Yes, you can install them without coving. Coving would, however, give a mindblowing appearance and lighting effect to your room. But if you’re not interested in coving, you can try hiding the LED steps behind the obstacles. If you’re not a fan of coving, perhaps you might have to leave the strips visible. While coving allows strips to stay hidden, the absence of coving will keep your strips visible.
You can paint some designs or patterns on the surface surrounding the strips, such as flowers or geometrical patterns. That will keep enhancing your ceiling’s appearance, and the strips won’t look bad on your ceiling, even without coving.