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.
A New Discovery!
But why? Why remove the narrow door, make it wider, and install it in a location which already had a door? Or…maybe there never WAS a door to the bedroom???????? Hummm. This got me to thinking. And so I looked at the door stop trim around the ‘extended” door (a…
Continue ReadingLittle Bits. With a Warning Label.
A CAUTIONARY NOTE: I mentioned linseed oil. This is rubbed in with a paper towel. Then the towel is taken outside and burned. NEVER put an oil-soaked cloth (or cloth soaked with wood stain) in a trash can in the kitchen. The cloth will later ignite and BURN YOUR HOUSE…
Continue ReadingMy Two-Year Anniversary!
I started this blog two years ago. Plus one month. It seems I forgot my own anniversary! When I started the site I expected to have a few hundred people view the site every month. I mean, how much traffic would a blog about some old house in Emporia, Kansas, get? Now, twenty-five months later?…
Continue ReadingWhat a Day!!!!!!!!
THE BACKGROUND STORY: I was driving into Emporia to have an 11:30 lunch with David, who is a reader of this blog. Five minutes…
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After. And…WOW!
As I have written previously, I never really noticed the “diamond brooch” before. I knew it was there, of course, but with SO much going on with the house, it just did not jump out at me. It does now. I stare at this architectural ensemble in wonder and appreciation. And joy overflows…
Continue ReadingMore Than Just Paint
I have been doing a lot of posts about painting the exterior of the Cross House. On occasion, I have to remind myself why I am having my fifty-nine-year-old body climb up/down three stories to paint a massive 122-year-old house? This is insane, actually. But…but…there is no better way for me to acquaint myself with…
Continue ReadingPetite Momentum
Every day, pretty much, something gets better about the Cross House. Yesterday, a window sash was restored. It contains a stained-glass panel, which was restored last month. But the sash itself needed to be restored. The side of the sash facing outside was stripped of its old paint, and then 0000 steel wool was used…
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue Reading