It has been a couple of weeks since I did a tutorial and today’s post is going to help you transform a cabinet into a stylish addition to your home. I’ve been busy at work on my #555RoomChallenge and things are coming along. I can’t wait to show you the room reveal on March 5th!
Salty Dog installed under cabinet lighting to my “Be Green With Envy” cabinet last week but never showed it to you because I wanted to get the post “I admit it…I’m a gold freak” out. It was wonderful having him do this because Salty Dog made the cabinet into a showstopper. These light fixtures are easy to install and effectively remove shadows. I am absolutely in love and even more thrilled with the cabinet now!
I’ll admit it; I hesitated to get involved with this project because it seemed so over my head. I mean all the black and red wires seemed confusing and having to deal with a power supply just scared me. But Salty Dog showed me that this project was easier than I thought and was very patient in my learning curve. He made the teaching aspect of it so easy that I wanted him to share with you how he added the under cabinet lighting.
Salty Dog’s tutorial is broken down into two parts. The first section is for lighting up one shelf. The second section is for lighting up multiple shelves.
- If you only need one strip of LEDs, you can use the included adapter that came with your power supply. All you do is insert the black wire into the negative (-) socket and place the red wire into the positive (+) socket and tighten the screws.
2. Test your lights, power supply and switch. Plug the switch into the power supply and the LEDs into the switch. Touch the switch and ensure ALL the LEDs turn on. (They will be bright), Measure how long you need the strip lights. On the strip lights cut at the scissor marks only (where the four dots are).
3. Your LED strips are self-adhesive. Peel the backing and stick the strip where desired with your connector end in an inconspicuous location.
4. Plug your switch into the power supply (it only fits one way) and your LED strip at the other end. Touch your switch and the lights come on. Touch and hold and your lights dim. Touch and hold again and your lights brighten. Quick touch and release and your lights turn off.
- Each roll of LEDs comes with wires pre-soldered to each end. This means you can get two strips from one roll without soldering. If you need more than two strips, you will need to solder (I will not cover that in this post) or buy additional rolls of LEDs. For more than one strip, measure and cut additional LED strips from opposite ends of the roll. Be sure to only cut at the scissor marks.
2. Attach a FEMALE Power Plug Connector to the wires on the LED strip. Ensure the red wire goes to the socket with the (+) positive sign and the black wire goes to the socket with the (-) negative sign. Tighten the screws with the screw driver.
3. To make the harness to power your multiple LED strips, cut an appropriate length of the 18 gauge wire and strip about ¼ inch of the insulation off of both ends using a knife or some scissors.
4. Take a MALE DC Power cable and strip the wire ends to ¼ inch.
5. Twist the red wire of the male DC power cable with the red 18 gauge wire and the black wire of the male DC power cable with the black 18 gauge wire.
6. Insert the twisted red wires into the (+) positive socket of a FEMALE Power Plug Connector and secure with the Phillips screwdriver. Insert the twisted black wires into the (-) negative socket and secure with the screwdriver.
7. For the second strip of lights you only need to add a MALE Power Plug Connector to the remaining end. If needed you may add an additional MALE DC Power cable the same way you did in steps 3 – 5. Remember Red goes to (+) positive and black goes to (-) negative.
8. Inside the cabinet, drill inconspicuous holes in the back, directly behind the removable shelves and thread the strip connectors through the holes to the power harness.
Can’t see the holes now.
9. Plug your switch into the power supply (it only fits one way) and your power harness into the other end of the switch. Plug your led strips into your power harness. Touch your switch and the lights come on. Touch and hold and your lights dim. Touch and hold again and your lights brighten. Quick touch and release and your lights turn off.
And no soldering!!!
Check out these other bloggers who are joining me in the 555 Room Challenge.
Rebecca Celhar from Hello Central Avenue
Teri Moore from T. Moore Home
Libbie Burling from A Life Unfolding
Stacie Ab from Stacie’s Spaces
Kippi O’Hern from Kippi at Home
Sarah Almond from Salmonde