Hi, friends! Me again! I’ve been working on this bookshelf the past week. I just got a picture light and is great at lighting the main photo, but the bottom shelves are shadowed/dark at night.
I want to add LED strips, but as you can see, the thinner, adjustable shelves do not have a “lip” that the strips can hide behind for uplighting. I also thought of using channels and painting the exposed area the same as the bookcase (have extra paint). I can do the lights on the sides only and that would hide them, but I don’t really know what that looks like… Oh… P.S. I don’t have the tools to make channels onto the shelves themselves to make them recessed
Also, if anyone knows of a good video or photo comparisons of what the different lighting directions look like on shelves, I would appreciate it! That would probably help me narrow down the look I’m going for.
Go to your nearest hardware box store and get some quarter round molding. Paint it to match your cabinets and attach across the underside of each shelf with the round facing forward and flat side facing backwards. Put your LEDs on that flat side in the back. I literally just got back from Home Depot buying some of that quarter round. It's $0.79/linear foot and can be cut easily with a hand saw.
You could also attach the LEDs to the underside of the shelf hidden behind the quarter-round molding. I recommend moving it around and taping it in place with painter's tape or similar until you get the best lighting w/out seeing the bulbs directly.
Did you just using mounting tape to attach the quarter round to the shelves or did you use a brad nailer? I’m trying to decide whether I want front lighting or back lighting. I think backlighting is more “dramatic” (and I’m all about drama), but I think because I wallpapered the back of the shelf, I’d have to cut out the matching strips of extra wallpaper that match the background rather than just painting
True, but I think it would make all the vintage perfume bottles look cool! I don’t have them all yet, but I may play around with it. Except I can only have it from the top because this shelf is only 3.5” deep, so that may not even look that nice. Backlighting and glass look so nice!
I am using the quarter round in a bedroom closet that doesn't have any lights. I ran a 6ft strip vertically and just used three 3M Command Strips on the quarter round. I actually put the LEDs on the curve because I wanted them aimed approximately 45 degrees from the wall that they were affixed. In a perfect world, I wanted a straight 45 degree cut but I didn't see that at Home Depot and I thought this would be close enough. That might be an option for you also.
Oh! They do have these at Lowe's. I think they're called Chamfer Strip Molding? I do like the thicker look for the shelves. It makes them look a bit more substantial as long as I do it right and like actually fill the gap with wood filler and repaint the whole front.
If you will re-paint them, I wold suggest that you use wood glue to stick them to the front of the shelf, and the be sure to sand the two together before and after you add the wood filler. If done right, you won’t be able to se the seam.
For one of my shelves that is setup for my sons, I have run the LED strips on the sides. That will work as long as the shelves don’t have to but tightly against them.
