I have been away for a while, but since I have been sitting on the couch for the past few days recovering from chasing Kara through the streets of New York, I thought I would share a quick tutorial of how we made some sconces for the reading room revamp.
Kara knew the look she wanted for these, but could only find a lamp that fit the bill. She asked if we could convert them to hang on the wall and good thing I said yes, because she had already gotten them.
Here is a break down of the rest of our supplies:
1. Toggle Bolts – 2 per lamp (if you haven’t used them in a while, you will like the new look)
2. Acorn Nuts – 2 per lamp
3. Replacement Plug
4. 3″ Threaded Rod – 2 per lamp
Your lamp could be a little different than the one we used, but these directions should give you a good starting point. Let’s get started.
First, remove the protective felt from the bottom to expose the innards.
Use pliers to remove the bottom nut and free the weight.
Cut off the plug so you can slide the cord through the base.
Disassemble the base by sliding the weight out from underneath the base and off the cord. The main portion of the lamp should be loose from the base at this point. You will also notice a circular piece of cardboard in the lamp base. Set that aside, you will use it later.
Place tape and then mark where you would like to drill the holes for your bolts. When you are deciding where to drill your holes be sure to consider where the cord exits the base and drill accordingly.
Pick a metal drill bit that is just slightly larger than your threaded rods.
Drill the holes. Go slow and use a significant amount of pressure. Our base was very thin so it didn’t matter, but if you drill through a thicker metal you might want to use a few drops of lubricating oil.
Now that your base is prepped you can reattach the main portion of the lamp to the base using the nut you removed earlier.
With my freshly drilled base I used the piece of cardboard from the base to create a template to transfer the placement of the holes onto our cork-board background.
Since the base of our lamp will cover these feel free to make them a bit larger to give your self a little bit of wiggle room. Be sure to go ahead drill another larger hole in between the two bolt holes to accommodate your cord.
Next I transferred my marks and then drill my holes to the wall. We centered our sconce above the daybed and picked a height that will allow for easy adjustment. The size of your drill bit will be determined by the toggle bolt you are using and should be listed on that package. The blue tape is just there to catch some of the dust to make Kara’s cleanup job easier (haha yeah right).
Unfortunately we missed taking pictures of me installing the toggle bolts. You should be able to find those instructions on the toggle bolt packaging.
These last few steps don’t have to be performed in this specific order, so you can see what I did then choose for yourself.
I inserted the threaded rods into the toggles that I had installed in the wall. I liked this plan because it allowed me to go ahead and hang the cork-board on the threaded rods and then provided a “target” to aim at when I was placing the lamp base on the wall. Be sure to thread your cord through the cork-board before your attach the base to the wall so it can be concealed as much as possible.
Next, align the base with the threaded rods and attach it using the acorn nuts.
Here is a close up to show you how that should work.
Lastly you will need to replace the plug that we clipped earlier. There are a lot of options for this, but this version is one of the simplest and effective I have found.
And there you have it. After all that hard work step back and enjoy your handy work…
Or if your wife prefers symmetry, get back to work and finish installing the other one.
I am happy with how they turned out, but most importantly Kara loved the finished product. She’ll be back tomorrow with some more NYC inspiration.
This is a neat idea. I really like seeing basic things used in different ways. They look perfect for that space.
Super cool project Thanks for sharing!
I think you are my new favorite blog… I just keep on digging deeper and finding even more wonders. I love industrial and feminine… and your blog is like candy.
thank you!
Thanks Dandelion Girl! I’m so glad you found us! How did you find us by the way? I clicked over to your blog and felt an instant connection! I hope you’ll stick around!
Thanks so much Becky! It was a much cheaper way to get the look we were going for!
You are certainly welcome! Thanks for commenting Samantha!
I actually found you by searching “Anthropologie displays” in Google (looking at Google images) — I work at Anthro and always find it fascinating to see what other stores are putting up on display, since as you know, the guidelines are usually pretty open.