DIY Ikea Hack Accordion Sconces

I made these sconces for a DIY contributor post on Remodelaholic in August and I’m finally getting around to sharing them here on the blog, just in time for some major changes in our master bedroom… When we first moved in we actually slept in one of the smaller bedrooms with our mattress on the floor while I finished scraping the popcorn ceilings in the master bedroom, installed a working ceiling fan (actually, my dad did that for me!), and painted the walls. Then we moved in our furniture and have sadly neglected our room ever since.

So I am ready to finally get started on this room and these sconces actually have a little color-makeover in their future to fit in with my new plan! But for now, enjoy the tutorial and you’ll just have to wait a little while longer to see their “final form”.

First of all, I want to acknowledge that making an accordion sconce out of the $5 Ikea Frack mirror is something many bloggers have done. That being said, when the idea came to me I hadn’t actually seen it before, so I thought it was wildly original! I was a little bummed when a quick Google search showed me the other brilliant hacks out there, but I decided that there was room for one more since I knew I wanted to use a clamp light from the hardware store for a slightly different style.

You Will Need:

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• Ikea Frack mirror
• Portable Clamp Light
• 1/4” hex nut
• Spray paint in your color of choice
• Optional: craft paint in an accent color

Step One:

When you unpack the Frack mirror from its box, you will see that it comes in two parts: the accordion swing arm and the swiveling mirror. Set aside the mirror piece for another day.

Disassemble the clamp light by loosening the wing nut that attaches the light head to the clamp arm.

See that piece on top of the clamp arm? It functions as a ball joint, allowing the light shade to pivot up and down. We’re going to make our own ball joint by attaching the 1/4” hex nut to the top of the Frack accordion arm.

Tip: You may want to use some kind of superglue to attach it – I didn’t, and I have had to re-tighten the hex nut once or twice.

Now, the light shade can be attached to hex nut on the accordion arm! It’s starting to actually look like a sconce now, right?

Step Two:

Time to spray paint! Go ahead and disassemble the light head from the accordion arm to spray paint so you can easily get in every nook and cranny. Remove the electrical sockets from the light shade too. Spray paint whatever color your heart desires. I went with semi-gloss white, but as I mentioned earlier, I think these will wind up another color soon.

Important note: I spray painted my accordion arms fully extended and they have stayed that way for these past six months or so after I installed them – we don’t use the accordion folding function, just the swing arm. I’m not sure how the spray paint would hold up with constantly-moving parts.

I painted inside the metal shades with a custom minty-aqua color I mixed from some craft paint I had on hand.

Step Three:

After everything is dry and you’ve determined the perfect spot to hang your new sconce(s), mount the accordion arm portion to the wall, using drywall anchors if necessary.

Re-attach the electrical socket to the metal shade.

Now you can reassemble each piece of the sconce, looping the cord through the accordion arm for a casual look.

I used low-wattage light bulbs since the clamp lights tend to get hot to the touch. They do still get warm, but not burn-yourself hot, and the paint has had no issues holding up.

Sources: Wall Color – Wood Smoke // Brass bed – Craigslist // Wall hanging  – DIY // Floral fabric – Fabric.com // Little Leopard – Thrift Store // Night Stand – Thrift Store find + DIY coming soon

As for the new bedroom plans, stay tuned! I’m dying to get started in here but I’m stuck in the slow-lane of painting trim and doors in the hallway right outside our bedroom at the moment. So time consuming!

Update: Check out the new look for the bedroom and these sconces!

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