Modern wall lights can illuminate your living space in many beautiful ways. Unravel the appeal of your interior décor with these unique wall lighting fixtures. These lights can brighten dark hallways, areas of your room with poor lighting, staircases, and other locations.
Wall lights are available in different sizes and designs, and can deliver improved illumination wherever you want. Homes with proper lighting can also get an attractive finishing touch with wall lights.
You can learn how to install a wall light in simple steps and supercharge the aesthetic of your indoor environment. Take advantage of details in this guide to install a modern wall light. Secure the beautiful ambiance guaranteed by wall lights without hassle!
Materials and Tools May Needed:
- Voltage tester
- Utility knife
- Drywall saw
- Drill
- Screwdriver
- Wire Strippers
- Long-nose pliers
- Lineman's pliers
- Sconces
- Switch box (optional)
- Cable
- Electrician's tape
Step 1: Turn Power Off
Your property has an electric service panel you can access to shut off circuits throughout your property. You must turn off electrical circuits in this panel to work safely while installing a wall light. Shut off power to specific sections in the property with these few steps:
Locate the electrical service panel in the property (usually has individual circuits with a main ON/OFF switch),
Find the circuit for rooms or hallways where you need to install the wall light. Switch the specific electrical circuit off. You can also shut down power to all circuits by flipping the main switch to its “OFF” position.
Engaging these steps will ensure you work safely and avoid the risk of electrocution at several stages during installation. You also need to double-check if shutting down your service panel truly cuts off power to your property. Perform further checks by confirming that:
- Light fixtures in the room or intended installation area do not come on when you flip switches in the area,
- No signs of electrical current in the electrical box (use a voltage tester to confirm this)
Step 2: Mark and Cut Wall Studs
A couple of vertical studs behind your drywall will serve as a base for the sconce of your wall light. Follow these steps to mark and cut wall studs for your new fixture with ease.
- Use a stud finder to locate studs behind the dry wall,
- Cut and apply electrician’s tape to mark the location of these studs (they are usually 14.5” apart),
- Measure the wall studs to get a preferred height for your light fixture (recommended height is from 45” or higher),
- Place paper templates in your light fixture’s electrical box on the wall and mark with a pencil,
- Cut out the shape drawn with your pencil using a hole saw, jab saw, or any other effective tool,
- Remove the cutout
Skip this step if your property already has a pre-installed wall outlet to install wall sconces.
Step 3: Draw Power to the Wall Box
You need to draw power to your newly-created wall outlet from a light switch. Follow these steps to draw power to your wall light from a switch:
- Unscrew the faceplate of your light switch box
- Use a voltage tester to confirm that there’s no power in the light switch outlet,
- Manually run wire from your light box to the switch hole (14/2 wire is usually ideal for such fixtures),
- Cut the wire on both ends, leaving no more than 8” from both holes (light switch box and wall box)
Leave the connection for later and proceed to further steps in the installation.
Step 4: Mount the Wall Box
Mounting the wall box to the fresh drywall cutout is a major step to install your wall light. You can complete this step when you:
- Insert the wall box wires (drawn to the light switch) into any of the holes around its round design,
- Draw out the wires to ensure enough length to strip sheathings and install to the wall fixture,
- Place the box into its drywall cutout and use a pencil to mark where its fastening holes will be,
- Use a power drill to insert tiny holes where the fastening screws will go into,
- Place the box and use a manual screwdriver to securely fasten the wall box,
- Fit the mount support on your wall box and secure with available screws,
Step 5: Attach Sconce and Wiring
Wall lights usually come with wall sconces that provide protection and helps redirect rays through its design. Wall sconces come with their wiring for easy attachment to your light switch. Let’s see how to attach a sconce and wiring to your light source:
- Peel off wires on the sconce (most come with a black, white, and bare copper or green/yellow wire),
- Connect the wires from your sconce to the wires hanging out of your wall box,
- Join white to white,
- Connect black to black,
- Attach bare copper wire or green and yellow to corresponding cable from the sconce,
- Secure each connection from short-circuits with electrician’s tape or use wire nuts to hide exposed cables,
- Screw the sconce onto your wall box’s mount using provided fasteners
Step 6: Complete Wiring to the Light Switch
Finish wiring the entire setup by attaching wires from your light switch to its controls. It is worth noting that two wires – power and load – are essential to ensure your wall light functions correctly. However, manufacturers don’t adhere to uniform colour coding in these fixtures. Some wires may even have a bare or ground wire you can screw onto the light box from your wall fixture.
We will tag the power wire as black and load wire as white in this guide:
- Use a wire stripper to cut off cable sheathing; strip the wire ends,
- Connect the black wire from the wall to a gold terminal (or L) on the switch box,
- Join the white wire from the wall fixture to the silver terminal (or N) on the switch box,
- Insert the switch box to its wall housing and screw tightly using a manual Flathead or Philips variant,
- Ensure the switch box is secure on its surrounding drywall
Add the faceplate of your light switch after securing it onto your wall.
Step 7: Install Lights
Next, add a lightbulb to the sconce. Ensure the lightbulb you choose does not exceed recommended wattage for your preferred wall light. After this, screw on the wall light housing (if available).
Step 8: Turn Power Back On
The next step involves allowing electrical current into your property. Return to the electrical service panel and switch on electrical circuits you turned off before installation. Make sure your wall light is switched off before restoring power to your room or building.
Step 9: Turn on Wall Light
Next, turn on the wall light to confirm if it works. Your wall light should turn on and provide much-needed illumination to your environment. If it turns on and you can confirm there’s no heat around the switch box area, you’re all done!
Let's take this wall light as reference!
✨✨Carefully follow these steps to learn how to install a wall light with ease. Always adhere to safety precautions and regulations while installing electrical fixtures in your home. However, it makes total sense to install wall lights with the help of a licensed technician.