101 pretty good ideas from Home & Garden Television

A continuing compendium of tips and tricks from Home & Garden Television:

Here is a kitchen-decorating idea that can light up dark cabinets and also serve as party decor.

-- Empty your cabinets completely and remove any shelves. Then with a measuring tape, measure the outline of the back of each cabinet where you'll hang your string or rope lights. Double check all of your measurements.

-- Critical step: Measure the distance from the bottom of the cabinet to your outlet. This will ensure that you purchase enough lighting to reach the plug.

-- At your local home or hardware store, purchase your string/rope lights. Make sure you select lights with an electrical plug that are a good fit for your measurements. Helpful hint: Buy an extra strand of lights as backup.

-- Purchase plastic clips to snap the string lights into. Get extra screws or nails that match those in the kit. Estimate three to four clips per side of the cabinet when determining the total number of clips needed for this project. Buy extras as backup.

At home:

--Wipe down your cabinets and shelves and identify in your cabinets all locations where you'll need to drill holes for the lights to run through. Double check the total length of the string lights you've purchased to make sure they'll fit within the cabinet and reach the outlet.

-- Check to see if you'll need to drill a circular notch in the corners of shelves so that the lights can run behind them and mark all drill locations in advance.

-- With a hole saw bit and adaptor, drill all necessary holes for string lights to pass through the cabinets. Run string lights through the holes and into the cabinet frames. Attach plastic clips into place and snap the string-light rope into them. Make sure you install enough clips so your rope lights are snug and straight. Three or four per side should be enough.

-- Plug in string lights to see how well they're installed. Unplug and readjust as necessary.

-- Drill a circular notch in the corners of all shelves where necessary so the string lights run smoothly behind the shelf. Place your shelves back into the cabinet.

-- Plug your lights back in, step back and enjoy your new look.

Variations: Because you've already emptied out your cabinets, you could take this opportunity to increase the effect of this project even more. Consider painting the back of each cabinet an accent color, or use wallpaper to introduce more pattern or texture into your space. Keep your shelves their existing wood tone or paint them to accent the wallpaper.

Courtesy Heidi Karpa of HGTV

(For thousands of other ideas visit www.hgtv.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)