A Complete Cove Lighting Build for One Room
A cove lighting build hides a strip inside a ledge or trough so the ceiling becomes the light source and no fixture is visible. Two decisions settle the result before a part is ordered: where the strip sits in section, and how the run will be dimmed.
Almost every disappointing cove was built in the wrong order. The trough went up first, and only afterward did anyone work out where the strip should sit inside it, by which point the lip is the wrong height and nothing about that is cheap to change.
Settle the section before a single stud is cut
Draw a section through the cove before anything is framed. Setback is how far the strip sits from the face it lights, lip height is how tall the front edge stands, and trough depth is the distance from strip to ceiling.
The lip has to hide the strip from every standing sightline, and the worst case is rarely where people expect. Check the doorway, the far corner and the seating position with a card held at the proposed height. If the diode line shows, raise the lip rather than pushing the strip back, since more setback drags the bright band off the wall.
Trough depth controls the scallop: a strip close under the ceiling throws a hard band, and more distance lets it open out. Our guide to architectural coves covers what each look does.
