This post is about how to install indirect lighting around a room, specifically using Color Changing LED light strips.
Level Up Your Room’s Ambiance with Indirect Lighting
We have been creating a game/recreation room upstairs now that we have an empty nest. So far, we have a shuffleboard table; dartboard; game table; mini bar; big new wall TV (guess who wanted that); and a super comfy power recliner set (we have arrived!)
This photo below was taken while work was in progress. Now all our board games have a proper home under the shuffleboard. I even made a custom table for my husband’s favorite game: Yahtzee. I will eventually show more of these other projects as we make more progress in the room.
However, we are here to talk about indirect lighting.
This Is How I Installed Indirect Lighting with Molding Around the Perimeter of our Game Room
Amazon makes it possible to find any type of strip lights. It’s a bit overwhelming. I finally decided on a set based on the reviews. What I chose comes complete with peel and stick adhesive and a remote.
I could have just stuck these strip lights up there on the existing crown moulding. That’s what my Prince (aka husband) suggested. He thought leaving the cord hanging in the corner would be ok. Seriously? We are not in college. I was not doing that!
Indirect lighting was the look I was going for. I simply needed to decide what would work with our existing crown moulding.
But it was challenging, because that part of our ceiling is only 8 ft high. Because of this, I didn’t want a big obnoxious piece of moulding up there. However, the moulding also had to be big enough that I could hide the power supply.
I found the perfect solution at Lowe’s! This one in the photo below is lightweight Polystyrene which cuts beautifully with a miter saw. NOTE: it’s upside down in the photo.
Overcoming the First Hurdle of Installing Our Indirect Lighting
We are lucky that we have full attic access to the top of this room. My idea was to simply drill a horizontal hole through the existing crown molding. Because I thought the drill bit would just “pop out” where we could see it in the attic.
I don’t know how to describe all the stuff going on in the attic. But suffice it to say, the drill bit did NOT just “pop out” where we could see it in the attic. This stems from the fact that we had the center of the ceiling raised in that room a few years ago. So, there are headers and 2x4s all over the place. I had to bring in my Prince to help me out.
In the room, I’m on a step ladder shining a flashlight through the hole. We were trying to see where the hole ended up. Prince is up in the sweltering hot attic. Of course, the light from my flashlight could not be seen in the attic.
For some crazy reason, we didn’t think to use our phones. So we were yelling at each other through the ceiling. (Comical when I think about it now.) He’s shouting to let me know there are all sorts of obstacles in the way.
“No worries, I’ll just drill a new hole in the ceiling”, I excitedly suggested. Then Prince had to explain that wouldn’t work. He was going to have to drill down through a header. “Ok, let’s do it.” But we didn’t have a long enough drill bit. So we had to stop the project. Then we purchased an inexpensive long drill bit set and decided to start again the next day.
Overcoming the Second Hurdle of Installing Our Indirect Lighting
The next day, Prince got back up in the hot attic and tried to drill the hole. After 5 to7 minutes, he quickly realized that bit set was not going to get the job done. He drained the battery on the drill.
Back at the store, he purchased an auger style, super long drill bit. That did the job in no time! But he still couldn’t see the light that I was flashing from the room below.
We figured out that it was because we were not at the right intersection where my horizontal hole was supposed to meet up with his long vertical hole. Sounds kinda bad, lol ☹. We were dealing with the offset of crown moulding in the room so it was hard to gauge where the holes needed to be.
At this point, Prince is losing his patience. He says in that tone, “Why can’t we just hang the cord in the corner, like everyone else does?” “Because it won’t look right,” I snapped back.
From inside the room, we hammered a long nail in the ceiling of the room, right next to the crown moulding. This ended up being the solution to help guide him.
Overcoming the Third Hurdle of Installing Our Indirect Lighting
Back up into the hot attic, Prince went (such a stud!) Now he was able to see where he needed to make another long vertical hole.
In the room below, I hear lots of drilling followed by expletives. “What happened?”, I yell. “The blankety blank drill bit broke in the hole!”
The good news was that now he could see the light I was flashing in the horizontal hole! But we still couldn’t run the electrical cord through the vertical hole because it was now blocked by a blankety blank broken drill bit, lol!
Now he’s hopping mad. Complaining about this STUPID project of mine. So out of the attic he comes. I’m not sure what he was going to go look for to solve the broken bit problem.
But I went into the attic to see how bad it was. Sure enough, there’s a drill bit down in the hole, about 7” way out of our reach. I immediately start looking around the attic. It’s what I do. I KNOW that if I just look around, a solution will emerge.
I see the fish tape is laying there. (We needed it to help guide the electrical cord from the horizontal hole up through the vertical hole.)
So I used it to wedged into the hole where the drill bit was lodged. It worked perfectly. Up came the broken drill bit. Prince finally came back into attic with his “iffy” plan. He was relieved I had already solved the broken bit problem. 😊
Finally Some Progress for Installing Our Indirect Lighting
Now with a way to run the electrical, I proceeded with the installation of the moulding. I love my miter saw for projects like this. Since the longest pieces I could buy were only 8ft long. That meant I would have some joint seams.
I prefer scarf joints to butt joints for my seams. This guy explains it pretty well. https://tinyurl.com/yuyx8ted
Because this material is Polystyrene, I was concerned my brad nailer would break it. So I installed it with Liquid Nails and blue painter’s tape. That worked great.
It’s All in the Details
My last piece of molding to go up was one that I customized. Since this moulding is Polystyrene, I was able to carve it with a box knife. The idea was to make a place for the power supply so that it was not easily visible.
Prior to painting, I took this photo so you could see what I’m talking about. The depth of this power supply fit perfectly. And you can’t see the power supply over the top of the molding either. The thin pink lines below help you to see the definition of the molding profile. The thick pink line is pointing to the power supply that I “embedded” into the custom hole I made.
Dropping in the Strip Lights
Although this set of lights is peel and stick. I chose to drop them in just in case I ever have to replace them.
Once I made my way around the room, I simply cut the strip lights with scissors on the copper marks. The lights I purchased have copper marks about every 10”. So, you can get an almost exact measurement for indirect lighting.
And kudos to NEXillumi (makers of these LED strip lights). Even though I purchased my strip lights through Amazon, I was able to reach out to the seller (4 months after purchase). I was having an issue which they quickly resolved.
Using the App to Control Indirect Lighting
This set of strip lights has an IR sensor with the power supply. Since the power supply is now embedded into the molding, the remote won’t work with the lights. However, Nexillumi provides a super easy app you can download to your phone.
We prefer the App because its one less remote to keep up with. Great lights! They will even work with our music.
Materials Used for a 13.5’ x 17’ Room
(8) 8ft pieces of Polystyrene wall panel molding
Tools Used
Long Drill Bit (it broke, we took it back, so I would not recommend it)
Take Away
Unforeseen issues can cause some projects to take a lot more time than expected. But if you go into it, knowing this is a strong possibility, then it won’t surprise and derail you.
And don’t take it personal when your spouse gets mad during a project. Give them plenty of room to vent. It will all be over soon 😉
Here’s to Making it Fabulous!
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