DIY Rustic Sconce

Happy Monday--well sort of!! With a three day weekend the grimace on my face this morning at the alarm clock sure looked like the one from Monday. Besides the fact that it's "Monday" I had a super productive weekend. Did you? Three days of finally no travelling and getting to hang out with my dog and my husband at home was much needed. Most of the weekend was actually spent reorganizing our garage and brewing 2 batches of beer (post to come soon).

As a side project we finally had time to finish the amazing sconces for our dining room. After we built the farmhouse table I knew I wanted to fill the large wall opposite the main entrance with a mirror. I had visions of this large antique mirror, but who can afford those!? Turns out Brad's coworker had one just laying around they've had forever and never done anything with. She claims it's haunted which I told Brad that if I ever saw anything in that mirror or even got a creepy feeling from it I was throwing it away. So far, nothing yet. Maybe the ghost likes my decorating taste. Anyway, the mirror was too small for this large wall so it definitely needed something on either side of it. Again, I scoured Pinterest--what else!? And found several ideas for rustic sconces. This is my version based on materials I could find.

DIY RUSTIC SCONCE

Supplies you will need:

-Reclaimed hardwood flooring

-Something to attach the boards together (I used a 6" mending plate and small screws)

-Black decorative chain

-2 Black hooks (or a hook and paint it black)

-2 Mason Jars

-Sandpaper (or a sander--highly recommend)

-Saw

-Drill

-Something to attach it to the wall (I used toggle bolts)

Step 1: Clean and sand the boards. This is why I recomend a sander. I couldn't pull anything off the boards because one of them had about 5 coats of paint on it. The sander cleaned it up perfectly. It was actually the first time we used the sander. It was a Christmas present from my mom to Brad. Good purchase Mom!

Step 2: Attach the boards together. I attached the mending plates with screws to the back to hide them being attached. This makes them a little wobbly, so be careful. Also, I chose to do this before cutting the boards because for me it's easier to make sure they're all the same length if I cut it all at once. This will depend on the size of your saw. We have a 12" miter saw which had no issues with something this size.

Step 3: Cut them to size. I cut off the 2 ends first and then measured to make sure they were even. Depending on how good of a cut your saw made you may need to sand the edges. I didn't need to, but figured I'd throw it in just in case you do.

Step 4: Predrill holes for the wall mount and hook. Go one step smaller for the hook hole to make sure it goes in snug and holds tightly. I did not drill the hook hole all the way through either since I didn't not want it touching the wall. The hole for the hook was made in the center of the top board and the hole for the wall mount was just below it.

Step 5: Mount the boards to the wall. The first location turned out to have a stud in it so we switched our toggle bolt to a screw and put it right into the stud. The other was not so lucky so we used a toggle bolt. Toggle bolts are amazing. You screw the little wing part onto the back, squeeze them into the hole and voila it's attached firmly to the back of the sheetrock. I wanted both of these to be a flush mount to make them more streamlined and since they're so light it only need to be attached in one place.

Step 6: Attach your hook into its hole. Make sure it's in as far as you can get it. I saved this step 'til after it's mounted because we learned the hard way how difficult it is to mount with the hook in the way.

Step 7: Attach the chain to your mason jars. I used 2 needle nosed pliers to wedge the chain apart to first attach it snuggly just under the lip of the jar and then made a loop to attach it to the other side.

Step 8: Hang your chain onto your hook and you're done! You can now use it to hold a candle or as a flower vase. So excited for these and they came out amazing! I actually painted my mason jars to look like mercury glass. I will post that DIY soon.

Price:

-Reclaimed Tongue and Groove Flooring $10

-Hardware (screws, mending plates, hooks, and chain) $10

-2 Kerr jars $2

-Total for project $22

-Total per sconce $11

The price was not half bad in my book considering we have a running joke in my family "Instead of buying it for $10 I decided to make it myself for $92." Hard to believe we're almost done with the space. How did you spend your long weekend? Do you have any cool DIY tips/tricks you've done?