them in my stash. And note the stepstools for access to the workbench. I think the elves will need something a little less prone to an OSHA crackdown before we get much further along with this project.