apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

You can still use the same wiring. Just remove the sconces and bring the wiring up thru the wall to the ceiling to hang the pendants.

Those pendants may have been a bargain, but it does seem like they would cast some pretty harsh lighting in the bedroom, especially if you hang them low-ish to the ground. I think low-hanging pendants only work when the light source is diffuse, e.g., Nelson bubble lamp.

I would get some brackets like these from ikea, route a notch down the center to hold the cord (or just staple it onto the top, if it's hung high enough). nice thing about these, you can paint them any color.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/96692109

How about hanging them from shelf brackets with a notches in the ends to cradle the cords?

how about using wire suspended down from the ceiling( from a well secured hook)that hold the wire of the pendant out from the wall-you'll prob want it out app 12-16 inches from the wall, so the wire ( on the ceiling) would need to be further out ( as it will angle backfrom the weight of the fixture)
does that make sense...maybe I'll try to draw a diagram
BB

if you want I have a Word doc drwng of what I meant- I can email to you if you want
if you don't want to post it send me an email at yaletownsofahowe@gmail.com

Some sort of interesting custom (or not) wall shelving that combined a very simple pulley mechanism might be very interesting, and go with both the HVAC elements and pendants. If it were rigged just right, you could have the rope easily adjustable from bed and give yourself the ability to have any light quality you wanted.

Might take a little more creativity and ingenuity from you or your contractor when assembling, but the results could be really fun.

I think the current sconces are not at the same height. What you could try:

Get 2 shelves each of a bit less than the distance between the sconces. Mount each shelf horizontally just below the electical outlet. The shelves are parallel in the middle, above the bed. Use some method to fix them together here.

Then, hang the lamps from the shelves.

i have no idea if this would work, but what about using plumbing parts to create a "bracket" to feed the wires through. Like a round plate attached to the wall with an L piece attached facing down and the wire fed through and the pendants hanging below. Sorry if that's a poor description, I can picture it but don't know the technical terms for the parts.