Two of my favorite things in life are woodworking and movies, this project brought these two together perfectly. This may look fairly complicated but actually was extremely simple and took just a few days. Don't worry if you don't know anything about electronics because I don't either, these LED lights are extremely simple.

Supplies

You'll need:

Wood (I just used common white board, but you can use anything you want)

Thin plywood (lauan)

At least 82" of LED lights (You can get big rolls on amazon)

Access to a dado blade for a table saw

Wood screws

Stain of your choice (I used English Chestnut 233)

Polyurethane

90 degree clamps (optional, but help)

Step 1: Lay Out Boards

So I wanted three shelves to hold all my movies and decided to have the middle shelf only tall enough to hold blu-rays. The top and bottom gaps were 9" while the middle was 7". I wanted it to be 28-1/2" tall and about 16" wide. For the shelves I cut two dado grooves into the sides so that they would snuggly fit in and be supported. (my top shelf in this picture was too thin but I didn't realize it until after the picture, so just ignore that difference)

Step 2: Cut Dado Grooves

the most important step to the building of this shelf is cutting these grooves. The two middle grooves for the shelf were a snug 3/4" to hold the shelf while I cut a groove around the entire frame to perfectly house the LED strip. I then used my 90 degree clamps and screwed the shelves in from the side.

Step 3: Showing How Everything Fits Together

This isn't exactly a step but it is important in showing how everything goes together and how the LED strip will fit in later.

Step 4: Staining and Poly

before putting the LED strips in and backing on you must stain, I would recommend a darker stain because it will compliment the lights well. After the stain dries it needs some poly but I wouldn't put too much on because you don't want it to reflect the lights too much. This is why I only put one layer on.

Step 5: Put Backing On

I cut a piece of lauan to the same dimensions as the shelf, stained it the same, and used finish nails to connect it to the back. This was a last minute decision because I already had lauan and thought it might be good. I HIGHLY recommend doing this because I think it looks fantastic and much more put together now.

Step 6: Add LED Lights

Finally comes the step everyones been waiting for, the step that brings the whole project together, the LED lights. I used hot glue and slowly went around the whole project putting the strip down and glue to hold in. I tried to end where I began so that it would be a non-stop circuit of light. The lights I bought were plug in lights so I had to drill a hole in the bottom left side where the wiring comes out of and connects to the outlet, this is easily hidden behind the shelf.

These strips have many settings that change color over time, unfortunately I wasn't able to upload a video of it. You can also get lights that respond to music which I would recommend getting, though I don't have those in this shelf. This project allows for much personalization and uniqueness, I hope I have inspired you to try something new and different, thank you.