Roombox Lights!

Other than the one floor lamp in the work area, the lights for the roombox will be indirect LED lights. These are the kind that come in a strip. Some will hide behind a beam installed above the railing in back and the rest will be installed behind a strip at the front of the box. This is a new breed of lighting for me and took a little experimentation.

In keeping with my efforts to use what I have on hand as much as possible, I rummaged through the electrical toolbox and found a plug-in strip, brads, a bag of cords and plugs cut from lights used in other projects. (I soldered their wires to a tapewire, thus having plugs and cords left over.)

This is my test piece, one section of the light strip wired with a plug. The wires are just wrapped around brads for this test. I'll solder them for the actual installation. The lights have a sticky back back for mounting, but I didn't want this test to be permanent so I taped it to a short piece of the beam.

Here is the test. Can't tell you how excited I was when both the LED and lamp both lighted on the first try.  The beam will extend from side to side. The light here is from the three tiny LEDs on the test strip. I think two 3-light sections will be more than adequate to light this small area. The instructions say the lights are equal to a 120-degree spotlight. In the test they are aimed toward the back wall. In the actual installation, I'll angle them downward a bit. 

The socket strip is constructed in four sections, each with its own switch, so I could turn off the lamp and leave the overhead and/or outside lights on if the mood strikes. And the ceiling fan can have its own control, too, if it is linked to the 12v system.

Now that I know the electrical installation is within the realm of possibility, the ceiling needs to be installed. I tested a wash of thinned paint and like the effect. It is the same Ceramcoat Dove Gray that is used on the trim.

This is what it will look like against the beams and crown molding. The wash is still wet in this picture. I want to give the whole ceiling a coat of satin finish polyacrylic so it will have a metalic look, like a pressed tin ceiling.

Tomorrow the ceiling will go in, followed by the lighted beams and the crown molding. That's the plan, anyway.