DIY Swing Arm Sconce Wall Lamp

Save money on interior lighting with this fun DIY brass swing arm wall lamp! Great as a bedroom or living room piece to accent a gallery wall or brighten up the bedside! Make this high end looking piece on a budget with the full tutorial below.

Swing arm wall lamp

Materials you’ll need to build a swing arm wall lamp:

  • Drill
  • 3/8 inch forstner drill bit
  • 5/16 inch forstner drill bit
  • Wood block (walnut used here)
  • 3/8 inch threaded brass pipe
  • Tubing bender
  • Brass swivel with rotation piece
  • Brass socket piece
  • Ceramic socket
  • Wire clippers
  • Cord
  • Plug
  • Small phillips screw driver
  • Router
  • Sandpaper
  • Wood finish (oil or polyurethane as desired)
Materials to DIY Swing Sconce Lamp

Instructions step by step for the wall lamp with cord:

Step 1: Drilling process

Using a handheld drill, use the 3/8″ drill bit to drill down into one side of the rectangular block (vertically). Drill about 3/4 of the way down the block.

DIY Swing Sconce Lamp - Hand Drill

Step 2: Continue drilling

Switch over to the 5/16″ drill bit and drill the rest of the way through the block.

Step 3: Sandpaper

Use sandpaper to sand the edges of the block and finish the wood block with oil or polyurethane as desired.

DIY Swing Sconce Lamp Sand

Step 4: add cord to pipe

Gather the rest of your supplies and thread your cord through the pipe.

Step 5: pipe and swivel

Thread your pipe around the brass swivel rotation piece.

DIY Swing Sconce Lamp Part 2

Step 6: prepare the cord

Pull out the cord through the swivel rotation piece (strip the fabric off the cord if needed depending on the diameter of the cord you use).

Step 7: Wire clippers

Use the wire clippers to strip the outside of the cord off of the interior wires to expose your wire. Clip off the green wire.

Step 8: Exposed wires

Strip the black and white cords of the plastic until only the wire is exposed.

Step 9: socket

Thread on the brass socket cup.

DIY Swing Sconce Lamp Part 3

Step 10: Wire and ceramic socket

Attach the exposed wires to the ceramic socket. Match up the white to the silver connector point and screw in place with your screwdriver. Match the black wire to the other connection point.

Step 11: Bottom cord

Pull the cord from the bottom of the pipe so that the brass socket cover is pulled tight enough to screw into the brass swivel connector piece and the ceramic socket fits tightly in the cup.

Step 12: Tubing blender

Use your tubing bender to put a slight 45 degree bend in the brass pipe towards the bottom of the piping.

Step 13: The more professional touch

Use a router to place 2 keyholes in the back of your wood. If you don’t have a router then you can just screw the wood directly into the wall once the light if finished.

Step 14: Attach to the wood block

Thread the cord of your light and your brass pipe into your wood piece (thread through the side with the larger hole first so that the brass piece slides into the wood and rests inside, you should be able to pull the cord through the bottom hole).

Step 15: stripping wire

Add a plug to the bottom of the cord by stripping the wire and attaching to the plug piece.

Hang your lamp on the wall (place 2 screws into the wall and hang the wood on the screws if you chose to put key holes into the wood or screw screw through the wood and directly into the wall). Plug the light in to let it shine!

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