Who wouldn’t want to sleep under the sparkling stars each night? I have been trying to create a sparkling star ceiling for quite some time. The result would have to be realistic. It would have the feeling of being outdoors, lying on the grass, under a starry night sky.
The first thing I thought of was the little “glow in the dark” stars sold in craft stores. The problem with these is that the adhesive fails after about a day or two. Then you have falling stars. They also lose their glow quite quickly once the lights go out. Your sparkling star ceiling won’t last.
The next idea was “glow in the dark” craft paint, stenciled on in star shapes. These, at least didn’t fall from the ceiling, but painting was messy and they weren’t sparkling as well as hoped. We had the same longevity problem with these as well.
A star projector was the next idea for a sparkling star ceiling. Problem is, we learned these are not as good as advertised. The images are not clear unless the room is absolutely pitch black. There is also a rather bulky projector that we didn’t want sitting in the middle of our bed.
We saw in a catalog, a company that creates a sparkling star ceiling. There was even some talk about a franchise. Alas, there were numerous negative complaints on the internet concerning this one.
At this point giving up seemed a great option but the towel was not ready to be thrown in. While shopping one day a sparkling star fabric was sighted. We thought that would work out OK if stapled to the ceiling. Frankly exhaustion had set in. After the fabric came home, it was decided to be a compromise on what we actually wanted.
What would be nice, is actual lights, that looked like sparkling stars, that could be turned off and on, was the next thought. This was at least headed in the right direction. Of course now we had to figure out how to situate them so that they didn’t just look like a set of lights on a ceiling.
Wow, so onward in the quest for a sparkling star ceiling. The subject of suspending an object from the ceiling and punching holes in it for lights came up next. It was quickly realized that the object had to be fireproof so that ended that.
Then there was an epiphany of sorts, in which Christmas lights and dark blue sheer chiffon fabric were encountered in the same day. Our sparkling star ceiling was about to be born. So now, finally, brought to you by a lot of thinking and trial and error, is how to make a sparkling star ceiling.
To make a sparkling star ceiling, take several strands of regular multi color miniature Christmas lights. Staple them to the ceiling in a back and forth line away from your power source (outlet), all plugged together as one strand. Now plug (into the last strand) multiple sets of white icicle lights strung and stapled the same way but this time toward your power source (outlet).
Plug an extension cord into the very last strand. Staple the extension cord onto the wall all the way down to the outlet so that it can be plugged in. Two precautions should be taken. Do not staple into the light wires as this could cause shock. Keep the lights away from the fabric, this could be a fire hazard.
As for the dark blue sheer chiffon fabric, it will be stapled to the ceiling to form a sort of loose, billowing cover for the lights so the wiring doesn’t show. When the extension cord is plugged in this whole thing makes the most beautiful sparkling star ceiling you have ever seen.
You may think this was a lot to go through for a sparkling star ceiling but we absolutely love it and are decorating our entire room around it. Sleeping under the stars every night sounds fabulous, doesn’t it?
Source :
personal experience
