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Hi, I'm sure you have enjoyed all the photos of Jacquie's Salon, the lobby and Sindy's Patisserie in the ground floor of the Grand View (Mattel rehabbed Grand Hotel). Well part of all that ambiance was lighting. I thought going battery power would be cheaper than electric lighting. NOT SO!
Here are all the lights I had in the ceiling. Those great press lights that hook up with magnets to the ceiling(sometimes)...totally eat batteries. I had hedged at spending $40-ish dollars for plug in permanent lighting. Thinking that temp or battery would be sufficient to do the 5 foot by 20" grand hotel. Lots of light comes down the atrium lobby, but all this wasn't really enough, especially when I had to turn on 8 switches each time and turn them off again when done. The homemade hanging lamps are still great, but I may choose to change those also.
Here is the Hotel emptied and the walls pulled off (I use velcro to attach them) and open when I need to take photos or work inside.
I had bought this LED light tape with clips---that actually changed colors after Christmas. The directions said you could make 1" diameter turns? and apply with the sticky backing.
Here's the tape...a nice bright light---16 feet, but...turning corners when lying flat wasn't possible even a 30 degree turn wasn't possible, it kinked horrible. And, someone had stolen all the clips from the box, and the sticky back stuff didn't work at all,
despite a smooth clean surface.
I totally canned that solution. I can use them somewhere else outside!
Here I am trying to figure out if I could mount it to the sides. Totally not workable.
There are lots of flexible strips on the market---for me---this did not work at all. It is flexible around things, but lying flat not!
I dismantled the hotel central pillars and removed the rest of the jointed second floor. Normally I like to leave as much of an original structure as possible. But I hacked and sawed all the rest of the second floor off, just leaving the small strips of original floors attached to the front to place the fitted wood floor over. Support wise, I don't need any pillars, they were just decorative.
We had used a larger set of IKEA lighting for the Grand's dollhouse here:
It had been very successful and is still working 5 1/2 years later.
It was 4 weeks before I got to IKEA, they don't ship lighting except with like an entire kitchen order, and covid kept me away from making the trek. I bought three sets of 3pc. Ledberg lighting. Which is in 11" straight pieces in that you can use 1, 2, or 3 pieces together. Nice thing is there are no exposed parts and they have screw in clips which are very secure. There are several different types of cabinet lighting sets, choose what works best for you.
Here is a closeup of the clips. Easy to pull out also.
Lots of cord between fixtures...and switches.
The atrium hole is in the back center. I have always planned on finishing molding around the atrium hole, and that will be next.
Removing the pillar block supports was pretty easy I just twisted them off and then tipped over the whole structure and removed the screws.
Here you can see the plastic floor supports along the front wall where the floor is fitted over.
I had to test the lighting. I think this works well. Not too bright! but definitely fills the space. PS---the lighting for this floor cost about $30.00...less than 4 years ago.
Here's from the other end---that's a lot of tile...luckily I saved a couple of sheets from the doing the orginal floors.
The color had mellowed a bit since they were applied.
I fitted like six tile images over the holes which I cleaned and wiped with alcohol. Good old modg-podge, wrinkled but then shrunk out when dried.
You can see a slight variance in color---but a coating of sealer will add just a bit of yellowing to make it match exactly.
I'm so glad to have this done, and when the hotel is put back together it will be great. I have some moldings to change. I really need the room in the workroom right now, so it will be packed a way for a month or so, so I can catch up with other projects.
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What sort of lighting
do you use for your dolls?
PS. I am not advertising the products I use, I simply state a name brand because I actually like and use the product. I have not received any payment, gratuity, or product for using the products shown.
Thanks for viewing and feel free to ask me any questions or inquiries, and I will get back to you.
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Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi
