Homemade cove from MDF with spotlights and LED strips, by Max

Description

Always wanted a cove in the living room with HUE spotlights and LED strips to be able to adjust the lighting intensity and color entirely according to your wishes. Since I have no experience at all with wood and painting, I took plenty of time to figure everything out and make it as neat as possible. All in all, I am very satisfied with the result: it looks beautiful and the lighting is as desired... more beautiful than it can be seen in the photo.

How I made this project

First, the dimensions were taken to make a frame to screw the 9 mm MDF panels (sawn to size) against. When measuring, it turned out that the house was not completely straight and correction was necessary here and there. Then use planed spruce slats of 18x44 to make the framework as straight as possible. Used 3.5 x 40 screws with 6x30 plugs to secure it to the wall and ceiling. The same screws also used for the lath-lath connections with a little construction adhesive. After the framework was ready, the dimensions of the required MDF panels were measured and ordered. Neatly sawn and delivered to my home after a few days and the real work could begin. In the meantime, the electricity has been prepared and all spotlights have been connected and registered on HUE. Then drilled the bottom plates around 68 mm for the spotlights and screwed them all together with the standing plates to the frame with 3.0x25 screws. After filling and sanding the standing MDF panels, the corner profile was mounted and the HUE LED strips installed and connected. Finally, the finishing edge was placed. The height of the MDF I ordered was 5 cm high and did not produce a nice light pattern against the ceiling. A clear line was visible in the light beam. That's why I bought a 4x30 skirting strip from the hardware store and installed it. Gives a very nice light fan result and with round corners it finishes perfectly. After this, a days-long filler, sanding, paint, sanding, filler (with MDF filler) session began... after 4 layers the result was as desired: smooth and sleek.

Dimensions of my DIY project

Cove width: 30 cm Ceiling bottom height: 9.5 cm and 10.5 cm (extension) Height of finishing frame: 3 cm Length of total cove: 18 meters