Wall sconces are the hottest design trend right now. You don’t have to spend a fortune on these sconces either, you can find bargains and deals in many places.
Mood Lighting And Sconces
I personally love, love, love sconces.
My love of sconces is due to the fact that I’m a bit obsessed with design. However, it’s not possible to spend a fortune on every piece of furniture or home décor accessory you purchase. But I still want everything in my home to look nice!
Lighting is very important when it comes to home interiors.
Most houses these days, especially the newer ones, have very bland lighting. They are extremely harsh and generic in terms of the lighting fixtures they use. This is understandable, since construction crews like to keep the cost down. And all homes need some overhead lighting for general work purposes.
However, this kind of harsh lighting is really quite horrible if you’re trying to create a nice mood in your house. That is, if you have friends over for instance, or want to create a nice ambient mood for any other reason, harsh overhead lighting will not do this for you.
Not all rooms in the house need harsh lighting. Sure, you might need some overhead lights when you’re working, cooking or studying. But at all other times, it’s much more preferable to create romantic mood lighting.
Some of the common ways of creating mood lighting is to use lamps and candles. Table lamps and floor lamps can be useful for creating some nice warm light. However, if you use too many lamps, your house will just look cluttered.
Similarly, candles can create a nice mood. However, candle light simply isn’t enough to really see by! In addition, burning a candle, even a soy one, creates fumes that are bad for your health. So it’s preferable not to burn candles.
I love chandeliers for creating lovely, romantic light. However, you obvious cannot have chandeliers in every room!
Sconces are both practical and aesthetically pleasing. Wall sconces don’t cost much (especially when you’re comparing the price to a nice arc floor lamp or a chandelier). They look great in your house, and the amount of light they emit can be easily controlled depending on the bulb you purchase – simply buy a higher wattage bulb to emit more light, and a lower wattage one to emit less light.
Types of Wall Sconces
There are quite a few types of wall sconces available. The kind of sconce you opt for will determine the look you create in your home and the amount of money you have to spend to obtain the wall sconce itself.
The three main different kinds of wall sconces are electrical, candle sconces, and battery operated sconces.
And then of course you can further categorize them according to the style of the sconce – such as modern looking sconces, traditional-looking sconces and specialty sconces.
Electric Wall Sconces
Electric wall sconces are the most common type of wall sconces.
These are also the most practical – you can place them anywhere in the room, and they are especially useful in long corridors and passageways, or for large rooms where a central light fixture or fitting will not be enough to light up the entire room.
Candle Wall Sconces
Candle wall sconces, as the name implies, use candles. You can have candle sconces that use tealights, pillar candles, or long tapered candles.
I don’t like candle wall sconces too much mainly because they can pose a fire hazard. You definitely shouldn’t use these sconces anywhere near a fabric, such as near a curtain – just in case the wind blows the fabric into contact.
Sconces that use long tapered candles are the most unsafe, due to the fact that long candles can easily be pushed over, or fall over, leading to a fire in your house.
Pillar candles and tealights are better than long candles in terms of safety. However, if you use pillar candles or tea lights, please try to get the type of sconce that includes a candle holder which completely covers the candle.
If you use candles, you will still have some health issues due to the toxins that a burning candle produces. If you must use candles, please use soy candles since these produce fewer toxins.
In addition, try not to burn candles on a regular basis. Once in a while is fine of course. When you burn candles, please ensure that the ventilation in your room is good, so that the toxins can be blown away.
Finally, I’m not too fond of the sconces which utilize candles simply because the light emitted by the candles is not really enough. The candlelight will contribute to the ambience, but it won’t be enough to really see by.
These types of candlelight sconces are really for decorative purposes.
If you must use wall sconces that require candles, a much safer option is to use led lights instead of real candles. You can get led battery-operated candles that emit a warm, candle-like glow, and even flicker like real candles. I recently purchased some that you can even blow out!
The problem with these led lights is the same as that with regular candles – the level of lighting they produce is similar to candlelight, so it’s not really enough to see by. However, these led battery-operated “candles” will really add to the romantic ambience of your home, so they can be a great solution if you want to buy candle or tealight wall sconces.
I will admit that the major advantage of candle wall sconces is the fact that they’re just so pretty!
They may not be very practical, but you can use them on your walls instead of art, and they are quite cheap to purchase.
You can get these candle sconces in a range of styles. Most of them are quite traditional, however you can also find rather modern-looking candle wall sconces.
Battery Operated Wall Sconces
As the name implies, battery operated wall sconces are operated by batteries. This means you don’t need to do any electrical wiring to use this kind of sconce.
I suppose that using battery-operated led lights in a wall sconce meant for candles could be classified as being a battery operated sconce! However, there are actually specialty sconces that are operated by battery. They are available in a range of styles.
Modern Wall Sconces
If you like the modern sort of décor, then you should definitely purchase a modern-looking wall sconce. The sconce will add to your home’s décor. So choose the style carefully.
I am personally not that fond of this style, since it’s not to my decorating tastes. However, there are some rather cool-looking modern wall sconces which I find particularly nice.
If you opt for a modern looking sconce, please choose something that looks nice and not bland!
Traditional Looking Wall Sconces
These sconces have a more traditional look, and suit most interiors. These sconces can also be slightly cheaper to purchase. Once again, remember that the sconce will add to your home’s look, so choose carefully.
Glamorous Wall Sconces
Ah, this is my favorite type of sconce!
I’m a girly girl who loves the Hollywood Regency style of interior decoration, and the Art Deco and Art Nouvelle styles. In short, I love glamour and shiny things!
Glamorous wall sconces can be made of crystal, or some shiny material such as chrome or be gold-plated.
My favorite type of course is the crystal wall sconce! It’s true, these are slightly more expensive than the other types, but if you can afford it, please buy them! They will really make your home look stylish and glamorous, even if you don’t change anything else in your home.
I especially love the crystal sconces that look like candle holders, they are just so elegant and romantic looking!
I like this style in a silver finish such as chrome, however you can also get these with an antique bronze finish or a gold-plated finish.
This is my personal favorite and you can use this style of sconce to glam up any room in your house.
I think these are especially appropriate for bedrooms and dining areas. You could use them anywhere of course. I have one of these in my kitchen dining nook.
I wanted to create a romantic dining space, but a chandelier in the kitchen is kind of crazy! So instead I bought one of these stylish sconces.
Dining is one of those functions that requires just enough light – we tried eating by candlelight alone and could barely see what we were eating. A lamp on the table looked ugly and too bright, and a lamp elsewhere did not really illuminate our food! So we opted for this sconce near our table – now we can turn it on with dim lights, light some candles and enjoy a lovely, romantic dinner in the kitchen. Now do you see why I love sconces so much?!
Specialty wall sconces
If you want to use a wall sconce as art, then you can’t really go past these specialty wall sconces. The one you’re seeing above is made in a Tiffany style, with stained glass. Stained glass wall sconces are one option, another is a sconce with a design on it. If you must go for a sconce with a design, I prefer this Tiffany style.
This style of sconce is very romantic, but this would be a feature piece and not something you can use everywhere.
Outdoor wall sconces
You can also get wall sconces to use outside. This style is waterproof.
If you’re looking to use sconces outdoors, then a popular choice is a sconce that is reminiscent of gas lighting. Of course the sconce would not actually use gas lighting, it’d just look like one of those old gas lights. The Meridian style sconce is popular for this, and they run on electricity like all regular sconces.
Decorating Near Sconces
Ok, now that you’ve made your decision to purchase a sconce, you need to decide how to decorate near it.
First of all, if you plan to use candle sconces, then make sure that there’s no chance of a fabric coming near it. Also make sure there’s no chance a child could get his or her hands on it – this means avoiding places such as directly above a table, above a sofa or bed, or anything that the child could get up on.
For most sconces, you can hang anything near the wall, as long as it’s not too close or contradictory in style. For instance, you wouldn’t want to hang a piece of modern art right next to a classical sconce, or even near one of those glamorous, candle-holder style sconces.
If f you’re using a specialty sconce, like the Tiffany-style sconce shown, then treat it like a piece of art. This means you can group other art pieces nearby or you can give it some space to give it prominence.
One thing I really hate is when people use matching light fixtures right next to a sconce! This really looks like over-kill and will kind of ruin the mood of a room. Please do not do this!
If your sconce provides dim light – for instance if you’re using candles, led lights, or a low wattage bulb – then you’ll probably need some other kind of lighting nearby. I would suggest using a floor or table light some distance away, so that the two lighting fixtures don’t clash with each other.
Sconces and Minimalist Styles
I’ve dabbled in minimalism a bit – I ultimately had to give up simply because minimalism can get a bit boring.
However, I am a big fan of an uncluttered décor style and using a wall-hanging light fixture is a great way to reduce the clutter of your home. Of course, this is still a decorative accessory, and using too many accessories leads to visual clutter.
Finally remember that a sconce is still something that will lend to the look of your home, so remember to clean it regularly, the way you would clean any knick-knack.
How To Use Sconces For Maximum Effect
Wall sconces are generally hung around three-fourth of the way between the floor and the ceiling.
Precisely where you hang the sconce is finally a matter of taste, but don’t hang it too high or your room won’t get enough light.
If you use multiple sconces in a room, then you should arrange them in a systematic way. For instance, if you have a long passage, then sconces should be arranged with the same distance between each other. If your passage is particularly narrow, then you should only have sconces on one wall. If your passage is a bit wider, then you could have sconces on both walls, but alternating in terms of placement – that is, one sconce on the left wall, then after one meter, one sconce on the right wall, then after another meter one on the left wall, and so forth.
If you use sconces in a large room then you might want to hang them so that they are symmetric to each other. Or you may want to have sconces on one wall only.
Precisely how you decorate with sconces is of course up to you.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my article on sconces – please leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions. I’d love to hear from you!
