Finally, we’ll add the lights. For a simple method of lighting your marquee sign, you can purchase strings of patio lights that have the candelabra-base bulbs. This method avoids the necessity of fooling around with actually wiring each bulb socket individually. You can graduate to that later, if you want, but using pre-strung patio lights is an easy, inexpensive, and safe way to get this project done.
Drill holes for each of your bulb sockets. In our case, the hole size was ¾”. For a nice clean hole, we used a Forstner bit in our drill press, but you can get away with using a hand-held drill as well.
Once you have all of the holes drilled, you can unscrew the light bulbs from the light strand and begin inserting the bulb bases through the back side of the sign. Staple the wire to the backside of the sign with a heavy-duty staple gun. Be careful to not staple through the wires. It may be necessary to gather any excess wire and carefully staple this neatly to the back of the sign. If you’d like you may also add a simple inline switch. Reinsert the light bulbs, plug it in, and enjoy!
