I’ve been dreaming of wall lights on either side of our breakfast nook window for a few months now. I love the way they look, and they add that extra detail that really makes a room feel finished.
Our breakfast nook had been lacking a little something, and I knew it was the wall lights. Since we’ve added them, it’s like night and day difference. The room instantly feels different, perhaps a little more “expensive” looking, and a whole lot more finished! Our breakfast nook is my favorite room in the house, and it feels the most, dare I say it, finished. I’m sure I just jinxed myself…
Adding them to the wall was quite easy, but because we didn’t use actual “wall lights with a plug-in cord”, we had to adapt the lights to plug in, rather than being wired into the wall. I’m sharing our tutorial below, but please keep in mind, we are not professional electricians, so should you try to recreate this, please consult a professional if you need to.
First, we started by tweaking the wall plate. Since we couldn’t wire this onto a wall outlet box, we needed to drill a hole for our new cord, which would plug in to the outlet on our bench…
We used a drill thick enough for our cord, and drilled through the metal…
Then, we put the light together (I’ll list all the sources below)…
And attached the metal wall plate to the wall…
With the wall plate attached, Anthony began on the wiring…
With the original wires from the light, he attached the wires from this cord, which we picked up at Home Depot in the length we needed for each light…
Anthony shoved the new light cord through the hole we drilled into the wall plate…
Then, he connected the correct wires from both the existing light cord, and the new cord we added…
From there, Anthony began mounting the light fixture to the metal wall bracket, leaving the new cord hanging out the bottom…
This is how it looked with the light tightly secured…
Then, because I didn’t want the cord just hanging down the wall, (for multiple reasons, namely safety) we used this cord conduit to keep the cording secured…
It came white, but I love that it’s paintable! Anthony installed it at the the base of the light fixture (right where the cord came out)…
He shoved the cord into the cover through the opening in the conduit, then peeled off the sticky backing on the back side…
He pressed it to the wall, measuring as he went, ensuring it was centered…
Once the conduit was stuck to the wall, he began tightening the screws on the light joints. I love that this light can have any desired angle. It’s so versatile!
With the light straight, Anthony began on the wiring of the cord. Since I didn’t want to pull up the bench lid every time I wanted to turn the lights on, Anthony added a little cord switch…
I didn’t want to be able to see it, so he put it at the very bottom of the bench, where the cushion would hide it.
Then, he began adding the plug to the end of the cord…
We have an outlet on either side of window inside the built in bench, basically right below each light, so the cord plugs in there…
With that, the light was done! Anthony did notch around the bench lid for the cord, and now it all sits flush against the wall…
The cord switch makes it easy to turn on and off the light…
And the bench cushion hides everything…
Sneaky, sneaky! The cord cover doesn’t bother me either. It’s barely noticeable since it’s white, but I think one day I’ll go ahead and paint it the same color as the wall. Here’s what the light looks like turned on…
I absolutely adore it!
And since we put them up the same time as I was putting up the Christmas decor, I don’t have any pictures of them with out the Christmas tree. I am really excited to see how they look when you can clearly see both sides of the window!
I am smitten mitten over these lights…
I love the black and gold color combo, and the arms of the light…
They also perfectly fit the room, so it’s like a win, win, win, win, and WIN!
But… one of my very favorite things about them, is that they were only $32 each!
I fell in love with them on Amazon, but decided to do a search on Ebay. Best decision ever. At the time, they were $115.00 per, and I found them on Ebay for $32 for each light, plus free shipping. Needless to say, it was a huge no-brainer, and I ordered them super fast. Faster than Anthony could blink over a new home project. 🙂
Since then, Amazon has lowered the price of the light to $79.99, that’s better, but you can’t beat $30.00 per light.
I also wanted to mention that, yes, you do get what you pay for. I don’t have one single issue with these lights. Like at all, but I will say I don’t think they are made for repeated arm adjustments. If you plan on using them and constantly changing the degree of the arms, you might have a problem. But because I don’t intend on changing the way we have them, they’re perfect!
Here’s the sources for everything…
Note: Some of the links are affiliate links, which allows me to make a small commission from your purchase, but your purchase price stays the same as what’s listed. Thank you for helping support our blog!
Wall Lights: Ebay
White Light Cording: Home Depot
Cord Conduit: Home Depot
Cord Switch: Home Depot
Cord Plug-In: Home Depot
All in all, this project cost about $90.00. That’s so cheap, especially since most arm wall lights cost more than $90.00! Boom, and double boom!
Your timing could not be more perfect, Shayna. I bought some beautiful sconces at an antique store to hang on either side of our headboard but was not exactly sure how to do it. Thanks for the great photos and clear instructions. Merry Christmas to you and your family! Love your blog!
The lights looks awesome, Shayne. Big kudos to you and Anthony on their clever installation. Merry Christmas, Ardith
I really love your new sconces. Trying to figure out if I could use them anywhere. Maybe in my bedroom but I think we’d be adjusting them too much. They look perfect in your nook!
I really like them too, you’re right, they add just what was needed. Thanks also, because now I’m not afraid to adapt this type of light… uhm… to have my husband adapt it so I can get the light I really want to go where it must be plugged in, not wired. Thank you!
Amazing!! We are so blessed by your creativity. I look forward to your emails and blogs. My 2016 goal is a “well kept home” and you are my muse. Thank you and Merry Christmas!
gorgeous! I just love those lights and I was contemplating them myself for our flip house reno but was hesitant since they were coming from China – so thanks for your review! It’s nice to see that they’re shipping from US. Quick question – what is the max wattage for those lights and do you have to use a special bulb? thanks again – just love your blog 🙂
Hi Christy! Thank you so much! I truly love the lights… they’re gorgeous in person! The max wattage is 60. I hope that helps! 🙂
What is the name and brand of lights? Csnt find on Smazon. Look great there in your room! Love!
These are what we installed: http://amzn.to/2mXrXvG