Christmas List – Stair Lights (WIP – Work In Progress) December 10, 2010
Posted by Sindy in Favorite Instructables, My Original Ideas.1 comment so far
First a little background story: Our house has a set of curved stairs. Since the house was built in the 70′s when there weren’t many laws about curved stairs, the end of the steps on the inside of the curve came to a sharp point. There was no place to securely put your foot on that end. There was also a super short step at the bottom (only 3″ tall) which was constantly tripping us, plus the house has few good window so it’s constantly dark.
15 years after we moved in, my Mom broke her leg on those stairs and my awesome grandpa (the best contractor in the Boise area in his time) came down and rebuilt them. They are still curved, but now they have a proper platform on both ends and the super short step is gone.
One problem persists though – the house is still dark. Even after we removed the dark blue carpet and installed a beautiful cream, it’s still dark. One of the tricks of DIYing Christmas is to listen to what people complain about, and those dark stairs are what I heard. Now, how to fix it?
I found some great Instructables on how to make stair lights (including one with an IR detector, which would be nice but there isn’t any good place to put it), but I have a simpler idea – battery-operated LED tea lights. They already have the bulb and the battery case in one unit, and they’re fairly cheap (I can get them for about 50 cents at my local dollar store). Plue, if a battery dies it’s only one light that goes out instead of all of them. I could also make reflector covers out of aluminum cans to direct the light down onto the step. There’s a nice wide overhang on each step to cover them too.
Now the question is how to attach them to the step – especially so they can be easily removed to replace the battery. I wonder if the hardware store has some really small L brackets I could glue on the sides and then screw into the stair riser? I’ll have to think about that one.
The Idea Journal May 21, 2010
Posted by Sindy in My Original Ideas.add a comment
The other day I had a brain storm in the shower (funny how they often come in the shower). It’s called an Idea Journal.
The idea is pretty simple – it’s just a little book where you record your ideas. Make sure to leave space for a sketch (I use the opposite page), the date, a short description, and how/where you got the idea.
I now have a little notebook in my purse, and it’s amazing how quickly it’s filling up. I’ve been recording fashion ideas, story ideas, and even thoughts about some everyday tasks. It’s super easy to use and the results are fabulous. Remember, this is like a brainstorm session on the go, so I write anything and everything that comes to mind. Even if it sounds dumb at the time, writing down everything is a great way to exercise your imagination muscles, and browsing it later can spark other and better ideas.
Here’s an example from my idea journal:
Last night (the 20th) as I watched TV a commercial came up (I can’t even remember what it was for) that had an interesting psychological trick. Like most commercials they said the phone number twice, but after the first time they said the phrase “Catchy number isn’t it?” referring to how the sounds of the phone number rolled off the tongue. Just this simple phrase catches people’s attention and they listen more carefully the second time the phone number is read. What an interesting and simple concept!
As I continue writing in this journal, perhaps I can post some of these ideas here on this blog.
If you decide to start an idea journal, feel free to tell us some of the ideas you write in it in the comments below, and let us know how it’s working for you.
