Lighting a Desk, Pantry, or Bookshelves with LED Strip Lights
Once again we're indebted to Lifehacker for directing us to this tutorial on how to construct an inexpensive automatic light for desk drawers. It's an interesting solution to a common problem - that problem where we often find ourselves waving our hands around blindly in search of that stapler we know is in there somewhere (but which has actually been in our other hand all along). It has also engaged our imagination - all you need is a strip of LED lights, a 9V battery, a couple of common electrical items, and a spare couple of hours. But why stop there? Other unconventional places in the home could use a little illumination. Lighting the Inside of Your Desk According to the tutorial above, you'll need a 9V battery, a PCB, resistors and transistors, a strip of LEDs if you want to try this yourself. As well as a few electrical items. There is always the option of wiring the LEDs to a switch, or even fitting a wardrobe light if there's enough space in the drawer. We don't recommend doing this at work, though - your boss likely won't be too happy about you spending half the morning with some glue and scissors. Perhaps in the home office? Illuminating the Midnight Snack Run Another thing that got us thinking was this wonderful pantry makeover - but while it's nicely painted and organised, we think it could use some lighting for the midnight snack raids. Again, wardrobe lights are your friend here, but we can go bigger: we have a little, tiny, really very small 2A push-to-break switch designed for inside cupboards. That way, the pantry can match fast cash online the fridge: when the door is open, the lights will come on. When it's closed, they'll go off. See? It's not fairies turning off the lights in the fridge after all. It's just electricity. We knew our mothers were telling fibs. Drawing Attention to the Library Moving out of the kitchen and the office for a moment and into the living room - or the grand library, depending on the size of your house - the humble bookshelf is due an upgrade, don't you think? Those LED strips will work very well on the underside of the shelves. This naturally draws attention to your many leather-bound books, but it cannot make your home smell like Mahogany. It's a nice home feature, and when your friends ask where you got the equipment, just send them to us. We don't mind if you take credit for the idea. For artistic types we even a colour-changing LED strip that works in RGB space, meaning it can be programmed to light up the bookshelf in any colour - making it an instant home feature. It can even be set to change colour at various intervals! There are surely a lot of other places around the house that could use some lighting - what do you think? With a strip of LEDs and a bit of imagination, what great home improvements could you accomplish?
