DIY Project: Light Stand

Ever since the first week I bought my LED lights I've been complaining about how low to the tank the lights were.

Since I mainly have plants that do not require much light to grow, I've been OK leaving the tank lights on the lower setting. However, it's pretty annoying to know that I have a light with a high and low setting, but I can't use the high setting because it is too close to the water! With the lights close to the tank, it produces more heat and the brightness can also harm the leaves of the plants as well.



Challenges:
1) Try not to put holes in the wall. 
This is especially important since I do not own the house I'm living in. 
2) Don't cover the rim of the tank.
What's the point of a rimless tank, if you're gonna put a rim on it? 
3) Try not to make it ugly.
4) Make it simple.
Let's face it, I'm not the best at DIY, I didn't grow up learning to be a master craftsman, so let's not complicate things.
5) Keep the budget low.
I don't make enough money to make it expensive. If I did, I wouldn't be doing a DIY project, I'd just have someone else make it!

With all of these things in mind, I finally figured out what I could do to make my light stand. I went to HomeDepot and walked around the store about 50 times to get some inspiration from the materials they had. The employees looked at me like I was crazy (especially since I was wearing a dress and opened toed sandals). I walked into the lumber section and noticed the scrap wood section. I grabbed 4 pieces of 1ftx.75inx.75in pieces and had 2 pieces of 3ftx.75inx.75in cut in half for me. The total cost was about 5 dollars (that's goal number 5 settled). I also purchased some nails and a couple of corner braces (All together the cost was under $10).


At home I sketched up a little idea that looked something like this: (goals # 1,2, and 4 settled)

Then I started hammering away!

The end product looks like this:

The thin pieces of light colored wood makes it pleasing to look at, but it also does not take away from what's really important, which is the tank itself! (I think I settled goal #3 here). I'm so happy that I can finally turn on my light at full blast without having to worry about it heating up the water or burning the leaves. Hopefully this added light will make my plants grow like mad!