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 Green Beauty
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. I hesitated. They were SO grim! Then I thought: The poor dears! I must SAVE them! This kind of thought gets me into a lot of trouble. Why, I even purchased a huge old house to SAVE it. Sigh. Well, wanna see the After? Scroll way down…. …
Continue ReadingChrome Beauties!
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. Ages ago, I purchased a chandelier. It needed SO much work that I put it in storage. And there it sat. Year after year after year. Today, I managed to get it all pretty again. Here is the Before: Wanna see the After? Scroll way down. NOTE: Prepare…
Continue ReadingA Luscious 1940 Lightolier!
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingA Pair of Markel Beauties!
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. The odd thing was that the bulbs faced UP. I was almost certain that, originally, the bulbs would have faced DOWN. And that the dramatic finials would have faced UP. After the fixture arrived, the ceiling canopy proved to have a sticker from Rejuvenation (the famous lighting company), and…
Continue ReadingWell, Golly!
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingYou Don’t See This Everyday
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingA Glorious Shrieking Deco
My online vintage lighting store. Years ago, I purchased an Art Deco chandelier in an antique store. It was dismantled and I was unsure if all the parts were in situ. It was also amazingly dirty. Scary dirty. And I thought: do I have the energy to clean this? In addition, the original polychrome…
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingLovely Drops
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store. …I have an affection for Gross Chandeliers, as the company is still in St. Louis. I mean, wow. Almost all the vintage lighting I sell is from companies which long ago vanished. The fixture was missing its glass shades, which normally would be a NO GO for me,…
Continue ReadingA Multi-Colored Discovery
My online vintage lighting store. When I came across the set I was gobsmacked! And the set was undamaged! The three fixtures would look fabulous in a line down a long hall, hanging over a rectangular coffee table, or over a small dining table. Inside each glass shade is a perforated…
Continue Reading