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.
Black Moderne!
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingFIVE Early Electric sconces!
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingRare Beauties by Lightolier!
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingEarly Electric Sconces!
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingA Sweet Lovely
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingGothic Mania!
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
Whenever I do a day road trip I try to come home with at least one old light. Thus, when I restore the light and sell it through my e-commerce store, I can offset the cost of the day trip. Like this past Friday. I went to Kansas City to pick up some custom-milled lumber…
Continue ReadingAnother STUNNING Porcelier!
The chandelier has so many outstanding qualities: The shade! Oh my! It is square! It is 14-inches from side-to-side, and 18-inches diagonally. It is also beautifully, stunningly molded out of thick frosted white glass, and with molded patterns. Wow! The finial is spectacular. It’s a glass sphere with a swirling design, like a miniature…
Continue ReadingUnusual Beauties!
There is an antique store in Wichita that I enjoy stopping by every time I am in the city. Hanging high above were a really unusual pair of 1920s chandelier pendants. Quite $$$$ but just stunning. I yearned for them. I desired them. But I could not justify the cost because of my need to…
Continue ReadingSaving A Glittering Beauty!
I was in a antique store and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a large crystal chandelier sitting casually on a sofa. This is SO not a way to treat a crystal chandelier! Horrified, I walked quickly to the mistreated beauty and VERY carefully picked it up. It just had to be damaged,…
Continue ReadingA Better Pink!
WAY back a friend gave an old ceiling fixture to me. “Good luck if you can make it look good!” I held the 1930s Deco fixture in my hand, and understood what he meant. Somebody had overpainted its outer metal ring with BRIGHT pink and BRIGHT green. It just killed the fixture. The fixture went…
Continue ReadingThe Last Two!
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingA Honeycomb by MOE!
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingANOTHER Dazzling Deco Porcelier!
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingA Dazzling Deco Porcelier!
For many decades, Porcelier made some of the finest lighting fixtures and house wares (they closed in the 1950s). There’s a book on their work: Collector’s Guide to Porcelier China By Susan E. Grindberg Porcelier lighting fixtures are beautifully made and always a pleasure to restore and rewire. Porcelier fixture are also… …
Continue ReadingA Long Search For A Missing Mate
I purchased the sconce above. But single sconces are a hard sell, and it was put in storage. Year passed. Like eight years. Then, like a miracle, I came across another sconce! It was a perfect match, and even its polychrome finish matched! So, after a great much ado, the PAIR is now listed…
Continue ReadingAn Exquisite 1930s Set
One of the great pleasures of working with vintage lighting is the quality. Fixtures from before WWII are just stunningly made in a way which is inconceivable in our modern made-in-China world. Like this set by Mid-West Chandelier Company of Kansas City, circa-1930. They are made mostly of cast brass. This retains its original polychrome finish which…
Continue ReadingOnly After
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue ReadingBefore. After.
My online vintage lighting store.
Continue Reading