does this thing turn on?

It wasn't a spring break project per se, but a project that Alex and I had been thinking about for a while. The sconces over our mantle were horribly outdated, slightly tacky (even with the fancy black shades, haha) and pretty cheap [looking]. Take a look:

They weren't so offensive when viewed from across the room, but up close even the faceted bulb couldn't hide their poor quality. After searching for a few weeks, I finally settled on the style below, which I found at Restoration Hardware. I liked the simple look of the sconces, but I was really annoyed that they charged me $17 for shipping. And I'm clearly not over it yet since I'm writing about it.

They arrived last week while Alex was away, so installing them was high on his to-do list when he was home for three days this week. Here's a look at the process (which actually went a lot smoother and quicker than I had anticipated): 

This is what Alex found when he removed the old lights. I was kind of scared. I don't know much--and by much, I mean anything--about wires and electricity, so it seemed complicated to me.

Alex wasn't worried. Once upon a time he removed the ceiling fixture in Catcher's bedroom in our house in Charlotte and replaced it with his great-grandmother's antique chandelier. This was simple, he assured me.

Old lights off: check. Time to install the new ones.

Tillie looks on with anticipation/doubt. I think she's sizing up the new look of the mantle versus the old. Check out the before and after:

Better? Here's another look, close up:

Once the new lights were installed, however, we ran into a little snafu--there's no on/off switch. I was in the kitchen making lunch for Tillie when Alex called out to me, "Does this thing turn on?" I thought it was a silly question considering a) it's a light and b) he was the one standing there looking at it and not me, but then I thought about the $17 shipping charge and got angry all over again. "It better turn on," I replied, "if they're charging me $17 shipping." I don't know what the $17 shipping has to do with the lights functioning or not, but clearly it's a sore spot with me.

To answer the question, yes, the lights turn on. However, "turning on" means screwing the lightbulb in until the light flickers and then stabilizes, and "turning off" means grabbing an oven mit--or some other means of protecting your fingers from the burning bulb--until the light flickers out. Remember: righty tighty, lefty loosey.