Creating mood lighting using your whiskey collection or any other coloured liquid is a great way make your room feel warm and cosy. It creates beautiful colours and shadows which add interest to any room.
There are hundreds of high quality light shelves available on the market these days using cutting edge materials and technology. There is a shelf to suit every situation and to match the decor of every room.
Here we will show you how to make a cheap and cheerful light shelf of your own to illuminate and display your favourite items.
Tools Required
- Carpenter’s Square
- Pencil
- Measure
- Multi-purpose Hand Saw
- Circular Saw (optional)
- Jigsaw
- Hand or Power Drill
- Wood Glue
- Assortment of Wood Drill Bits
- Screwdrivers
- Pliers
1. Begin by constructing the skeleton of the shelf using 50 x 50mm softwood.
- Cut the five pieces to the size required.
- Join together using wood glue and screws. Drill pilot holes for the screws. One screw for each joint will be sufficient.
- Lay the frame on a flat surface to ensure it is not twisted while the glue dries.
2. Cut pieces from, a sheet of 3mm MDF, to clad the front, side, and bottom of your shelf. A circular saw will come in handy here. However a hand saw is fine, it just takes a little more work and time. When cladding the front and sides, make them stand 5mm taller than the skeleton at the top.
3. Now is a good time to drill the holes through the back of your shelf for the floating shelf brackets to pass through. Check the size of your brackets to find the correct drill bit for the job. Try to drill the holes into the side pieces of the frame, avoiding your screws. Plenty of sandpapering comes next to get the best finish you can. Use wood filler if necessary.
4. It is time to install the light fittings. Fluorescent under cupboard light fittings work well. Make sure they are designed not to get very hot during operation. Purchase the ones that come pre-wired and that can daisy chain to one another by plugging cables in. Fix the light fittings to the inside of the skeleton frame. How many fittings you use is up to you and dependent on the size of your shelf. Drill a hole in the shelf for the feed wire to come out. Conceal this wire if possible. Either by using some plastic trunking, or maybe drill straight through the wall, so the wire goes into the next room. Put a 3 pin plug on the wire and plug it into the nearest socket when you are finished.
5. Fix your brackets to the wall. Some are just straight metal bars that screw into pre-drilled holes in the wall. Others will require screws to fix them. Now slide your shelf onto those brackets using the holes you drilled earlier.
6. All you have left to do now is cut your perspex to size. Be very careful when using the jigsaw and use a very fine blade. Drill some holes in the perspex to let out any heat that may be building up.
Making your own illuminated shelf is a great weekend project. It doesn’t have to be a floating shelf. Use shelving brackets or even span two walls in an alcove if you need to.
All that is left to do then is decide what you are going to display on your shelves. A job well done.