DIY Industrial Wall Sconces

2 Materials
$25
4 Hours
Easy

This project came to life when I needed to find a solution for incorporating lighting into a Murphy Bed that I build for a studio apartment. The overall style of the space is industrial and utilitarian and that's what inspired the design for these DIY walls sconces with LED light strips.

The first part of the project was to build the wall panel to cover the bare wall at the back of the Murphy Bed.

It had to be no more than 1" thick to not interfere with the mattress and bedding so I chose to build it with 1/4" plywood and 1"x2" furring strips.

I found narrow led light strips that were the perfect width for what I wanted to do.

This is the back of the panel where the wires are able to run all the way to the outlet and stay hidden.

I stained the panels and then used some silver metallic paint to make the area around the lights look like metal.

To reflect more light and make it look even more industrial, I screwed a metal panel to the back on panel lined up with the lights.

This is what the sconces looked like without a cover - I wanted to give them an even more industrial look so I decided to make a cover for them using wire mesh.

I used left over iron on wood veneer edging to make a border for the wired mesh (it was surprisingly easy to do with the iron). Then I used more of that metallic paint to transform the wood edging into looking more like metal.

Then to complete the industrial look, I used sheet metal screws to attach the covers to the wall panel.

Love the way they turned out!

Sunsets were the inspiration for the colors on the inside of the Murphy bed.

And with the lights on, it almost looks like the sun is setting inside the Murphy bed!

You can watch the entire Murphy bed build (which I did without a workshop!) and see more details on the wall sconce project in this video. Enjoy!

Suggested materials:
  • 1"x2"   (Hardware store)
  • LED light kit   (Amazon)
Engineer Your Space
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Zoey Zoey on Sep 29, 2019

    our contractor would not put lights of any kind on the inside, because he said anyone might close the bed with the lights left on...any thoughts for an auto turn off switch? He made an extended overhead box with lights, when shut the lights are on the outside. While LED have less heat there are some failures. Still love your idea!

  • Lisa West Lisa West on Oct 06, 2019

    Look very pretty. I live the sunset idea. Where can you turn them off and on though? Great idea.

  • Mary Mary on Oct 29, 2019

    One is lower than the other was that how you wanted it?

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