How To Add Easy, Affordable Accent Lighting {Almost} Anywhere
August 18, 2025
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An easy and affordable way to add functional accent lighting around the house.
First of all, I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your comments on my recent life update post! They meant the world to me.
It's been a lot different around here over the last few days, but we are hanging in there. I'm looking forward to keeping my mind and hands busy with many upcoming projects!
One that I recently finished up was this simple lighting DIY -- this is such an inexpensive and simple way to add accent fun lighting anywhere in your house!
Not only is it functional, but there are so many fun settings that add quite the "vibe" (as the kids say) to a space.
Last year I finished up my biggest DIY project ever, which was building our basement kitchenette/bar from the ground up:
This space functions SO WELL for us and we absolutely love it!
There's not much I would change...only very minor things really, and I plan to address those soon.
One I couldn't figure out was better lighting on that back wall:
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As we started using the space more, I noticed that we needed more light when washing dishes or prepping food on the countertop.
We have plenty of accent lighting in the room as well as recessed ceiling lights, but that sink area was dark.
My first solution was to purchase these modern cordless sconces for the wall:
They work great and the charge lasts a really long time. We use the included remote to set them to turn off on a timer, so we never forget to leave them on.
They add a bit of pretty ambience down there, which we love. But it still wasn't giving me the task lighting I wanted.
I considered having a ceiling light installed above the sink, but I knew the air vent would interfere with that. We have a plug behind the TV, so a plug in light would have worked, but we don't have any room to hang one above the TV.
Then I had an idea of using a product we've used for years and love -- these awesome Govee LED strip lights:
This is not sponsored, I just love this brand and have used them all over the house. I used a very similar product to add DIY under and upper cabinet lights to our last kitchen as well.
The lighting strips are primarily on the TVs around our home. They have an adhesive back that you just stick to the back of the TV. It's great, customizable mood lighting:
I love that they can be operated with the switch or with the Govee app on your phone.
I find the app to be easiest. If we're having a party, I can turn on all of the light strips in the house in just a few taps:
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| You can see we also use their water leakage detectors around the house as well. |
There are SO many ways to customize these, beyond just accent lighting! They are so fun...I'll touch on a few ideas later in the post.
For this project I measured the length that I needed, which included the nearby wall cabinets that I had already run a set of lights under:
I removed those lights (I plan to use them somewhere else) and then measured the space under the cabinets as well as the long length of that shelf above the sink:
You can see how I made that faux "brass" gallery rail here!
The light strips couldn't be easier to install. You just take the paper off the adhesive on the back of the lights and then stick them to the surface:
These stick very well, and once in place won't fall. You can adjust them a bit, but I try to get them placed right the first time so they don't lose any adhesive.
The placement doesn't have to be perfect! You won't ever see these, due to the nature of how they're utilized.
The lights were up and working within minutes, and we LOVED it! They added so much light to this area:
You may notice the only (minor) issue in that pic.
Because the strip is made up of a bunch of individual lights, we could see each one when sitting across the room. The individual lights can also reflect onto walls or surfaces, instead of looking like one band of soft light.
It doesn't really bother me, but our son said it needed to be addressed. 😂 I did think it would look a little more finished if they were hidden, so I took a trip to the hardware store for some decorative trim.
I found this pretty molding at Lowe's, and attached it to the front of the shelf with wood glue and my nail gun:
Then filled the nail holes with my favorite wood filler:
When that was dry, I painted the trim to match the shelf and cabinets:
I'm so glad I added that little detail -- it looks like it always should have been there.
Now we don't see the light strip or the individual light modules (at least nearly as much) underneath the shelf:
The bonus is that the LED lights use way less power than traditional incandescent light bulbs, and the tiny bulbs on strips last forever.
You can do SO many things with these light strips!
Here are a few Govee light options and details:
- You can pick any color under the sun, down to very specific hues of each color.
- The lights are segmented, so the color of each can be customized to what you want. You could create rainbow lighting, red white and blue, holiday colors, whatever!
- The brightness is completely customizable as well.
- A timer can be set if you would like them to turn on and off at certain times of the day. I've actually used our bedroom Govee lights as an "alarm" on dark winter mornings. I set it to "sunrise" colors and have it turn on and then gradually lighten to the full brightness. (Waking to the soft "daylight" is so much more soothing and works better than any alarm I've used!)
- Many of these light strips have an option that "dances" to music.
- If you are installing these behind something and want softer light, these plastic diffusers work great to soften the individual lights on the strips.
- They offer these lights in TONS of lengths and materials. You can even install some options outside.
- Some of their options can be cut down (there's a place to cut every foot or so), or with the proper tools can be cut and then wired to the next set. (Where there's a break in cabinets, for example.)
- The Govee strips can be installed anywhere you have an outlet nearby -- under cabinets, shelving, furniture, behind molding...the possibilities are endless!
I took this pic with the lights off in the room so you can see how much light it gives us!:
This is at the brightest setting, but it can be dimmed at the touch of a button.
Now this is the main light we have on in there when we're in the basement. It's such a cool vibe and isn't jarring or overwhelming when we're watching TV.
These are a very fun addition but are also incredibly functional too! If you're looking for additional task or accent lighting, they are an easy and affordable DIY option.
Have you used LED strip lighting like these in your home?
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