Lighting it all up, Pt.I
I was FINALLY able to sit down, (even if it was only for a little while) and do some work on the much neglected farmhouse. While I only worked for a short time, I feel like I got a lot accomplished!!!
The pieces that I will use to create the front door finally arrived, so the first thing I did was to measure out the frame to make sure of the fit. Once that was (temporarily) in place, I measured out where the exterior light will go, and using my dremel tool(with a small drill attachment) I cut through a hole from front to back.
Once that was done, I flipped it over and cut the channel that I will use to hide the wire, again using my dremel. Remember from a previous post that I am round-wiring so cutting channels is a necessity in order to hide the wires.
The front exterior light cord will go through this hole I pre-drilled, and then the wire will lay hidden in the channel shown below, I will wallpaper over this so you won't be able to see the wire.
My dremel attachment tool, while deep, is also small enough to cut a perfect channel, and the 1/2scale wire is thin enough that I don’t have to keep drilling and drilling, one pass made short work of it. This channel will hide the wire perfectly down to the floor, I will notch out the floor so it will sit flush, and then it's final resting place will be in the powerstrip that will be housed under the foundation, the rest of the interior lights will follow in suit.
I will detail more on the powerstrip at later time as the foundation intended for this house is a large thick solid block of MDF. As a result of this, unlike most other dollhouses, there is no area underneath the foundation in which to use to hide the powerstrip. While I do have a place in mind, it's better saved for a later post.
I took to heart a tip from one of the miniature books I read early on, which said that you should create a back panel behind the exterior lights you choose to use. I always liked that idea and think it adds a finished and more realistic look. I had a 1/2scale stair tread left over from the Bungalow and as it had a pre-drilled hole in it already, I thought that it worked perfectly. I cut it to size and painted it my contrasting trim color, (Linen by FolkArt).
I will then mount it to the front of the wall, I need to first touch up and put a final coat of the green paint on before this is glued in place, (until then here is an image so you can get the general idea)…
The exterior coach light will sit right on top of this backer plate.
I then moved on to the interior lights. Going based on my plan and pre-drawn out sketches I was quickly able to cut all the channels that I will need for my lighting plan. I have everything labeled so I don’t get confused…
This is the bedroom light channel,
(to one side of the french door)…
This is the desk light channel,
(to the other side of the french door).
Channel for the desk light plug,
(on the third floor)…
This channel I cut a little deeper on the first floor,
(it will house the bathroom and kitchen wires)…
Bathroom light…
Kitchen light…
The images of the bathroom and kitchen lights that you are looking at are of the ceilings of these two rooms. The X's are drawn on the ceilings are to help me find the center of the rooms.
They are based on where the wall meets the ceiling, and not on the entire floor. RGT houses, esp. have exterior walls that are thick, and they can take up a little bit of width into your floor, so your ceiling is not necessarily on the edge of the floor...(does that make sense?). So during a dry-fit, I make pencil lines showing where this difference is, and then make the X's based on those lines.
Now that this part is finished, I can start moving on to the next step in the lighting phase…
Before I end this post, I must say "HI!" to my new follower... Jennifer!!! I love new followers, and I'm super happy she joined us! Check out her space at http://www.plushpussycat.com/
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