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.
Creating a New Kitchen in an Old House. Part Two.
In my previous post on this subject I showed numerous archival images of kitchens from the 1890s through the 1930s. This post shows new kitchens in old houses. About twenty years ago, a new look evolved for kitchens. This look is, well, hyper-active. Less is certainly not more. MORE is! MORE! These kitchens have upper…
Continue ReadingCreating a New Kitchen in an Old House. Part One.
The Cross House was built in 1894. While 1894 living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, and even bathrooms are not radically different from the same rooms today, kitchens are. And few people owning an old home would want a period-correct kitchen. Kitchens in 1894 did not have refrigerators (which became common post-1920), dishwashers (which became common…
Continue ReadingMy Love Affair With…Radiators
Today, we think of radiators as charmingly old-fashioned. However, when the Cross House was built in 1894, radiators were state-of-the-art technology. There can be no doubt that people, when first stepping into the Cross House in 1894, exclaimed — breathlessly — “Can I see the radiators?” They would have oohed and aahed while standing before these…
Continue ReadingThe Rewards of Persistence
Matt is a young man (thirty-two) who has spent years meticulously restoring a wonderful house which had been brutalized for decades. I found his blog about a year ago (not surprisingly, I love reading old house blogs!), and had to read every post from the beginning. With each post, my admiration for Matt grew. It…
Continue ReadingFrom Fuzzy to Dazzling!
My online store.
Continue ReadingThe Evolution of America
History fascinates me. It always has. In studying the history of America, one dynamic is obvious: America has been struggling since its creation to manifest the intentions of its founding fathers. In the Constitution, it is famously written: “…all men are created equal.” These are fine, noble words. Yet, in reality these words…
Continue ReadingKelly! MY HERO!
Kelly created and operates my favorite blog, Old House Dreams, and in previous posts about the Great Drapery Search (here and here and here and here), Kelly stated that she had, by some miracle, found four drapery panels. I responded that while I believed her, I doubted that the online order at Walmart…
Continue ReadingCurious about Possibilities
My online store.
Continue ReadingLiving with Anxiety
I have been lying to all of you. Well, not lying really, but…holding back the full truth. In a previous post I exalted about the Cross House being awarded a $90,000 Kansas Heritage Grant. Whoee! WHOEE! But…but…in the fine print of the grant, page 476, subsection Q, line 48, there was a clause. The clause…
Continue ReadingA Reunion!
My online store.
Continue ReadingPredicting the Future
In a room with curtains drawn, and candles lighted, I sit before a crystal ball. And I see things. I see wondrous things. I see things which will amaze people… BUT FIRST, THE PAST In 1894, The Cross House was built in the best neighborhood in Emporia. The neighborhood was very close to downtown,…
Continue ReadingNot…Predicting The Future
Today I received a long letter from Peter, introducing himself. Peter is young, and admits to a terrible affliction: he is besotted with big old houses. In reply, I extended my sympathies. At the end of his letter, Peter asked several questions. It occurred to me that perhaps others have the same questions, so it…
Continue ReadingRecreating Loveliness
Normally, I never buy a vintage light unless it retains all its original components. I am a bit of a nut about having things be original. OK, I am a full-blown nut in this regard. A few weeks ago I came across an old fixture: My online store.
Continue ReadingTHE most amazing house restoration. WOW!
Kelly, who is the originator (and Goddess) of my favorite blog, Old House Dreams, alerted me to another blog. “I think you will enjoy it,” she wrote. The simple name of the blog, The Danville Experience, in no way prepares one for the astounding, extraordinary, awe-inspiring, breathtaking work undertaken by a young couple. The blog,…
Continue ReadingBrian and Bailey! MY HEROS!
Brian and Bailey are a young couple. And I mean young. It scares me to realize that I am old enough to be a grandfather to them. These cute young kids are moving to Emporia to attend ESU. Brian wanted to buy a house to live in during his college years. And not just any…
Continue ReadingA Requiem for a Lost Twin
It makes me sad when something beautiful is lost. It makes me even sadder when something beautiful is lost…because of a casual effort. It makes me even sadder, still, when something beautiful is lost which managed to survive, until being treated casually, for almost eighty years. Hence, this terrible story of loss. You see, I found…
Continue ReadingThwarted…AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is now obvious that GOD is conspiring against me. Well, maybe not me (I hope!) but against curtains for the library of the Cross House. In my two previous posts, I detailed the great adventure in finding curtains. In the first post, all was lost. In the second post, all was saved. Whoee!!!!!!! But…
Continue ReadingKELLY SAVES THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In my previous post I lamented, lamented, the great trial I was undergoing. Thwarted by curtains! Oh the horror! The horror! So, Kelly, who runs my very favorite blog, read my post, and then contacted me. She had been doing a store-by-store search for the curtains I could not obtain! While I could only find…
Continue ReadingThwarted by…Curtains!
I am working to complete the library in the Cross House, and have been holding back images to do a dramatic Before/After reveal. (Or perhaps I have been kidnapped by aliens and they made me write the above.) I am dedicated to meticulously restoring the house, and look forward to its being returned as close…
Continue ReadingThe Importance of Presentation
Sometime, when I see a vintage light fixture listed for sale online, I am struck by how badly the fixture has been, well, presented. My online store.
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