Before. After. Golly.
My online vintage lighting store.
Kenny found an old light. He sent me an image. I recognized it as a 1920s surface-mounted ceiling light by Moe-Bridges.
But…oh dear. The fixture is was CAKED with bad white paint jobs. Rather than, quite sensibly, passing on it, my heart ached. Could I possibly restore it?
The question was, of course, irrelevant. For, I had to have it. I had to take it in. I had to do whatever was necessary to restore this seeming piece of junk into the beauty it had once been. Damn the hours! Damn the costs!
Taking it home, I used a very sharp X-ACTO knife and picked at some of the overpaint. It came off!
And, to my great thrill, was the hidden original polychrome! Wanna see the after? Scroll way down…
Ross happy. And, in a very small way, SOMETHING is better in the world.
My online vintage lighting store.
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Oh Ross! That is simply stunning! Wow! Those colors are perfection!
You miracle-worker, you!
How lovely! Your patience is definitely rewarded, Ross.
Exquisitely revealed!
Golly is an understatement! That’s very unique! Great job!
Beautiful, I like the pastel highlights. So worth the time and effort.
That is beautiful. You are so patient. I’ll bet you buy dental tools at yard sales too.
That would be period to my house but none of the original fixtures remained. All of the rooms had the 1930s shades like your yellow, pink and blue ones only different shapes and colors. I really wish I had found some treasure but the attic and garage were bare. If they were here at one time, I’ll bet the renters found them and sold them without the owner knowing.
Oddly enough, the only original fixture I found was in the garage and it was a five arm slip shade chandelier from the 30s, but in my opinion proportioned too small for any of the rooms, let alone the dining room. Sadly, it was in one piece when I did my walk through and I wanted to take it with me but my realtor told me to leave it until after the tenting and title had cleared and when I did the final walk through and took possession, one arm and shade were broken. It was pot metal and couldn’t be repaired and I never found a fifth shade to match. After a decade I decided to just sell the four custard shades I had. It looked a bit like your 1930s Deco Lightolier.
I think Mrs Bishop just like to redecorate and update every decade or so. Funny that she never bothered to update the cheap doorknobs and backplates or the mortised locks. I have one skeleton key that fits them all. Thankfully the front door with its beveled glass window is original.