I have been restoring vintage lights since I was a teenager in the mid-1970s. An Interstate highway was being rammed through the city where I lived, and I ran (steps ahead of the bulldozers, and with my shag haircut flying) from one incredible building to another, and from one incredible house to another, and salvaged everything I could.
My poor, bewildered parents. Their garage was soon chock-a-block with what I thought were treasures beyond compare. But which they thought was just useless flotsam. I did though once overhear my mom say: “Well, at least he’s not out doing drugs.”
However, when all their boring lights were systematically replaced with the most stunning lights they had ever seen – and all for free, rewired, and restored – they soon had second thoughts about the flotsam. (I paid for new parts by mowing lawns!)
Fast forward many decades.
One day I realized I had a pile of old lights rusting away in my basement. I hauled a few out, restored them (bringing back many old memories), and listed them on eBay.
At the time I had no idea, not a clue, that I had just radically changed my life.
Within months my life was unrecognizable, and I was working full time restoring vintage lighting and selling the fixtures across America.
My new e-commerce website is now online. Whoee! Please feel free to shop and purchase here:
My blog post are below.
Wanna Meet My Third Floor?
The Cross House has five levels: Basement. First floor. Second floor. Third floor. Attic. The first three levels are heated by radiators and have a 2-zone central AC system (and one zone can also heat the first two levels if the radiator system fails for any reason). The third floor has forced-air heating/cooling. The third…
Continue ReadingSealing Up Windows
The Cross House has 4,738 windows. OK. Maybe not that many. But there are a lot. I get scared when I try and count how many, so my solution is to never finish counting. Wind freely blows into the house because the sashes are so loose in the frames. I could laboriously install bronze weather-stripping…
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingCleaning Therapy
I know that I am still traumatized by the events of last Tuesday because I am in Full-Blown Obsessive Cleaning Mode. An intervention might soon be required. When something really bad happens over there, I find that if I can make things better over here, like by, say, antiseptically cleaning my toilets bowls, I will…
Continue ReadingWanna Meet My Basement?
Servant’s stair. This goes to all four floors, and is the stair I mostly use. I think of it as the default staircase. Stair to exterior. Original laundry room. Dumbwaiter. Now lost but I will recreate it. Laundry chute. This is only extant on the second floor. Everything below was removed. I will recreate…
Continue ReadingWhat Color To Paint My 1894 Porch Ceiling?
I was determined to repaint the house in the original colors. And I thought I had. But this year I belatedly discovered that while I got the trim color right, I ended up selecting the second wall color, because I assumed that the VERY pale color under was primer! So, while the colors I…
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingWindow Therapy
I have not posted anything in five days. This is the longest stretch of time with no new posts since I started this blog 2-1/2-years ago. For, the events of the week have totally stunned, overwhelmed, depressed, and powerfully angered me. So, I mostly just shut down. Today though I knew that I could not…
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingTantalizing Doors!
The previous owner, Bob Rodak, told me he almost certainly has the front screen doors. Does he have the north screen door? It was there when he purchased the house. I texted Bob, but have not yet received a response. And my inquiries about the front screen doors have, so far,…
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingGobsmacked by Porcelier!
For many decades, Porcelier made some of the finest lighting fixtures and house wares. There’s a book on their work: Collector’s Guide to Porcelier China Around 1950, Porcelier updated their line of lighting. Some new fixtures were introduced but, mostly, existing fixtures received subtle updates. These latter fixtures were identical to what was produced a decade previously,…
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