OK...let's deal with each issue individually:

1) What you have is a sconce. A scone is a baked thing popular in the
British Isles and in trendy coffee joints here in the states. Attaching a
scone to the wall will attract ants, and it produces little or no light.
Great snack, though.

2) The wire and plug provided by the Home Depot guys is fine, but clumsy and
ugly for your purpose. For all intents and purposes, you're wiring a lamp.
Go back to HD and look for the lamp extention cords whose plugs (at the wall
end) are flat. You've probably seen them. Buy the shortest cords you can
find, one for each sconce. You're going to cut off the female plug, and save
enough wire (and the male end which plugs into the wall) to reach from the
sconce to the plug, without any excess reaching the floor where it'll get
snagged by your foot or the vacuum cleaner.

3) Your sconces have one of two wiring situations: They either have a short
length of wire permanently installed, or they have screws to which YOU can
attach wires. The extension cords I mentioned have stranded wire (many
little wires twisted to make one bundle), so it is not appropriate or safe
to attach them to screws, or to other wires using anything but crimp
connectors. Wire nuts are bad,too. Onward:

4) At HD, find crimp connectors and crimping tools in the electrical
department. Crimping tools range in price from ten bucks up into the $50-$60
range. If you have strong hands and intend to work on wiring only
occasionally, the cheaper tool is fine. Otherwise, buy the fancier one,
which has a gear mechanism that makes the squeezing easier.

5) If the sconces have some wire already attached, you need what's called
"butt connectors", or sometimes "barrel connectors". It's a soft plastic
tube with a metal sleeve inside. You strip the wire, twist the strands
tightly, insert it into one side of the connector, and squeeze it with the
crimping tool. The goal is to have a short enough length of bare wire so all
of it goes into the metal sleeve, and none of it is outside of the sleeve.
Someone at the store can show you what I mean.

6) If the sconces have screws for attaching the wires, you'll buy connectors
designed to slip around the shaft of the screws, and the same crimping tool
mentioned earlier. One type is U-shaped, for screws you cannot remove
completely. Another is a closed ring. You remove the screws, slip them
through the rings, and reinstall the screws.

You'll probably find a complete kit containing assorted crimps along with a
tool. Sometimes these kits contain crimps whose quality isn't up to that of
the individual ones you can buy by the bag. With one type, the plastic
sleeve is translucent. These sleeves are softer and are far less likely to
crack at extreme temperatures. The lousy kind have brittle, opaque plastic
and will eventually cause trouble. Spend the extra money for the better
ones, even if it means bypassing the "complete kit". And, if you think this
whole crimping thing is cool, you'll find plenty of uses for it in the
future, so pick up the better tool.

Someone either here or at the store may tell you that crimp connectors are
not allowed for house wiring by local electrical codes (regulations).
They're right, in most cases, but not to worry. I wouldn't recommend using
them in a wall box where you can't see them, unless you've had lots of
practice with a crimping tool. But, these connectors are used extensively in
environments like boats where they're subjected to ridiculous levels of
moisture and vibration, and they hold up beautifully if used right. Go for
it.

-Doug

"anita" wrote in message
m...
I live in an apartment and sick of tripping over wires and having to
live with dimly lit rooms. I live in a bright light that comes from
above me. Fixing anything to the ceiling is out- as I live in one of
those apartments with popcorn ceiling.

So I bought a couple of wall scones. I would like to know what I need
to get this done.

The wall scone has three wires and the home depot guys gave me a 16
guage wire and a heavy duty plug- the plug is big and butt ugly .
What are the things I need to be aware of before I attach the wall
scones wires to the 16 ga wire and the plug ? I understand that the
danger is more the otherway around when converting a lamp with zip
wires into a light fixture because the wires will be inside the wall
and all that.

I am going to mount the scones directly 5-6 feet above the socket and
attach the wires to the wall with those things you get from ikea to
coer the ugly wires.

Thanks
Anita