Awesome display man, really looks good. I wish I can display my collection like that.
Just got a quick question, are those buit in light, emits heat or they are like those LED light from IKEA? Thanks
Good question. The corner display (no dimmer switch) originally came with a Halogen light that dissipated a HUGE amount of heat. After leaving it one for a little while, I became concerned that the heat may actually cause the paint to bubble if left on for a long period of time, so I quickly got rid of that light. I replace it with a 40W fluorescent, those new sprial types, but while this dissipated very little heat, it was too bright and was hard too physically look at that top shelf without squinting. So just this weekend I got a 60W Incadescent celing fan light that is working out just fine. This corner unit also has no dimmer switch, but at home depot they sell a dimmer switch thingy for ~$14 that the cord from light fixture of curio plugs into and allows you to dim that way. I just got that incorporated today. Inbetween the 40W too bright CFL and the 60W dimmable incadescent I got workign today, I had a 15W dimmable flourescent. That was the only power rating (15W) they had of a dimmable CFL, and it wasn't even close enough to light up the top shelf, let alone the 4 shelves below, so it was quickly returned. Hopefuly the dimmable flourescent technology will catch up soon.
All other light are incadescent, and the two largest curios had a dimmer knob built into cabinet on the top.
So after all this, I would recommend incadecent lights, which are dimmable by nature; it's just a matter of how much juice you feed to the fillament. dimmable CFLs just aren't there yet and Halogens, while being very bright, are EXTREMELY hot, and I would worry they may damage paint or even cause a fire if left on overnight over a cloth premium format.
And to answer your question, all the lights were built in. I've turned down a few curios because either no built in lights or no mirror backing. You can get portable lights, which I tried, but found they weren't very bright. I have the curios grouped into just a few outlet boxes that once I turn that on, 2 or 3 curios light up at once, rahter than having to light a bunch of indivudaly lights. I may use that as a solution for some of the bottom shelves as they don't get much light when it's dark even if I have lights turned all the way up.
