DIY Wall Sconce from Upcycled Glass Light Shades

Hi friends! If you recall from my last two posts, I joined the At Home DIY Challenge this year. For February’s organization challenge, I created this Built-in DIY Closet Organizer.  And I do have to say, I’m loving my new closet system!  Everything feels so clean and well, organized! (Don’t forget to check out some of my favs from the other awesome bloggers who participated in the February challenge!)  For March,  the challenge was to upcycle a thrift store or flea market find.  For this, I decided to visit the Habitat for Humanity Restore where they sell donated home improvement and home decor items.  Some of these items have been removed from previous homes as part of a remodel and are used, and others are leftover items from construction and home builds.  I found some pretty glass light shades that had been part of either a bathroom or ceiling fan light fixture.  The shape of the light shades looked like a flower, so I decided to make a wood wall sconce from the upcycled glass light shades!

DIY Wall Sconce Materials & Supplies:

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• • 1×10 pine board @ 6 ft
  • 3 glass light shades (from used bathroom light fixture or ceiling fan light fixture) – available at thrift store or flea market
  • Two coordinating shades of spray paint (I used two shades of blue:  Gloss, Light Blue and Satin, Periwinkle)
  • Circular saw or miter saw
  • Drill/Driver
  • Drill Bits
  • 2 3/4″ Hole Saw bit
  • 2″ Wood Screws
  • Wood Glue
  • Battery Operated LED String Lights
  • Faux flowers (craft store or dollar store)
  • Cricut Machine
  • Cricut Tools
  • Cricut Cutting Mat
  • Vinyl Transfer Tape
  • Exacto blade

DIY Wall Sconce Instructions:

1.Cut one 1×10 board to 36″ in length

2. Cut three 1×10 boards to 6 3/4″ in length each.

3.  Use a 2 3/4″ hole saw bit to drill a hole in the center of each of the three 6 3/4″ boards (this step can be done with either a drill/driver or drill press).

4.  Sand the boards and then stain them with a stain of your choice (I used Briarsmoke by Rustoleum) and let dry completely.

5.  While the stain is drying, prepare the glass light shades.  Since I purchased these at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, they were pretty dusty.  But at $2 a piece, I can deal with dust!

6.  To clean the glass shades,  I just lightly scrubbed them in the sink and then set them on a paper towel to air dry.

7. Once the light shades have completely dried, paint them using the two shades of spray paint.

• I sprayed the bottom half of the outside of the glass shades with the Periwinkle (the darker of the two colors)
• I sprayed the top half of the outside of the glass shade and the entirety of the inside with the light blue paint.  (The outside had a bit of an ombre effect.

8.  While the paint on the sconces are drying, assemble the wood base.

• Attach the  bottom sconce holder 6″ above the bottom of the 36″ board.  Use wood glue and  2″ wood screws (predrill first)

9. Attach the middle and top sconce shelves so there is 11 1/4″ space between each sconce shelf.

10.  Prepare your designs in Cricut Design Space and weed the excess vinyl from the design (all of the designs I used are available with the Design Space Access membership, but you can choose any design that suits your tastes).

12.  Use vinyl transfer tape to transfer the designs to your wall sconce back board

13.  Trace the inner diameter of the bottom hole of the lamp shades onto a piece of laminate plastic sheets and cut out the circles just slightly larger than the traced circle (these will be placed at the inside bottom of the glass light shades to prevent the lights from falling out).

 

14.  Adhere the laminate sheet circles to the inside bottom (smaller hole) of the glass lamp shades using a hot glue gun with hot glue.

 

 

 

15.  Use an exacto knife to cut a small slit in the middle of the laminating paper that is now adhered to the glass shade.  The slit should be large enough for the bottom 1/4 of the light string module to fit through so you can easily turn the lights on and off.

 

 

 

16.  Place the glass light shades into the holes on the sconce shelves so they are in snugly and straight (note the pics below are from me testing to make sure the light shades fit, the vinyl had not been put on when the pics were taken, but once I put the glass shades in the holes the final time, the vinyl had been applied by that point, just didn’t get any pics from the step before putting it on the wall! 😉  ).

 

17.  Add a picture hanging wire to the back and hang on the wall.

18.  Lastly, add some faux flowers that work with the colors you chose for your sconce and enjoy! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever upcycled glass light shades into something else?  If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!  Make sure to check out the March Challenge projects from the other participants by visiting the links below:

1905 Farmhouse, Abbots at Home, By Brittany Goldwyn, Creative Ramblings, Cribbs Style, Delicious & DIY, DIY Beautify, DIY Danielle, Dukes and Duchesses, Girl, Just DIY, Happily Ever After, Etc, Health, Home & Heart, House by the Bay Design, Just Measuring Up, Kenya Rae, Little Bits of Home, Living Letter Home, My Family Thyme, Pinspired to DIY, Red Cottage Chronicles, Refashionably Late, Savvy Apron, Shrimp Salad Circus, Songbird Blog, Southern Revivals, T.Moore Home, The DIY Dreamer, The DIY Village, The Frugal Homemaker, The Handyman’s Daughter, Two Feet First, Weekend Craft, What Meegan Makes, Zucchini Sisters