Indoor paper lantern lighting how-to

January 27, 2019 5:08 PM

I bought a few Orion paper lanterns (they're actually some type of thin plastic-y material) to hang along a wall in my living room. I love the way they look unlit, but I'd like to figure out how to light them up safely without having cords dangling all over my wall. Help?

From what I've come across there are two main lighting options for paper lanterns: battery powered LED lights (yay no cords! boo terrible battery life) and standard hanging light pendant cords (yay, no worrying about batteries running out. Boo cords all the way down the wall).

Is there something I'm missing?

It seems like battery powered LED lights max out at something like 100 hours of light time, and I would likely be using these on a nearly daily basis.

Alternatively, any tips for making the cords less obtrusive looking? I'm a renter, so can't do anything permanent like painting or hanging framed art over the cords.

posted by forkisbetter to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

What about plug-in pendants with decorative cord?
posted by kittydelsol at 5:18 PM on January 27, 2019

Get these and stuff them into the paper lantern. The cords are very thin and inconspicuous. Use silver wire for light walls and copper wire for dark walls. Use Command Strips for cord management.
posted by irisclara at 5:21 PM on January 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

For rental applications like this, I like getting (or making!) some kind of canvas or framed art to route the cords behind. You could do something really minimalist - make a painting of a neutral ombre - or get a printed canvas or poster of the sort of storefront stretch like in the photo you linked. You could also do distressed boards, driftwood, paper scrolls, etc to cover each cord.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:08 PM on January 27, 2019 [2 favorites]