Bob's Bloggers
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DIY Tales: Cage Light Sconces
By Nalle's House on Oct 29, 2013
Hey everyone! We finally had our fox party and I'm still cleaning up party decorations and gift wrap. I'm going to do a final party post soon, but for now I am really excited to share with you one of my latest DIYs. It's a pair of cage light pendants for our bedroom. I love the modern, yet rustic and industrial feel that they have. They were super easy to make and cost a little over $20.00 each. Not too bad for a sconce that looks this nice, no? I'm also excited to be actually doing something in our bedroom again.
Here is one of them on my side of the bed. Our room is super small and we have a king bed. That little stool is about as much as I can fit there for a side table. Now that I finally have some nice new lights, I think I need a little art to go on that wall too.
Okay, so I bet your dying to find out the details on the parts and how we made these. ;) I actually purchased the cage lights first when they were on sale at Target not really sure where I was going to use them. They are the Threshold Industrial Pendant. The bracket is the Ekby Valter from Ikea. The other hardware you'll need are some screws and a plug.
Before I get into the details, I want to state two safety items:
1) this project requires some wiring work at the plug end of your light fixture. It is best to have a certified electrician inspect your work and/or complete the wiring portion for you.
2) This is pretty common sense, but if you are going to be working on the light fixture make sure it is unplugged. I really don't want anyone to get electrocuted!
Okay, so here goes...
1) The first thing you will want to do is drill three holes in your bracket. There are two pre-drilled holes at the top of the bracket which we just widened and the third hole was drilled into the bottom portion of the support/angled piece of the bracket in line with the predrilled hole at the top of the bracket. In the photo above you can see where the three holes are.
2) Next you will need to cut off the plug end and the switch portion of the pendant light with wire snips so that you can thread the cord through the bracket starting at the outermost hole and going up over the top of the bracket and down through the bottom hole.
3) Have an electrician install a new plug on the end of your light fixture. Tech Guy has experience with electrical work and works with electricians and therefore was able to do this himself, but I can't give you a tutorial on this since we are not licensed electricians. Once the light is wired, you're ready to plug your light in and enjoy your new sconce!
One of our outlets is operated by the light switch in our room so it it easy to turn on and off, but the other one is not. For this outlet we have a lamp dimmer that we plugged the sconce into, and it allows us to be able to switch the sconce on and off easily.
So here's a peek at my bedroom as it is right now, wrinkly, mismatched linens and all. I think the Ikea pendant is on it's way out. It's fighting a little with the new sconces. We still need some nightstands and art of course! I'm on the hunt for all of those now! We'll see how long it takes me to find them. :)
Happy Tuesday and go make some sconces!