Walls and Ceilings - Recessing a square area in drywall, add illumination.

I bought a new house, and the basement had already been finished. To my surprise, the previous owner placed the drywall about 16 inches from the foundation walls. Quite a waste of space. I can literally walk in there all around the basement like a secret passageway :)

Anyway, I plan to take advantage of this situation by adding some small recessed areas in the walls, to place a few small accessories for decoration, and add some lighting to top. My plan is to build 3 or four of these, by cutting squares/rectangles in the drywall, and recessing with small drywall panels, effectively creating a recessed 'cube'.

Few questions:
1) Is it OK to do this? I wonder if there is any code against it. I can't see how this would be a problem, considering that normally drywall is placed much farther back against the foundation anyway.
2) I need to put some 'walls' inside this recessed area. How do I hold together those 5 square pieces that will form the sides of the 'cube'?
3) Is it a good idea to put a 2x4 wood between the studs, horizontally, to support the recessed 'cube'? (I envision it going on the bottom.
4) For lighting of this recessed area, any suggestions? I was thinking about some low wattage lighting (4W or so) but I don't want to use low voltage lighting. Instead, would like to tap into the electrical wire that's running down there in the wall.

Thanks for any tips!

1) Yes it is ok to do this.
2) You have an advantage, in that you have the ability to sneak behind the wall to fasten the "box" to the studs. That's the way I would go.
3) Placing the supports between the studs is the way to go. I would place the "box" parts flush with the studs and a support "sister" to the outside of each stud, overlapping both for proper support.
4) Why do you object to the low voltage lighting? You will have more flexibility, smaller wire, and it will be running off the wiring of the nearest receptacle anyway, but you will just be using a transformer.

*I'd* like to ask the ex-owner why he framed it out like this? He may have had (what he thought, anyway) was some good reason.

Thanks chandler for your reply. Re-assuring!


The previous owner seems to have framed the basement like this because there was a copper water line running along the edge, substantially lower than the rest of the 'ceiling'. I would have probably done the same thing, to avoid having to ower the ceiling all of a sudden 1 foot from the wall...

Or, re-locate the copper line. It was the MAIN line.