Electrical Wiring Scheme

Once I had all of the bits necessary for a successful installation of the tape wire system, it was time to stage the furniture to determine once and for all the placement of the tape runs.

Before laying out the tape runs, the dilemma of how to hide the connector had to be solved. I think a bit of garden wall will do the trick.The red sketch is approximate. The final design yet to be determined.

The white donuts mark where lights will be attached to the tape wire. When on the floor, it indicates a ceiling light below.

Bathroom

Bedroom

Middle Floor Hallway

Maid's Room and Top Floor Hallway -- the bed was being auditioned. It is too large, will be replaced by a cot.

Living Room -- rug will probably not remain in here

Ground Floor Entry Hall

Dining Room

Next step: replacing the blue tape with tape wire.

Studio Organization

The studio has been in a state of flux since the move-in, a year ago. I've been arranging and re-arranging for most of that time but never quite got it together. With company coming this week, I finally made some serious progress.

Here is a clockwise tour of the room.

The door to the room is to the left, opposite the window.  An old desk has been re-purposed as a worktable.  It is in a good position, near the window, and with a couple of adjustable lamps and the ceiling light, there is all the light I need. The room is carpeted, but the Roomba keeps it relatively tidy. 

Moving around the room in a clockwise direction, this is the view from the doorway. I have a stool stashed out of sight that I use when working on the house. This U-shaped works pace is user friendly. (The luggage rack is awaiting the arrival of my guest. It is not usually in the room.)

The house in progress, the Beacon Hill is sitting on a piece of corrugated cardboard. It slides easily on the table, so the house can be turned around with no fuss. Beneath the table are tubs holding bits and pieces of the BH -- stairs, roof sections, electrical components, etc., that are completed and ready for installation. One tub  holds landscape materials. The egg crate holds moldings and other strip wood. The table under the TV is actually a drafting table, but it is most useful as a flat surface holding a couple of kits. It is a place to put components to one side while glue dries. The tub below holds fabric.

The door leads to the closet. The 6" shelves above the table hold furnishings and accessories, mainly for the Beacon Hill. Below the table, along with a couple storage boxes,  is a lid from a cardboard banker's box that holds materials that can be moved to the desk when needed and tucked away when not needed. I've been mostly sanding and prepping components, so it holds emery boards, gesso, stain, brushes, Exacto knives, etc. The door to the room is immediately to the right of the shelves.

The closet is organized with plastic drawer units from Walmart. The space to the right is 48" wide and holds two units. The bit of pink plastic is part of the second unit. These are not totally useful. Heavier items, like paint, tend to cause the unit to sag, which makes the drawers stick. I'm considering removing the upper shelf and replacing the draw units with wire shelving. The drawers would be stored on the shelves, easy to get to their contents. A couple of the drawers hold bits and pieces of the Beacon Hill, things like windows, shutters, trim, etc., organized and labeled in plastic bags. One drawer holds the bits that were punched out of the sheets; the other holds the bits that have been sanded. 

Shelves and tubs in the garage hold power tools and a makeshift spray booth, a re-purposed large cardboard box. It is still a work in progress. I'd like to add pegboard above the worktable and perhaps get a proper wooden work bench with a vice, but for now the makeshift arrangement suffices. The only power tool in the studio is the pistol-grip Dremel.

Scrap Art

When all of the pieces of a kit have been punched out, what remains is often an interesting composition of positive and negative space. I've been saving the  remnants, and turned two sets into interesting wall art.

A dinosaur kit from Michael's got me started. I watched young cousins assemble the animal but was fascinated by what was left over. Eventually it came together as Jungle Beat.

A Greenleaf Dollhouses kit -- I don't recall which one -- inspired City Lights. Not as organic, a different vibe altogether. (Click the photo for a larger version.)