Light Fixtures

Welcome to Living Tastefully's "Antique of the Week" page.  Our love of antiques is reflected in every aspect of our everyday lives.  We are passionate about collecting and also love functional antiques that can actually be used and not only admired.  Hopefully we can inspire you to incorporate antiques in your home and your life to add charm and beauty to your surroundings.

I love to use antique light fixtures wherever I can in my home.  As you will soon be aware, eBay has become my most favorite source for antiques for the past five years, and it is no exception when it comes to light fixtures.  For this article I will concentrate on light fixtures I have purchased on eBay Germany (www.ebay.de).  They are reasonably priced and easily found.  (However, with the weak dollar and reports of a weaker dollar to come, buying on German eBay is not the antique heaven that it used to be.)  My favorite fixtures have quickly become those with the marbleized glass shades popular in Europe in the 1920's - 1950's.  And don't worry if only the glass shade is available and none or only some of the parts, such as the ceiling canopies, etc.  All the better!  You can get the shade for a steal and create a lovely fixture finding the necessary parts at antique salvage houses or shops specializing in light fixtures.  A good source for me for vintage lighting parts has been Art & Architecture, Inc., 3338 University Avenue, S.E., Minneapolis, Minnesota  55414, #612/904-1776.  I prefer to have brass finishes on all my lamp parts, but if nickel finishes are your preference, that is also not a problem.  Should any of my restoration parts not be solid brass or need a new finish, I take them to Blakley Polishing, 3102 North Dixie Drive, Dayton, Ohio, #937/274-8448.  Larry specializes in plating auto parts but does a wonderful job on any antiques I bring him for restoration.  He's so good, Jerry Seinfeld personally drove out one of his vintage Porsches from New York City to Dayton just to have Blakley Polishing restore all the nickel plating on his car and flew back to Dayton again to pick it up when it was finished.  If you'd rather have someone in your area do the work, just look under "Plating" in your local Yellow Pages to find someone to help with your project.  Then all you need is someone to rewire the fixture, and  you're on your way to putting the finishing touch to any room, entryway or hallway!

                                                                       Susan