Fairly self-explanatory, really. It's a carpet. Which has bioluminescent properties. It doesn't even have to be BIO-liminescence - although you would hurt your feet walking on the hour hands of recycled glow-in-the-dark wristwatches (or minute hands, according to shag-pile length preference).

It would provide just enough glow to illuminate the bottom edge of the desk / staircase / guests who have stayed too long, for avoidance /not tumbling to your undignified doom / kicking purposes. Also, it would enable one to see if a door is already open, saving on toe/nose/old fella stubbing, and feeling foolish when reaching for the handle when it is a foot further away than thought.

Energy expended at night would be naturally replenished during daylight hours, unless you are Miss Haversham, who kept the curtains drawn always, in which case some kind of dual candlelight/bitterness mechanism has to be devised. That said, the fire that kills her at the end of the book would have provided ample light energy, so it's not such a problem.

This is my first oven offering, so constructive thoughts appreciated.
-- friendlyfire, Oct 19 2002

Glow in the dark paint http://acmehardware...il.aspx?sku=6181929
Building on [wag]'s comment. [Worldgineer, Jan 18 2005]

I think what you may be fumbling for in the dark is a light switch.
-- po, Oct 20 2002


I like this idea, except that what I would really like is a house filled with fireflies and glow worms, that sleep in the day and come out in the dark and flash around everywhere. The problem with a carpet is that stuff gets on it, and if it were a luminous carpet, the stuff that got on it would obscure its luminosity.
-- rabbit, Oct 20 2002


'the stuff that got on it would obscure its luminosity'

Exactly, Rabbit - stick to the bits of carpet you can see, and you won't hit anything. Unless you mean dirt, in which case I urge you to get a vacuum cleaner. Though your firefly notion would be great for childrens' bedrooms. Or raves.

Po, the carpet means you don't have to turn on the lights, thus saving you from the pain of bright light stabbing into your fully-dilated pupils.
-- friendlyfire, Oct 20 2002


This idea rocks. One green glowing berber croissant.
-- RayfordSteele, Oct 22 2002


What if you stub your toe not because you can't see, but because you're not paying attention?

Also - not everyone's read "Great Expectations."
-- snarfyguy, Oct 22 2002


Snarfyguy - if you're not paying attention to where you're going, then no amount of light can help you.

As for Great Expectations, there have been many adaptations made for British TV (from which, I admit, most of my memory of the tale come, having read the book only once, at school), and there was also that dodgy Ethan Hawke film. Not to mention the magnificent South Park adaptation, presented by Malcolm MacDowell, "A British person". But I take your point nonetheless.

UB - with the carpet, I do not intend to produce enough light to really illuminate other things, just to be visible itself. Furniture will be silhouetted against the gentle glow, and appear like a hole in the ground. Frankly, if I saw what looked like a bottomless pit in my living room, I'd avoid it like the plague. Also, the ceiling would not receive as much sunlight during the day as the floor. That said, perhaps coloured glow-strips along the ceiling to point to various rooms - red for kitchen, blue for bathroom, etc - would complement the carpet scheme nicely.
-- friendlyfire, Oct 25 2002


ff -- re first para of your anno: my point exactly!
-- snarfyguy, Oct 25 2002


Yay... Glowing floors. That sounds sorta cool. I support this.
-- bovinemilk, Feb 19 2004


From my accidental experience of bioluminescence with glowing raw chicken bits caused by a bacteria called pseudomonas fluorescens, I propose a carpet of rotting chicken flesh.
-- Captain_Ignorant, Feb 20 2004


The bioluminous carpet organism could derive its nourishment from the dust, bits of dead skin, dirt, etc that inevitably make their way onto the carpet.
-- Knife Knut, Jan 18 2005


What happened to fluffy?
-- Worldgineer, Jan 18 2005


Glow in the dark light switches are baked in many places and very useful. Given how useful they are I see no reason that the same principle could not be applied to stairs, doors and the rest of the house. These outlines could be more usefully implemented by using glow in the dark tape, but the carpet idea is sooo much cooler.
-- wagster, Jan 18 2005


You could wear clogs and litter your house with wintergreen lifesavers.
-- tiromancer, Jan 18 2005


[wag] Perhaps glow-in-the-dark floorboards? I might just have to buy some paint and bake that. (see link)
-- Worldgineer, Jan 18 2005



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