Wednesday, April 6, 2016

DIY Upcycled Wall Sconces: #SwapItLikeItsHot

DIY Upcycled Wall Sconces - Part of the blogger #SwapItLikeItsHot series.

It’s that time again! Time for another edition of #SwapItLikeItsHot, a fun series where a bunch of bloggers go thrift store shopping and pick up random items that cost $10 or less, and then ship those items off to another blogger and let them work their magic. Each blogger receives their items and makes them over or repurposes them, and shares the before and after with you! This is my second time participating, and you can check out the last round here. (Thanks so much to Charlotte from Ciburbanity for organizing this fun series!)

Stephanie from Casa Watkins sent me a few fun items to play around with.

I have some ideas for the glass bowls too, and the little goblets are really cute and just need to be polished a bit. But due to time constraints, I decided to focus my energy on the sconces. I decided to turn the candle sconces into upcycled wall sconces with modern Edison bulbs. I’ll share a tutorial since similar sconces are pretty easy to find, so you can modify this method to work with whatever type of sconces you happen to have.

PROJECT SUPPLIES:

2 Wall Candle Sconces
2 Lamp Kits (I used these IKEA Hemma cord sets from Amazon)
2 Edison Light Bulbs (I ordered these from Amazon)
1 1/4″ Forstner Drill Bit
Drill
Ceramcoat Chalk Finish Paint in “White Lace”
Paintbrush
Sanding Block
Wood Filler
Putty Knife
E-6000 adhesive

HOW TO MAKE DIY UPCYCLED WALL SCONCES

Although these were already candle sconces, I upcycled them into functioning light sconces. I opted to make plug-in sconces rather than hard-wired, but you could certainly hard wire them if you wanted to.

STEP 1

First, I unscrewed the candle holder attachment and removed it. I also pulled off the little peg at the bottom.

STEP 2

Then, I drilled a large hole where the candle holder had been connected using a 1 1/4″ drill bit.

STEP 3

Next, I used wood filler to patch the hole where the peg had been inserted. I allowed it to dry and then sanded it smooth.

STEP 4

Next, I bent the prongs on the back of the sconces holding the mirror in place, and removed the mirrors.

Then, I promptly broke one of the mirrors which was the deciding factor in not using them. Haha. So if you want to use the mirrors, maybe don’t remove them and just tape over them while you paint instead.

STEP 5

Then, I painted them using 2 coats of Ceramcoat chalk finish paint in “White Lace”. (Optional: You could wax it for added protection.)

STEP 6

After the paint had dried, I inserted the plug end of the lamp kit down through the hole I had drilled. I rested the socket part of the lamp kit in the hole. I recommend adhering it with E-6000. You can use some painter’s tape to hold the socket in place while the adhesive dries. (I haven’t done this yet, but plan on it.)

STEP 7

Last, I screwed my bulbs into the sockets and hung the sconces on the wall.

Note: I found that these bulbs get very hot. I think they would be fine in a regular lamp but I don’t know if I’ll continue using them this close to the wall. I’m on the hunt for some new bulbs to try out (this project was a total experiment). I love the way these look, but I’m thinking LED might be a better option.