I love vintage light sconces, but most newer homes don’t have hardwired light fixtures on the wall. And for most of us, we can’t just easily run the wires to create a spot, and budget wise it’s not always possible to hire a professional. You can still use these light fixtures in your decor by making a small adjustment. I am going to show you how to turn a hardwired light sconce into a candle sconce.
A while back, I did a makeover of my fireplace mantel. I knew I wanted some sconces to put on the bead board over mantel. I found this pretty pair on marketplace for a song! They didn’t quite look like this when I got them. I gave them a fresh coat of spray paint in Rust-Oleum French Cream. Then it was time to get busy turning them into candle sconces.
Let me just say, it would be very easy just to pull the wiring out of the sconces, however I wanted to keep the wiring. I have been known to change my decor rather frequently, so I wanted to be able to switch it back to a light fixture.
How To Turn A Hardwired Light Sconce Into A Candle Sconce
- Loosen the screw on the socket.
2. Unwrap the wire from the screw.
3. Unscrew and pull out the socket leaving the wires and screw in the bottom.
To make the candle holder, I used wooded candle cups from the craft department at Hobby Lobby. I spray painted them to match the sconce and then drilled a hole in the bottom to fit tightly over the screw from the light socket.
4. Thread the wire through the hole in the bottom of the wooden candle cup.
5. Twist the candle holder onto the screw that held the light socket.
How To Hang A Hardwired Sconce Without The Wiring
Removing the light sockets and adding the candle cups was the easy part. Figuring out how to hang this on the wall was quite a challenge. Some light fixtures have holes so you can screw them into the wall, however, mine did not.
The only way to attach this to the wall was by using this center bolt or apparently in lighting terms, nipple. So I had to find one that was just the right size, short enough to not hit the wall, and long enough to go through the front so the cap would screw on.
Next I used a crossbar to hold the nipple. It couldn’t be a flat crossbar, I had to use one that was raised in the center.
I am going to demonstrate the set up on a board to represent the wall. Screw a nut onto the end of the nipple. This one came with the original nipple.
Then put a washer over that, so the nipple won’t go through the hole in the cross bar. You can buy washers in the lighting department along with the nipples and crossbar.
Put the cross bar over the nipple.
My nipple wasn’t a perfect fit, so I put a “shim” (folded up cardboard) behind the nipple to keep it pushed up against the crossbar.
Screw the crossbar to the wall.
Put the fixture over the nipple.
Screw on the cap.
So that’s how I turned a hard wired light sconce into a candle sconce to hang over my fireplace mantel. I have also converted light sconces to plug-ins, but the cord would have looked very awkward here. Also, with the pretty remote controlled, battery operated candles that are available, you can have candlelight any time you like.
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Thanks for stopping by,
Janet