Wooden Wall Lights

Where the wood actually is

On a wall light the timber can sit in three places, and it changes the fitting completely. A wooden backplate puts a panel of oak or walnut flat against the wall and reads almost like a shelf, softening a plain hallway. A turned wooden arm carries the light out from a metal plate and is the most traditional form. A woven rattan or bamboo shade on a plain bracket puts the material where the light comes through it, which is the version that changes the room rather than the wall.

Swing arms, plates and picture lights

A swing-arm wall light with a wooden arm folds back flat and reaches over a chair or a bed, which is the most useful thing a wall light does in a small room: it replaces a bedside lamp and frees the table. A slim plate keeps the projection tight for a narrow hallway. A picture light on a wooden arm suits framed work in a room that already has timber in it, and wants to be about half to two-thirds the width of the piece below it.

Oak, walnut and woven fibre

Oak is pale and open-grained and disappears against a light wall, which is what you usually want from a fitting at head height. Walnut is darker and reads as a deliberate contrast. Rattan and bamboo appear as shades rather than structure and throw patterned light onto the wall behind them. Painted and washed timber sits between the two, keeping the grain while shifting the colour towards the wall it is fixed to.

Height, spacing and pairs

Fit wall lights around 1.6 to 1.8 metres from the floor for general light, and lower beside a bed or a reading chair so the light falls on the page. Along a hallway, space a run every 2.5 to 3 metres and keep the projection short. Wall lights work in numbers rather than alone: a pair either side of a bed, a mirror or a fireplace reads as a decision, where a single fitting on a long wall usually looks stranded.

Bulbs and the tone against timber

Most take a standard E27 or a smaller E14, bought separately. Warm white around 2700K is what brings out grain in oak and walnut; anything cooler flattens both and makes pale timber look grey. Behind a woven shade choose an opal bulb, since a clear filament seen through the weave at head height is uncomfortable. Check the cap and the maximum wattage on the product page before buying lamps.

Bathrooms, and where timber should not go

Wood and natural fibre do not suit sustained steam, so a wooden wall light belongs outside a shower zone even where an IP rating would permit it. Most of these fittings are IP20 and are for dry rooms only. Where you want the look in a bathroom, keep it to the wall by the door rather than beside the bath, and check the product page for the rating and the zone rather than assuming.

Fixing to the wall, and care

A wooden backplate spreads the load better than a small metal one, but it still needs a fixing rated for the wall it is going into: plasterboard needs a proper anchor, and a solid wall wants a plug, and a stud is better than either. Dust with a dry cloth and avoid silicone polish on an oiled finish. Timber fixed to an external wall in an unheated room will move more with the seasons than the same fitting on an internal one, which is normal rather than a fault.