Hello,

I'm looking for ideas for replacing 2 wall sconces in our living room, that are hard-wired but not controlled by a lightswitch (unfortunately - I'd love it if they were!).

The existing sconces are roughly at head-level (maybe 5 1/2 to 6' from floor), and are on either side of a patio door. They give off little/no functional light (clamshell, upward-shining), and we'd like to put something in their place that would contribute more useful light (it's a VERY poorly lit room, and we live in Alaska, where it's dark a LOT of the time!). So, my questions are:

1. Do you have suggestions on types of light fixtures that, at that height, would both look good (fitting for a casual LR) and provide as much light as possible to the nearby couch and floor area where the kids play? I've browsed the lamp-style (normally on an arm?) w/ traditional looking shade, or perhaps a wall-mounted track-light (but at that 'lower' height, I'm thinking track-lighting wouldn't work well?) - any recommendations on these types, or others not mentioned, in terms of working at that height and light output - again, needing a hard-wired unit?

2. What would it take to see if we could relatively painlessly put those two lights onto a lightswitch? As I said, they're currently on either side of a patio door (about 2' from each edge, so maybe about 10' apart from each other on same wall), and only have manual-switches. I'm no electrician, and am on a tight budget, but am curious if there's a way (w/out ripping up major sheetrock to see what's underneath and where) to guess/see where the wiring runs from each unit, to try to link them to a single lightswitch? [If it's too much dealing/cost, then we'll just look for lighting units w/ easily-accessible manual switches, and treat them like lamps.]

Thanks so much -- I'd appreciate any ideas/suggestions!