In a continuation of the easiest electricity ever, I added the ceiling lights to the downstairs rooms of the Gull Bay cottage. Normally with a ceiling light I would snip off the plug, drill a small hole in the ceiling, and run the wire to the floor above. But with the Gull Bay I wanted to keep the plugs, so I had to get creative.

Starting with the dining room (the smallest room!), I made a false ceiling by gluing a piece of ceiling paper over a piece of cardboard. I slit the ceiling paper to run the cord through to the other side of the paper.

I cut a big enough hole in the cardboard for the plug to fit through. This is covered up by ceiling paper on the good side of the ceiling. I wrapped ceiling paper around the two edges that show, so the cardboard wouldn’t be visible.

With the paper glued onto the cardboard you can’t even see the slit. This might not work as well with other types of paper. I used a textured, real-life wallpaper I bought a roll of years ago at Lowe’s. Between the texture and the bulk of the paper, the slit pretty much disappears.

I drilled a hole in the floor of the house that the plug could fit through, and pulled the cord through to the bottom of the house. This way the light can plug into the outlets under the house, as shown in my previous blog.

Ta da!

With the dining room light done, I repeated the process in the kitchen and living room. The cords running down the walls and over the floor will be covered up with wallpaper and hardwood flooring, which I’ll post about next time.

After my not so great experience(s) adding lights to the Queen Anne Rowhouse, I swore I’d never electrify another dollhouse again. But since the Gull Bay is enclosed on all four sides, it would be impossible to see inside through the windows without lights. Luckily it’s a smaller house, and the way it’s constructed made this a much easier task than with the rowhouse.

I bought six fluorette sockets and frosted bulbs (for diffused light), planning to use three upstairs and three downstairs in strategic places where you couldn’t see them through the windows. (The kitchen, which is fully enclosed, needed a different solution since a fluorette on the kitchen wall would prevent the back half of the house from sliding in and out.) For the upstairs lights, I was debating whether to put them here (in the peak)…

…or here (along the top).

I decided on the peak and got this far before using up my tapewire.

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