Candle Wall Sconces

Candle wall sconces have been used for hundreds of years, originally designed as a method of lighting rooms.  If you've watched any movies with a medieval theme, you can imagine what I'm talking about.  These days, however, you're much more likely to find them in restaurants and hotels to improve the ambience.  However, if you have a bit of a flair for design, they can really add a relaxing and even romantic mood to your own home.  By choosing carefully, the sconces themselves can add something to your home's décor during the day, and lighting them at night (especially if you have guests over) can add to the evening's ambience dramatically.

You can find them in many different styles (perhaps hundreds of styles) - some for the living room, some to complement the bedroom, etc.  They're really quite easy to install and, because they require no electricity, can provide light without power – very useful if there's ever a power cut.  You can even match them up with floating candle centrepieces at dinner parties to really change the whole mood of the room.

Firstly, let's talk about wall lanterns: These can be very versatile because they're made in so many different styles and from so many different materials.  These include brass candle wall sconces, wood sconces, even sterling steel.  If you've got a modern or “minimalist” home, metal sconces can fit well.  If you're trying to create a more homely type environment or have a lot of plants etc. in a traditional style house, wooden sconces made out of such woods as mahogany can fit very well.  Certainly in bedrooms, a mahogany lantern can fit perfectly.  (Just as a side note: There really isn't any increased risk of fire from using a wooden sconce over a metal one.  The wood is specially treated and even if the candle fell onto it would have a very hard time setting on fire.  In addition, most wooden sconces have a metal inner to hold the candle.)

Consider using them in an area you'd like to draw attention to, such as where a painting is hung (for example).  If you'd like to draw more attention to the candle sconces, well positioned mirrors can help to reflect the candlelight around the room.  You can really go to town with this, perfectly positioning expensive mirrors around the room to accent the candlelight.  However, you don't have to; it's often just as good to buy several cheaper mirrors to do the job just as effectively.  It's the wall sconce candle holder that peoples' eyes will be attracted to, rather than the mirrors; the mirrors are simply there to enhance the effect of the light. 

In fact, if you shop around, you'll be able to find various manufacturers who produce their own mirrored sconce – this saves the effort of hanging the mirrors and the sconces separately, so it's an option that you may like to consider.  They're priced at as little as $14 to $15 for one sconce / mirror set.  If you've opted for a metal variety (especially brass), when they're well polished, the candlelight will glean, not just off the mirrors, but from the brass sconce too.  The flickering shine can improve the atmosphere even further.

To improve the effect further, consider grouping candle sconces together to create a focal point surrounded by several smaller candles.  This not only produces more candlelight, but creates something central in the room for the eye to be attracted to.  If you're using the sconces in the bedroom, consider making a grouped arrangement over the bed.  However, if you do this, make sure there's no chance the candle could fall out onto the bed.  Fall asleep and let the candle fall out and it might be the end of your house, or worse.

Another addition to the whole effect is to use a glass chimney, which, just like a wall candle sconce, are available to buy in a huge range.  This includes every colour you can think of, patterned and engraved glass, different sizes, etc.  They're usually fairly simple to affix to most walls.  I should say at this point that, although they are simple to affix, always remember that there are water and gas pipes, and electricity cables running inside your walls.  Make sure that you know where they are before you start to bang nails into the walls to hang the sconces.

Well, there's a whole range of prices.  As mentioned above, you can pick them up for as little as around $15.  If you'd like, you can even buy chandelier wall sconces that are prices into the thousands of dollars!  But who has money like that to spend?  Paying so much is really quite unnecessary, and you can always buy quality, mirrored (or not if you'd prefer) scones for less than $100.