Pre-Makeover Kitchen Light Up!!

by Scarlett Butler

1 Material

$10

30 Minutes

Easy

The kitchen in this old farmhouse needs some work, but other priorities are calling. So, the kitchen will have to wait for this winter for its renovation. However, I found a little fix that will help in the meantime: Light it up!!! :)

Here is the “before” picture. Cabinets need painting, countertop needs a redo, dark and drab, but look what happens when you add these nifty little under-cabinet lights....

Here are the lights I purchased from Amazon. They are teeny little LED lights that come with a sticky backing. The ribbon I purchased had more than enough to completely encircle the undersides of my cabinets.

At one point, I had to run the lights around my sink in order to reach the second set of cabinets. The lights were very pretty uncovered, but they gave me a headache to look at them! I solved this by adding a little frame made of paint stirrers! I painted them green and glued them in place, right in front of the light ribbon. No more headache!

Ta-Dahhh! What a difference! Wait until I get those cabinets and the countertops done!

P.S. — Here is what they look like under the cabinet ... teeny little things.

One more “before” and “after” shot. Nice, right??

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3 of 6 questions

River on Aug 04, 2018

That looks great, great job! I have the same problem with my cabinets, I had a porch put on the back of my house which makes the kitchen darker and harder to see without turning lights on so I bought a fluorescent light to put under the counter, the only problem, we have scorpions here and the fluorescent light attracted them into my house! Do you happen to know if these lights attract insects? Thanks!

5
Mcgypsy9 on Aug 05, 2018

If I recall don’t these come in many different lengths? Do they have a plug attached? If so where do you run that? Also it says they are not waterproof, has that been a problem by the sink?

3
Debbie Eagan Fogel on Aug 05, 2018

I love this. But I can never get sticky backed stuff to stick well. Even after cleaning with alcohol. Any ideas?

2

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3 of 25 comments

Donna Radtke on Aug 13, 2018

Thank you so much for the info. Have been wanting to do this!

1 Reply
- Scarlett Butler on Aug 14, 2018
  
  Good luck, Donna!
  
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Faye Edwards on Jan 31, 2023

I have a version of these lights that I run around my fireplace. With mine there is an app that controls the brightness, making them move plus colors. I can make custom colors too. On my fireplace I have the flickering candle setting for now. But during certain holidays I can do, like a red and green for Christmas and so on. Are you sure your lights did not come with an app you install on your phone to adjust the brightness? They are great lights. I found some areas have issues sticking to the wood around the fireplace. But I was in a hurry to see them I only dusted the areas well and not wash them so that might be the issue. Make sure your area where you are sticking them is clean.

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