Who loves the look of wall sconces? They dress up bookcases, they look great next to night stands, and they add a cozy element to reading nooks. I can’t get enough of wall sconces! What if you don’t want to hardwire them (or can’t)? I’ve got a tip about my new wall sconce lights with power from a puck light. This means you get a working light without having to hardwire electrical!
You might remember this space from when I first posted about our DIY blue feature wall with thrifted bookcases and my antique mantel.
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I originally had those LED library lights above the bookcases. I like them, but I felt like they looked too small for the tall wall. Also, they didn’t put out as much light as I wanted.
I knew I didn’t want to hardwire the lights (my husband thanked me for this). Because of this I didn’t have a whole lot of lighting options.
That’s when I came across a really neat trick from a fellow blogger. Nesting with Grace calls it her “magic light trick.” I was sold!
In a nutshell, she shares how she purchased LED “puck lights” with a remote and simply placed them inside a wall sconce. This was genius!
Let me share the details.
Table of Contents
Puck lights to fit inside a wall sconce
I found my puck lights at our local Dollar Store for $10. You can find similar puck lights from Amazon.
Side note; its’ helpful to get puck lights that come with the 3M backing. This is the easiest way to attach them to your wall sconce. You will see more about this below.
Also, make note of the type of lighting. Honestly, these puck lights are a little too “bright and white” for my taste. I might purchase the puck lights I linked from Amazon and swap them out. I love a “warm white” look.
Depending on where you are going to place your wall sconces, you will probably want a remote. Make sure you look for pucks with remotes.
What type of wall sconces did I purchase to fit with the puck lights?
There is one main factor you need to keep in mind.
The diameter of the wall sconce “shade” (or whatever fits over the puck light) needs to be bigger than the diameter of the puck light.
This is kind of a no brainer, but you need to make sure the puck with fit up inside the sconce.
Also, it’s probably not a good idea to get a light with a clear shade where you can see the puck through the glass.
You typically have two different plug in options with wall sconces: hardwired or plug in.
I chose to buy the hardwired because the wires fit behind the plate without showing. If I had purchased the plug in, I would have to cut the plug to conceal it. Not a good idea.
What did I buy? I purchased a set of beautiful antique brass sconces from Lamps Plus.
This is what it looked like when I opened it (without the shade).
The first thing I did was take apart the back plate that attaches to the wall.
I made some marks on the wall to make sure I knew where I wanted it. Then I screwed the plate to the wall.
Next attach the wall sconce to the plate. Easy peasy!
How do you attach a puck light to a wall sconce?
The puck lights I purchased have a 3M backing which makes it super easy to stick it to the sconce.
You can see pictured above where I’m going to attach the puck (with 3M sticky tape) to the sconce (where the bulb normally screws in).
Before I did this, I attached the shade first.
After the shade is attached, stick your puck light up inside the sconce and attach it to the light.
Now use the remote and test them to see if they work!
Ta Dah!
For those of you who are wondering about safety; I asked my husband (the electrical engineer) if he saw any issue with using a puck light in a sconce like this. He said, “as long as it’s not hardwired or plugged in, it’s not a problem. If the sconce is attached to electrical in any way, I wouldn’t call it safe.”
Ready to see the finished look?
I’m so happy with how it looks. Not to mention the fact that these lights really work!
