Wall Sconce in Living Room: Will It Replace a Lamp?

Yes. A wall sconce in living room lighting works when you mount the pair at 60 to 66 in (152 to 168 cm) off the floor, one on each side of the sofa or the art above it, and it uses 0 floor space to do it. Below 60 in (152 cm) the lit glass sits in your eyeline while you are sitting down, and above 66 in (168 cm) you are lighting the wall over everyone's heads.

The limit is coverage, not height. Each Houseland globe sconce is rated for 32 to 54 sq ft (3 to 5 sq m) on a G9 socket that takes a 7W LED at most, so two of them light the sofa end of a room and leave the far end dark. If you want living room wall lighting without lamps in every corner, that is the trade: soft pools where you sit, and something overhead for the rest.

Will a wall sconce in living room lighting replace a floor lamp?

For the sofa end, yes. For the whole room, no, and the number that settles it is 32 to 54 sq ft (3 to 5 sq m) of coverage per fixture on a 7W G9 LED. A floor lamp usually carries a bigger bulb and moves with the furniture; a sconce gives back the floor the base was standing on and never gets kicked over at a party.

Do sconces replace floor lamps in practice? They replace the one you keep beside the sofa, because that lamp is doing a job a fixed light does better at 60 to 66 in (152 to 168 cm), and the pull chain means you still switch it by hand. They do not replace the lamp you drag around the room, and nothing bolted to a wall ever will.

What height do sconces beside a sofa go at?

60 to 66 in (152 to 168 cm) from the floor to the centre of the fixture. I would take the top of that band, 66 in (168 cm), if anyone in the house is over 6 ft (183 cm), because the frosted opal globe is 4.7 in (12 cm) across and you see it lit whenever it sits below standing eye level.

Horizontal spacing is where the internet starts guessing. There is no universal number of inches out from the sofa arm, because it changes with the width of the sofa and whether art is going in the middle. Sit on the sofa, hold a piece of masking tape on the wall at the height you picked, and slide it outward until it leaves your sightline when you look straight ahead. Measure both sides from the centre of the sofa rather than from the corners of the room, or the pair will sit off centre for the rest of its life.

Centre the art first and the sconces second. A large canvas over a sofa wants a centre line in the same 60 to 66 in band the lights use, so hang it, then step the pair outward from its frame, which is the running order used in this piece on styling wall sconces above a sofa. Living room sconce placement ideas fall apart when the art goes up last and the holes are already drilled.

How do I get one onto the wall without wrecking the plasterboard?

Kill the power at the breaker, then work to the box, because this is a hardwired sconce with no plug involved. The sequence below is the one I would follow for any hardwired fixture, including a sconce in a kids room.

1. Switch the breaker off, not the wall switch, and check the wires in the box are dead before you touch anything.
2. Find the wall box. The backplate wires into a standard wall box, so if there is no box near your 66 in (168 cm) line, stop: that is an electrician's job, not a plasterboard anchor job.
3. Mark the centre line with a spirit level and mark both sides in the same pass. Studs sit 16 in (41 cm) on centre in most walls, so a new box lands where the stud allows, not where your pencil wants it.
4. Check the backplate against the mark: 6.3 x 6.3 in (16 x 16 cm) for the square and the pebble, 5.9 x 5.5 in (15 x 14 cm) for the disc, 11.8 x 4.7 in (30 x 12 cm) for the bar. The bar is the one that shows a crooked line from the doorway.
5. Screw the painted iron backplate flat to the box, then fit the frosted globe with both hands, because it lifts off for cleaning and it will come off on the way up as well.
6. Fit a G9 LED at 7W or less. A 3-colour-temperature G9 gives 3000K warm, 4000K natural and 6000K white from one bulb, which saves a second trip to the shop.
7. Pull the chain before the tools go away, and pull it while sitting on the sofa. At 66 in (168 cm) the beaded chain is an easy reach standing and a stretch seated, and that is better to learn now than in February.

Where do flanking sconces go around a TV wall?

Outside the screen and above its top edge, never level with it. A frosted opal globe 4.7 in (12 cm) across is a visible light source, and at 66 in (168 cm) it lands near the height of a wall-mounted TV, so a pair set too close reads as two bright dots either side of the picture for the whole film. Measure out from the edge of the screen, not from the corner of the wall, and keep going until the globe leaves the corner of your eye from the seat you actually use.

Warm light helps more than distance here. A 3000K G9 behind frosted glass sits beside a screen without fighting it, while 6000K white next to a TV is a headache by the second episode. Flanking sconces around a TV wall also do what a bias light does, which is stop your eyes working against a bright rectangle in a dark room, and the pull chain turns them off at the fixture when the film starts.

Does a sconce over an armchair work for reading?

For a paperback, yes; for small print in a service manual, no. One G9 at 7W maximum through frosted opal glass is a soft pool across 32 to 54 sq ft (3 to 5 sq m), which is a chair and a side table, not a desk. Mount it on the side of your dominant hand at the same height as the sofa pair, slightly behind your shoulder, so the page is lit and the globe is out of the front of your eye.

Run 4000K natural for reading and 3000K warm for everything else, which is the argument for buying the 3-colour-temperature G9 rather than a fixed bulb. A sconce over an armchair for reading also settles the cable problem: nothing crosses the floor, because the backplate wires into the box and the chain does the switching.

From the shop

Globe Wall Sconce with Switch, Pull Chain Glass Wall Lamp, 4 Shapes 4 Colors

Four shapes and four colours, all 5.9 in (15 cm) tall around the same 4.7 in (12 cm) frosted opal globe, with the pull chain on the fixture. One G9 at 7W maximum covers 32 to 54 sq ft (3 to 5 sq m), which is a sofa end or a reading chair.

See the globe wall sconce with switch

What about sconce lighting for a rented living room?

Only if a wall box is already on that wall. This is a hardwired sconce with no cord down the wall, so there is no plug-in version of it and no honest way to make one. If the lease says nothing gets rewired, buy a floor lamp and keep the 104.46 USD.

Where should I buy wall lights and sconces?

Houseland is worth a look for this one job, and the reasons sit on the spec sheet rather than in the marketing. First, the switch is on the fixture: a beaded chain with a small wood teardrop hangs under a backplate that stands 5.9 in (15 cm) tall, so the light beside a sofa goes off without a wall switch or a smart plug. Second, it is hardwired to a standard wall box on AC with no cord down the wall, and one G9 at 7W maximum covers 32 to 54 sq ft (3 to 5 sq m), which is the sofa end and not the whole room. Third, there are 17 shape and colour combinations at 104.46 USD each, all built around the same 4.7 in (12 cm) globe, and black is the only colour listed with the globe on the left as well as the right.

It is the wrong light for a big room. At 32 to 54 sq ft (3 to 5 sq m) per fixture on a 7W G9 maximum, an open-plan living room needs a ceiling fixture doing the work, and you can count the pools you would need by measuring your own floor. It is also wrong if you rent and cannot touch wiring, and wrong if you want an up down sconce for a living room wall that throws a hard beam at the ceiling and the floor, because a 4.7 in (12 cm) frosted opal globe scatters light in every direction by design.

What would I buy first?

A pair of Bar Black, one globe left and one globe right, at 66 in (168 cm) to the centre, flanking whatever hangs above the sofa. Black is the only bar colour listed in both orientations, so it is the only pair that mirrors properly; the other three colours give you two right-handed bars and something that will bother you every time you walk into the room. Buy a 3-colour-temperature G9 at 7W or less for each and set them to 3000K before the first evening, because finding out at 11pm that you have 6000K white over your sofa is how a good wall ends up with two filled holes.

Shop wall lamps from Houseland

-20%Bear Nursery Wall Sconce, Adjustable Iron Wall Lamp with Wood Base, 8 Colorsfrom $97.89$122.36-20%Macaron Bedside Wall Sconce, Adjustable Wood Base Wall Lamp, 3 Shapes 13 Colorsfrom $86.47$108.09-20%Vanity Sconce with Exposed Globe Bulb, Adjustable Iron Wall Lamp, 5 Colorsfrom $72.22$90.28-20%Fluted Resin Hallway Sconce, Up Down Wall Light in 4 Colors, Two G9 Bulbsfrom $83.79$104.74Wood Flush Mount Ceiling Light, Walnut or Natural, Slim or Tall LED Fixturefrom $99.95Bedside Wall Sconce, Adjustable Wood E27 Wall Light, 6 Colorsfrom $74.99

See all wall lamps →