I recently watched a play and as part of the set they had these very tall and thin display screens which moved around. I wasn't going to be able to replicate the display side of it but I thought it would be cool to see if a light of the same shape would look any good.

Step 1: The Frame

The frame is made from MDF and uses a simple construction, there are sides and a couple of cross braces but no back as it will sit against a wall. I didn't have any mdf long enough for the full length so I built it in two sections and joined them in the middle.

I painted the exterior and interior white including the edges the acrylic would sit up against, this way when it's off it should look like a clean white tower.

Step 2: The Front Panel

For the front panel I used some frosted acrylic, this would hide the interiour but allow the light to shine through.

I attached this with silicone to the wooden frame.

I didn't have a big enough piece of acrylic to cover the whole of the front so I used a number of small sections, this worked well initially but after a while of having it on the wall dust started to gather in the joins between pieces. This doesn't look great so if I did it again I would try and avoid this.

Step 3: The Lighting

For the lighting I used a cheap 5m remote controlled LED light strip. This was sold as a package with a 5m strip, control unit, power supply and remote.

I attached the light strip around the edge of the frame, this way the light would reflect around the white interior surface and give a nice diffuse light at the front.

I mounted the IR receiver at the bottom of the frame pressed up against the acrylic, it turns out that the frosted panel doesn't affect this at all so there is no need to make a hole for the sensor and the remote can be used by pointing it at the finished light.

Step 4: The Finished Light

I hung it against the white wall of the workshop using a french cleat which gives it a clean flush mount, it looked really good and a lot better than I was expecting and for a project I didn't have particularly high hopes going into it I was very pleased.

For more information I have a full build video of the construction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqyVeFItlJw