About a year ago my son (11 at the time) got on a “LED strip lights” kick and wanted to line the ceiling in his room with a myriad of lights. Around that time my daughter also wanted to fill her walls with all things sparkly and bright. That’s when I started researching how to hang LED strip lights in the bedroom.
LED lights are a popular choice for bedroom lighting due to their energy efficiency, long lifespan, and versatility. Whether you want to create a cozy ambiance or add some decorative flair, I’ll show you how I hung a few LED lights in my kids bedrooms.
My 11 year old son (as most pre teen and teenagers today) wanted the strip lights with a remote so he could change the colors whenever he wanted and to whatever color he wanted.
Of course once my son chose to hang strip LED lights, my daughter had to have some. Sadly, the excitement of her strip LED lights didn’t last so we removed them…more on that later.
Brightness of LED Lights for Your Bedroom
Let’s talk about the brightness level of LED lights. LED lights are measured in lumens, and the higher the lumens, the brighter the light. For a bedroom, you’ll want to choose lights that are bright enough to see by, but not so bright that they’re overpowering. A good rule of thumb is to choose lights with around 200-400 lumens.
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Tools Needed to Hang LED Lights
To hang LED lights in the bedroom, you will need a few basic tools. Here are the tools you will need:
- LED lights: Of course, you will need the LED lights themselves. Make sure you choose LED lights that are suitable for indoor use and have a length that fits your bedroom.
- Measuring tape: Before you start hanging the LED lights, you need to measure the length of the area where you want to hang them. This will help you determine how many LED lights you need and how far apart they should be.
- Ladder: Depending on the height of your bedroom ceiling, you may need a ladder to reach the top of the wall where you want to hang the LED lights.
- Adhesive backing (if the lights don’t have sticky backing) Mounting putty or mounting tape
For my sons room, he wanted the LED strip lights to line the four walls at the top of the wall near the ceiling. I measured this space (with enough extra to account for the length that needs to attach to the outlet with the power adapter) and then purchased the right length of lights accordingly.
How to hang LED strip lights in the bedroom: Installation Process
LED Strip lighting;
When I installed my son’s strip LED lights, I started by connecting them to the power source. Since most power outlet’s are normally at the bottom of the wall, I had to start installation at the bottom. Most LED lights come with a special connector that connects to the power source. This takes the guessing out of connecting the red wire and black wire etc.
I then ran the strip up the wall in order to start installing it around the ceiling. The Strip lights had a sticky back which made it easy to attach to the wall.
You can see where I ran the LED strip lights up the wall and was able to cover them with the curtains so it looks like they are only hung from the ceiling!
Strip LED lights are easy to install because most of them have a sticker backing that peels off. Be careful not to peel it all off at once, but peel it as you place the lights.
If your LED strips don’t have a sticky backing, I would suggest working in sections and adding the mounting putty or the mounting tape a little at a time while placing the lights as you go.
One tip; as you place the LED lights on the wall, place pressure on the lights to make sure they have a good bond to the surface. Especially pay attention to places like corners. The biggest issue I’ve had with my lights not attaching properly is in the corners. Let me show you.
If you look closely you can see where I failed to fully attach it to the corner of the wall and there is a small gap. Learn from my mistakes and don’t do this!
So what happens once you’ve successfully placed your lights around the room and you have extra strips overlapping?
Can you cut LED light strips?
Yes, most LED light strips are designed to be cut. The cutting process will depend on the type of LED light strip you have. They are made up of multiple individual circuits. The designated copper lines mark the end of one circuit and the beginning of another. You should therefore only cut along these lines.
The particular strip lights I purchased did not have specific “cut marks,” but you can clearly see the copper lines that indicate where one circuit stops and another starts.
One thing to note; The part of the strip not attached to the power source will not work anymore once it’s cut.
You can, however, buy connector clips to connect the cut strip back to a power source. This is fairly easy to do.
Attaching a strip connector clip to LED strip wire
Attaching a connector clip to LED strip wire is a fairly simple process. Here are the steps you can follow:
- Cut the LED strip to the desired length using a pair of scissors or a utility knife. Make sure to cut the strip at the designated cutting mark
- Strip the wires at the end of the LED strip using wire strippers to expose about 1/4 inch of wire.
- Insert the exposed wires into the connector clip. Make sure that the positive (+) wire is connected to the positive (+) terminal, and the negative (-) wire is connected to the negative (-) terminal.
- Use a pair of pliers to crimp the connector clip onto the wires. This will ensure a secure connection.
- Repeat the process for the other end of the LED strip if necessary.
- Test the LED strip by connecting it to a power source or controller.
It’s important to note that connector clips may vary in design depending on the type of LED strip you have. Always refer to the manufacturer’s instructions for specific guidance on how to attach connector clips to your LED strip.
Once they are in place, you can safely turn them on and see what they look like!
Do strip LED lights damage the wall when they are removed?
Yes the sticky backing from the LED lights can damage the wall when removed. Removing the lights slowly rather than yanking them off the wall can reduce the amount of damage they cause.
I said earlier that my daughter quickly tired of her LED lights, so we removed them. Did they remove the ceiling paint? Yes. Let me show you.
You can see where I marked my daughters wall where the paint peeled when we removed the LED strip lights. It doesn’t look terrible, but also not terribly ideal.
Like I said, it’s not super noticeable but I hate that it took the paint off.
Womp womp womp. Oh well. It’s not anything I can’t touch up.
That being said, just because this particular brand of LED lights did pull off the paint doesn’t mean every brand will. And every paint job is different.
If you are interested in the LED strip lights we used, I did a full review of the LED strip lights from Amazon. Check out that video with details on what I think of my sons LED strip lights on the wall that we hung in his bedroom. These are the same brand of lights we installed in my daughters bedroom too.
I hope we’ve given you a few tips on how to hang your own LED lights.
