A hobbit-hole in my backyard? It may sound crazy, but I can tell you that my kids love it. It is the coolest playhouse ever. Plus, they can enjoy the grassy hill for sledding in winter and water sliding in summer. This was all my wife's idea. She dreamt it, and I got to be the one to bring it to reality. I'm not a construction expert; this was a total do-it-yourself job by a complete amateur. It has turned out rather nicely, I think. Here is the story of how it came to be.

Since this is in blog format, the posts are in order from newest to oldest. To read this in chronological order, start with How it all Began and use the "Newer Post" links. Or click on the links under Blog Archive, in order.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Wiring for the lights and fixture

You may wonder what this is. Well, hopefully later pictures will make it more clear, but I will try to explain. Inside the hobbit-hole right now, there is nothing but a 4-foot wide by 15 foot long floor in what is otherwise an empty corrugated metal pipe. In order to get lighting in there, and also to separate the space inside into two "rooms" I am building a rounded partition wall, to be placed a little short of half-way in the pipe. There will be no door in this wall, only an opening. The first "room" will be like an entry, with a bench, and hooks for walking sticks and pointy hats and such. The second "room" will be sort of a parlor, with places to sit, and probably a small table.

Wiring from the outside will pass through the front of the hobbit-hole and run hidden under a bench/shelf that I will build on the left side as you enter. From there it will run into this partition wall. You can see the guts of that wall, pre-assembled here. I have wired it for a fixture and four lights (only two boxes for lights are visible; the other two are on the opposite side. This way, both rooms will be lit with two light fixtures. They will be old fashioned looking--reminiscent of old lanterns, to be more consistent with a real hobbit-hole (which of course has no electricity).

This is just about ready to haul out and install in the hobbit-hole. It will be a tight fit, and will take a bit of clever maneuvering to get in place, but I have done a dry run, so I know it will work.



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