DIY Home Project that LED to a Brighter Bookcase!

Before & After LED Lights

Looking for a neat & inexpensive way to spruce up a bookcase, or need under-cabinet lighting? Why not use LED lights to create a soft, warm glow to show off your collectibles, create mood lighting, or help with food prep? Generally, the cost is about $30. You can find this helpful product at your local Home Depot or even Amazon. Best of all, it uses almost no electricity!

Check out these simple steps for a quick trip to luminary heaven.

LED Light Instructions

• STEP 1 – Cut to Length

Look closely at the actual strip, there’s a line about every two inches where you can safely cut. Snip away on that dotted line until you reach your perfect length.

• STEP 2 – Just Stick It

Next, peel off the backing and the strip is already sticky, so feel free to stick it where ever you want. Each of our bookshelves are made of 3/4-inch thick wood, so we nailed a thicker piece of trim on the front to make the shelves light up perfectly.

• STEP 3 – Connect the Transformer to the Lights

The transformer comes with a plug that connects directly to the lights. The only thing you have to do is Connect the male end to the female end. At this point, just plug the transformer into the wall, and you’ll have light! But if you want to connect more sections of light (like we did when we created a new section for each shelf), things get a little more complicated…

• STEP 4 – Attaching More Lights

Stick your next strand where you want it. Using two pieces of 12-volt wire from your local home improvement store, solder the wire to the pads on the light strip. Make sure you connect the positive side of one strip, to the positive side of the other strip, and there you have it! At this point, you can stop where you are, plug in the transformer to the wall, and you’re set. Otherwise, you can continue connecting different light sections until your whole house is illuminated. 

• STEP 5 – Hide Your Transformer

Lastly, we stuck our transformer behind the bookshelf on the floor. But you may have to get a little clever and hide it in something on top of your bookcase, or tape it to the back. If we were installing under-cabinet lights in the kitchen, usually we would hide it inside one of the cabinets.

To see the fully “Tweaked” project, click here to go to the Downtown Living. 

Happy Tweaking!