Kootenay Environmental Video Contest

Great opportunity! Hope to see lots of entries.

Let There Be Light

I'm going to warn you straight off...this probably won't be the most exciting post for many of you. But last week I had the pleasure of visiting with Cheryl over at Free Range Living. For those of you who don't know, she's in the midst of building a house. So we got to talking about all those fabulous finds that one incorporates into their living space that gives the space its charm and makes it yours. Now I love antiques and for the past couple of years have been collecting, of all things, light fixtures. I know, it sounds positively boring, and if you were to send me into a regular lighting store I would be bored silly for sure. But just look at these gems! Character and charm and most of them probably cost way less than what you'd pay for some gaudy bauble in your regular lighting store. Where do I find them...well, let's see.

This one is one of my absolute favorites. I wasn't sure when I first got it, but I must say that I think it looks fabulous. There's a little store in Spokane called Revival Lighting that carries about the best selection of antique fixtures I've ever seen. They also carry some reproductions but this one is an oldie. They clean up and rewire anything that comes into their possession, so all you need to do is have it installed. Although they have a website, most of their antique selection is not online, so you would have to actually visit the store if you would like to see what they carry.

I hung this charmer in my entryway. I can't remember if it was found in Fort Langley or Cloverdale. In either case, there are lots of little antique shops in those areas for perusing. None of them specialize specifically in light fixtures, however, if you mull around enough, you just might happen upon one or two. I was told this one came from Belgium, I don't know how I would verify it, but I like it just the same.

This is another one of my all time favorites. I purchased this one off of a friend who deals antiques (one of the many things she does). This one she got a real steal on from of all places, EBay. I had to get the thing rewired, but that really wasn't very complicated and I think it was well worth the effort. The funny thing is that my parents have a very similar light fixture in their house. They live in an old heritage house that was built in 1895, although I think the light fixture is probably from about the 1920's

This little art deco number from the 30's comes as a pair. I have them installed on both sides of a little desk nook.

And this final find, also a pair, was another EBay special. They were just what I was wanting for my bedroom. Well, there you have it...a whole post on my collection of light fixtures. Happy hunting.

Newest Project

Anyone who knows me knows how crazy I am about antiques. The trouble is, one can only collect so many before running out of space or before they amount to not much more than clutter. Lately I've been trying to avoid that problem through incorporation. My latest in this strategy are two stained glass windows that were rescued out of an old house before it was demolished. They initially were in pretty tough shape. As they had originally been outside windows, putty had been used between the lead to help compensate for expansion due to temperature changes, particularly in the winter. This resulted in the lead barely holding some of the joints together once I had popped them out of their frames. They also had old paint on them from the original frames. But my father helped me carefully clean them up. We tried to resolder in some areas, but not with very much success (nothing sticks to putty and as it was underneath the lead...well, I'm sure you can see the difficulty). The final part of my project was completed by a professional. He created new boxes and installed two brand new transoms. Although you can't quite tell from this photo, they do look very nice when the light streams through.