Shelf Layout Lighting

 Next step in the shelf layout project is to add some lighting.  My room is pretty well lit but I really wanted to highlight the layout.  I am hoping to achieve a shadowbox effect.

The light fixture I selected are from Commercial Electric. These are LED, like most things these days, and come in several different lengths.  I used a mix of 2' and 4' fixtures.  The nice thing about these is they are linkable.  This allows so several fixtures to be daisy-chained together off of a single power cord and switch.  This really simplified the installation.

The overall effect is pretty good but not quite as bright as I had hoped.  I think this will work out fine but  might look into some additional lighting down the road.

Finishing the Shelves

 Once again, I have let several months pass without a blog update.  I have actually been very busy with the hobby, I have just been lazy about posting.  After my last update in August work continued on the new shelf layout.  By the end of the month the shelves were all installed and the foam tops installed.

The shelves are made of particle board with melamine coating. This makes then very hard and slick.  To glue down the foam insulation board I used Loctite Power Grab All Purpose Construction Adhesive.  This stuff worked great.  It is a little tough to use from a tube for this size project so I have to go back and get the caulking gun tubes.

Before I glued the foam down I prepped the ends of the foam boards and the joints in the shelves.  I wanted to make sure the shelves and the ends of the foam did not get glued together incase I ever need to take the layout down.

In order to make sure I got a good bond to the shelf I weighed down the foam with some books.  This worked out great and the foam is not going anywhere.

After the shelves were installed and the foam added I realized that my inside corners were just too sharp and were going to be an issue.  I had some scrap wood so I cut some triangles to make a better transition.  Some scrap foam was added to bring it up to the level of the rest of the layout.

I wanted to make sure the inside corners were as sturdy as the rest of the shelves so I used heavy framing hardware to attach them.  This does not move at all.

I am much farther along with the project now and I will be posting a couple more updates very soon. One thing I wish I had done different at this stage is the inside corners.  I realize now i would have make them much larger but they will still work.  Stay tuned for more updates.