How Much Should You Spend on a Wall Sconce?

As any lighting designer will tell you, layering is key to creating the right ambiance. Toward that end, wall sconces are the ideal choice for creating everything from a bold, large-scale effect to specific task lighting. 

"We are big fans of sconces and use them often, both as functional pieces and aesthetic focal points," says Lauren Nelson, owner and principal of Lauren Nelson Design in San Francisco’s Bay Area. "I like to use wall sconces in spaces where I want more ambient light, and where we want a visual element on the wall." 

A great combination of function and form, wall sconces are decorative lights that are mounted to a wall rather than the ceiling. They can be—and often are—pieces of art. As such, they’re rarely a budget item. "I think of wall lighting in the same category as heirloom furniture, in that it should be a valued purchase: not fast-casual shopping, but rather an intentional choice to invest in something that you’ll potentially be looking at for decades," says architect and designer Robert Highsmith, cofounder of Workstead Design Studio in Brooklyn, New York. 

While you can find sconces for under $500, these are semi-permanent fixtures in your home and can act as investment pieces. "You can expect to pay anywhere from $150 to $6,000 for a wall sconce," says Nelson. "This price fluctuation is a matter of material, quality, and vintage versus new." 

Materials and Forms in Wall Sconces

The wall sconce is the original light fixture, harkening back to medieval lanterns and colonial candle reflectors. "Historically, it really was the primary source of light," says Highsmith, who designs the wall sconces and lighting products Workstead sells. "I think now it has evolved to being more decorative or additive in terms of creating another layer of light in the space. Sconces have the ability to be quite transformative." 

Traditionally just a simple source of light, today wall sconces have multiple uses. "They can uplight and downlight the wall, providing a soft ambient wash of light," explains Ginny Macdonald, principal and founder of Ginny Macdonald Design, based in Los Angeles. "They can be installed up high above a sink or mirror to give you some directional light from above. They can also protrude out of the wall on an arm and act as a reading light above a bed or chair." 

"A well-placed and well-considered wall-mounted fixture can create a gratifying level of completion in a room." 

—Robert Highsmith, Workstead

Wall sconces come in a wide variety of materials. Stainless steel, aluminum, iron, brass, and wood are all common choices with the form of the fixture ranging from straight and simple to sculptural and multi-faceted. "I tend to love sconces that use rich materials and even a mix of materials—porcelain, alabaster, brass, wood, clay, plaster, stone," says Nelson. "The more tactile, the better, in my book. I love to see the mark of the artist in a lighting fixture, and when there is a mix of these natural materials, they translate so beautifully into not just lighting, but art."