6 Trending New Ways to Incorporate Wall Sconces
Sconce lights are one of the oldest forms of lighting. From torches on the walls to candles and then gas behind frosted glass. Sconces have come back as a great way to elevate your home decor. Sconces have been used as porch entryway wall lights, Swing arm bedside lights, and elegant corridor lighting. They make lovely mood lighting or can chase the shadows from every corner.
The great thing about wall sconce lighting is that as our lifestyles evolve, we always find a new place for a sconce. Explore six fresh ways to incorporate sconce lighting into modern home designs.
1) Elegantly Ensconce Your Free-Standing Tub
Beautiful free-standing tubs have become the epitome of ensuite luxury. Designers across the board are separating baths and showers to create more space and relaxation in both. One of the best places to put a hardwired wall sconce lighting is gently glowing above your private soaking tub. Whether you're the kind of person to submerge into aromatic steam or build a bookcase into your bath nook, sconce lighting is the perfect height and intensity for a relaxing bath in a newly renovated luxury suite.
Because a free-standing tub has no shower, you can place your soothing sconce lighting just a few feet above the tub - even with touch-activation or smart home integration so you have full control in the bath. For more indirect lighting, place your tub in a nook and hang your sconces facing outward on either side of the nook.
2) Gently Illuminate Your Private Library
Speaking of bookcases, sconces have always held a beloved place in library design. With warm tones and reclaimed wood, home libraries are coming back into style, and your lighting options are more diverse than ever.
The modern home library can have innovative layered lighting to create a feeling of gently-lit book browsing marked by pools of light over comfortable reading chairs. Wall lights nestled beautifully between your bookshelves, layered with a table lamp will provide soft and soothing illumination as you peruse your shelves. LED light bulbs also offer far lower heat lighting for safer installations around your precious paper books. Accent lighting like candle sconces flanking a piece of art is another way to make the look sophisticated.
Classic lamps, glowing lanterns, and frosted glass orbs are all styles that look beautiful when combined with dark wood shelves, paneled walls, and the spines of all your favorite books lined up in rows.3) A Sconce Trigger for Your Secret Door
One of the most fun things you can do is use a sconce light fixture as the hidden trigger for your secret door. From James Bond to Young Frankenstein. secret doors are always best when the latch is not just hidden, it's also a fun surprise.
Start by designing your hidden doorway so that the door looks like any other bookshelf, cabinet, or wall panel. Then find the perfect place to hang a wall sconce nearby. We recommend two sconce lights on either side, or identical sconce lights ringing the room so that it's not obvious which light might be your switch, even if someone knows the secret. Then all you need is a small hinge so that the light fixture activates the latch when moved, and a spring so the light automatically returns to its neutral position. In your secret space combine ceiling lighting on a dimmer with beautiful hardwired wall sconces.
4) Chase Away Lingering Shadows
Another very useful application for sconce lighting is to eliminate shadows in a dark room. Large or irregularly shaped rooms often suffer from shadowy corners where the central light fixture's illumination simply doesn't reach. These shadows are easy to live with, but you might be surprised how subtly demoralizing (and aesthetic-reducing) a gloomy-cornered room can be.
The clever placement of a few sconce lights in each room can bring balance to your decore and chase away the shadows from your furthest corners and nooks. In fact, adding sconce lighting will often help you realize the full potential of the space - because we tend to avoid dark spaces. You might realize more inviting furniture arrangements or see where an elegantly hung piece of artwork would perfect your room now that the corners are illuminated. Choosing the right light bulbs for your sconce lighting will determine if it is seen as task lighting in a home office or ambient lighting for a warm glow in your living room. Putting a dimmer switch and dimmable light bulb on the scone is a great way to customize the look as well.
5) Outdoor Living Hardscape Sconces
Outdoor living is taking home renovations by storm. A combination of landscaping and interior design principles come together to make outdoor spaces that are as comfortable as your indoor living room - and perhaps even more relaxing. You can install an outdoor kitchen or build the perfect grill pit. You can design the perfect deck for naps or hide shady reading nooks in the trees.
One of the most innovative additions to outdoor living design is wired lighting where you least expect it. A sconce can be built into your pergolas and swing bench frames, into the deck railing or hammock poles. Sconce lighting turns your shady reading spot into a soothing evening retreat as well. If you have an artful pagoda or and hardscape structures in your garden design, an artful sconce with a smart bulb can be the perfect addition to your outdoor living space.
6) Sconce Runway of Home Theater Lights
Sconces also make very elegant lighting for a home theater. With so many homeowners prioritizing at-home entertainment, your home theater is a place of shared fun and relaxing evenings. You deserve to have a beautifully functional space with layered lighting that works for any home viewing event. Whether you are screening a blockbuster as part of an adult dinner party or hosting a movie marathon sleepover for the kids, sconce lighting provides that classic movie theater mood lighting that has been loved since before shows were projected onto screens.
Frosted glass sconces, along with shells and artful backlight sconces, are the best for a home theater, as they soften the light. Frosted glass sconces are best for illumination if you don't have strong overhead lights, while backlight sconces reflect light back onto the walls for gentle illumination that will never cause a glare on your movie screen. Choosing different lamp shades for your sconces can change the feel of the space too. Linen shades, matte black metal shades, and clear glass shades are all great options. Combined with smart home features, you can fully dim and even color your lights for the perfect home theater experience every time.
Find the Perfect New Sconce Lights for Your Fresh Design
Sconce lighting may be the single oldest style of lighting after the campfire, but there are still new and interesting ways to use them with every evolution of interior design and home trends. To find the perfect sconce lighting for your home, garden, library, or home theater, Urban Ambiance would be honored to assist. Peruse our excellent selection of indoor and outdoor sconce lighting designs or contact us to explore ideas with one of our home lighting experts.
