It’s not always easy or cheap to hire an electrician each time you want to add new lighting to your home and there isn’t always an outlet when you need one. I have seen this idea on how to add lighting without wiring a few times in the DIY community and have been looking for ways to incorporate it into my home! After we painted our fireplace, I knew I wanted to add sconces, and my initial thought was to use this hack there, but I hit some snags along the way. After my first option didn’t work, I found another way, and am going to share them both with you!
I’m not sure where this hack started, but whoever came up with it is a GENIUS!
Option 1: Puck Light
This is the route I initially wanted to go with the sconces I purchased for our fireplace. Unfortunately, the puck lights wouldn’t properly fit into the lamp shade (shared more about this fail on my Instagram). Once I realized they wouldn’t work in the sconces, I found a different home for them, on our stair landing. I have wanted to try a lamp on the table at the top of our stairs, but there isn’t an accessible outlet nearby. This was the PERFECT solution (photo is below)!
All you need are these puck lights and this PVC adapter. The puck lights I bought had 3M tape to connect the puck lights to the adapter, but you could also just use super glue! Once you’ve connected the two, it literally just screws into the same socket where you put the lightbulb. Then you can either push the top of the puck light itself to turn it on OR there is a remote you can use (and you can change the brightness)!
Option 2: Battery Powered Lightbulb
For this option, there are rechargeable and disposable battery options. I went with the disposable option this time, but can see the benefits of rechargeable as well!
These have a remote as well, with adjustable brightness. The battery powered ones I got do not screw into the light socket, but they sat really nicely and upright in the shades, and they look great! I believe the rechargeable bulbs I linked will screw in just like a regular lightbulb.
These also come with a remote control, but there is also a button on each bulb if you lose the remote!
FAQs:
Answering a few of the questions I’ve gotten already about this hack! I’ll keep updating this post as questions come in as well!
- How much light do these give off?
- They give off a decent amount of light. Will it light up a full room after dark? Probably not. BUT if you are using it as mood lighting, or hanging a sconce next to your bed as a reading light, these will work perfectly! I knew I didn’t care much about the type of light these gave off so I was ok with it if they weren’t the brightest.
- Can I get these puck lights or bulbs anywhere other than Amazon?
- Yes! I have seen these puck lights in store everywhere (Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc). I haven’t seen the disposable battery powered light bulbs, but I think you can find the rechargeable bulbs at the hardware store as well!
- How do you attach the puck light to the PVC adapter?
- The puck lights I bought included a little 3M circle tape thing that allowed me to secure the two together. I have seen other people just use super glue as well!
What other question do you have? Let me know if you try this out!
