shelterblog

cage lights

Not a great photo, but here's our cage fixture in the pantry. We paired our salvage find with a porcelain mount and black cloth cord from Rejuvenation.

We considered the Wiley fixture with its cool wood handle also from Rejuvenation. (Or buy the shade alone).

Rejuvenation also offers old stock cages with new porcelain fittings with cloth cords.

Anthropologie also offers a range of cage fixtures.

Not hard to find a cage shade on eBay to pair with your own pendant.

An assortment of cage fixtures at the super-charming Moomah in NYC (via Design Sponge)

restored antique lighting

Rejuvenation has been restoring vintage lighting for as long as I can remember, but now they are offering these great antiques on their web site. As you might expect, a lot of the selection consists of highly ornate pieces of the leafy and floral variety. Beautiful stuff, but our tastes are a bit more simple and understated.

Luckily there are some great mid century pieces to be found too. I suspected the pendants section would be the place to start. I should note that most of these items are available in limited quantities – I'll provide links, but these lights may be gone before long.

Here's a great matte white pendant from the 1950's. One of these would be great over a kitchen sink, or pair them up at an island for task lighting:

This unique pendant with a flat disc shade hails from the turn of the 20th century:

 

My favorite is this industrial shade converted to a pendant. Love the white enamel, with just a few chips to let us know this fixture has been around:

 

How about this fun 1960's pendant? Built from nesting black and white cones, there is a cleverly hidden gap allowing light to shine through behind the black section:

 

And finally some whimsical choices – A schoolhouse igloo and a green fire escape shade:

 

clearly modern

Check out these handsome new shades from Schoolhouse Electric. They are calling this series Clearly Modern, but many of these would look great in period homes. In fact, many of these shades are simply a fresh take on their classic offerings, but now in clear glass.

Like the porcelain alabax fixtures, these nicely bridge the gap for those of us using Eames chairs in 100 year-old houses.

I especially like these Otis and Hendrix combinations:

back in black

As I mentioned, we decided against the black lighting fixtures, but I thought I'd share some of the great white/neutral spaces with black fixtures that inspired us in the first place.

(from Skona Hem)

(from Plain English Design via Remodelista)

(from Remodelista) 

{Don't worry, Jack. I haven't changed my mind again...I think.}

Field trip: Hippo Hardware

Last week, Jack needed a fitting for our bedroom light and was headed over to Hippo Hardware, our local outpost for salvaged house parts. I decided to tag along and see if there was anything available to round out our lighting in the kitchen now that we had chosen the two Alabax fixtures.

We'd been to Hippo several times before in years past, and I had always found the lighting department completely overwhelming. It really helped to return this time with an open mind and without my children. Bored kids + crowded shop of breakables = frustration.

Some other tips for shopping salvage:

• Ask for help. Chances are what you're looking for is tucked away on a shelf in the back or buried in some corner. When we told the salesperson we were looking for porcelain fittings (to coordinate with our Alabax fixtures), he couldn't find any, but he did dig up this white enameled fixture that we loved. We'll be using it in our mudroom.

• Use your imagination. The enameled fixture was originally paired with an ugly frosted glass and brass globe. We rummaged around and found the perfect schoolhouse shade to compliment it. There were many other fixtures that would have benefited by switching out one of the elements.
• It's okay to dicker a bit. If nothing is marked with a price, then, most likely, bargaining is to be expected.
• Return often. Inventory comes and goes daily. We really lucked out on our trip, but we could have just as easily left empty-handed.
• Take your time, poke around, enjoy yourself. You may just find something that you didn't know you were looking for. While we were waiting for our enameled light to be re-wired (which they did free of charge), Jack started looking through a box of old industrial lights and found this cage shade (originally used, we were told, to protect a spotlight). We decided it was perfect for our pantry. We'll hang it from a cloth cord pendant.

We're making great progress around here. Jack finished off the wiring this week and had it inspected. If I can ignore the great weather we're having this weekend and stay inside and get the insulation installed, we'll be moving on to great things like walls and ceilings!

Field trip: Schoolhouse Electric

Schoolhouse Electric is one of the resources that we're very lucky to have right in our own town (they also have a showroom in New York). They specialize in period lighting fixtures and shades made from the original cast-iron moulds from the early 20th century.

In our search for the perfect ceiling-mount fixtures for our kitchen, Jack and I were both drawn to their porcelain Alabax model we originally saw at Remodelista. According to the salespeople at S.E., we weren't the only ones. Julianne Moore and Maggie Gyllenhaal both called in orders for the Alabax fixture after seeing it on Remodelista.

We loved it just as much in person and not because of the celebrity endorsements. It's elegant, utilitarian and will fit perfectly in our vintage modern space.

By the time we left the shop, Jack had me convinced that the black version was the way to go, adding a little drama and contrast to our white kitchen. We've since come full circle back to the white fixture; it will reflect the light better, and we have some other tricks up our sleeve to add some contrast to the space.

Here's the Alabax in the pendant style at Portland's Ace Hotel. I thought I had seen them somewhere before.

We are super pleased that these fixtures are made right here in Portland (scroll down to see pictures of the Alabax in production).

I'll be back soon to share the salvaged fixtures that we found today to round out the lighting in the kitchen.

light bulb moment

Jack and I visited Schoolhouse Electric this week (more on our visit and what we ultimately chose for our kitchen coming soon), and I was interested in looking at the vintage Edison light bulbs that they stock.

While I was aware that incandescent light bulbs are much less efficient than their compact fluorescent counterparts (and may even be on their way to obsolescence), I was surprised to learn just how inefficient the Edison bulbs were. The Marconi bulb pictured above draws 40 watts, but emits just 6-9 watts in terms of equivalency with modern-day incandescent bulbs.

What a disappointment. They are just so charming.

(images from Schoolhouse Electric)