Cove accent lighting adds romantic appeal to a bathroom.
Incorporating some kind of accent lighting is wise to achieve aesthetically pleasing lighting in a room. It might not have a purpose other than to be eye-catching and dramatic, but that is reason enough to look into bathroom cove lighting. The easiest way to put cove lights in an existing bathroom is to add crown molding a few inches from the ceiling and run cable lighting behind the molding. The resulting defused, upward lighting adds a glow to the perimeter of the room that gives it an expensive, appealing appearance.
Instructions
1. Measure the perimeter of the bathroom or along the wall on which you want to install cove lights. Enough 1-by-4-inch lumber and crown molding is needed for those measurements. The lumber acts as the ledger pieces to which the crown molding is mounted.
2. Clamp each end of a 1-by-4-inch lumber, or ledger, piece to a sturdy, flat work surface outside. Put on safety glasses and work gloves.
3. Cut out a detail along each ledger's length with a rotary cutting tool fitted with the bit of choice. Cut the detail in the bottom of each ledger so that the edge of each ledger blends nicely with the bottom of the crown molding.
4. Apply two coats of white paint to each ledger and crown molding piece. Allow all the painted pieces to dry.
5. Hold one piece of crown molding against one piece of ledger, and mark with a pencil where the should be mounted based on the detail you cut with the rotary tool. Repeat this step for each ledger piece.
6. Attach small corner blocks to each ledger piece with wood glue every 18 inches along the mark you made. Pin the corner blocks in position with two nails from a nail gun shot into the corner blocks at a 45-degree angle.
7. Drill pilot holes every 18 inches along each ledger. They will make screwing the ledgers into the wall easier.
8. Mark a chalk line along the wall 10 to 12 inches from the ceiling. Install with the bottom edge along the chalk line. Insert 1-inch long screws through the pilot holes and into the wall.
9. Drop a dime-sized dollop of construction adhesive onto each corner block on the first ledger strip. Set the crown molding in place one section at a time to prevent the construction adhesive from drying before you are done. Secure the crown molding in place with nails from the nail gun.
10. Hook sections of cable lighting together until you have a strip that extends the appropriate length for the cove light installation. Plug the lighting into a nearby electrical outlet, and run it behind the crown molding the length of the wall.
Tags: crown molding, each ledger, ledger piece, corner blocks, each ledger piece, , accent lighting