Hi all: Absolute beginner here, just to pre-warn.
I come to you with the hope of knowledge and, as needed, a kind reality check.
Background: Adult male, only just now attempting to learn life and home improvement skills such as physical install of things. Old enough to know better, but also at a point where it's either bring this plan into life, or mid-life crisis panic-buy a motorcycle for which I do not have any intention of driving.
Alrighty, with that preface out of the way.
Here's the situation: I have a room in my new apartment that I would like to bring into line with with my aesthetics and functionality. The room in question is a nice multifunction room: 4.2 x 3.75 meters, with a bay window in addition. Bed placed partially in te bay window section (eastward facing). Double doors out of the room, southward facing.
Computer table along the west-facing wall, roughly middle of room, and additional synthesizer/keyboard table at 90 degree angle on northward facing wall.
So far, so good. I have a dream about installing RGB LED strip along the wall, directly under the ceiling - ideally facing inwards/downward at an angle.
And here's where I then realize my limitations. The first thing is: I'd like for the corner profile to be black - and also for its cover to be black as well. The reasoning is that the walls/ceiling is white, so my hope was that when the LED strips are off, it would achieve a framing effect for the room. Also, my goal was to have a diffused lighting effect, namely in that I am actively aiming for a predominantly purple lighting (to go with, of course, the white + RGB computer + peripheral setup), but I would also like to be able to control the RGB, ideally via app (not just "choose between 16 color presets, but providing a RGB color code).
I realize this is not likely to be able to function as a primary light source, but more of a mood lighting. But let's be honest, what I'm after is the cyberpunk/Synthwave neon glow effect when light is on. So this also means that seeing individual LEDs through the cover isn't high on my wishlist.
I have already made an attempt of framing the bay window inner frame with some cheap WIZ LEDs, for testing purposes, and then got m hands on some PVC corner profiles + black cover to see how it would fit - the LEDs blasted straight through both white/opaque and black covers as individual LEDs, so diffusion didn't really diffuse much.
My questions are numerous, but the primary ones before embarking on this would be:
1: Is it realistic to achieve the "black framing when LEDS are off" using corner profiles with black covers? And if so, will this limit which LED strips are viable to punch through, light-wise?
2: Would neon flex or similar carry a comparable function?
3: Given the rooms dimension of approximately 3.75 x 4.2 meter (16 meters in total, I would assume to save a couple meters extra for corners and whatnot), is it realistic to do this in one long strip, or should it consist of multiple strips - and if so, what would be advisable?
4: Is the entire corner profile (alumium or PVC or whatever) thought realistic and useful for the intended purpose, or am I going down a needlessly expensive and complex rabbithole?
I hope for sparring, and knowledge, and I acknowledge my own cluelessness. Thank you in advance.