Vintage Chandeliers are up!

We have light!!!!

It’s amazing how much you under-appreciate overhead light until you don’t have it anymore. I can’t even imagine pre-electricity. How annoying would that be!!

It was the day of the big Christmas Party, the weekend before Christmas. Sarah was cleaning all morning and then baking…lots and lots of baking. Those are perhaps normal things you would do before a party – clean and bake. But what about Stefan, surely he was helping? Nope..Stefan had an even more important job to do – finish the electric so we don’t freak people out with our exposed wiring. Yes, it is the day of the party and Stefan is re-wiring switch boxes, running around putting switch covers and outlet covers up, and oh yeah, hanging lights so that, you know, people can see each other!

We sure know how to kick ourselves into gear.

Just the week before, I purchased this chandelier at a Salvation Army for $7.99. I figured for $8 we could use it as a temporary light in the piano room but after we got it installed, I have to say I like it!

It would have originally called for hurricanes and bowl shades something like this one:

But Stefan had the great idea to pop some 4″ globe bulbs into it since we didn’t have the shades and I Love the look. The 4″ bulbs only come in 60 Watts which is a bit bright for an exposed bulb but we installed a dimmer and it looks great.

Adding 4″ bulbs to a vintage fixture is my new go-to way to modernize. I’m a big fan. The only downside is that they don’t come in CFL or LED so they are power sucking monsters but I’m hoping that in time I’ll be able to find them.

In the dining room, we installed a typical colonial style chandelier. It’s a 12 light with the little candles.

It was left in the house by our neighbors when they thought they were buying the house. Long story but we basically acquired this beautiful brass chandelier and it looks great in the room.

It was missing all the sleeves that go over the electric candle part and I found them to be cheapest at Lowes but once we put them up, they were a little transparent. I just cut some paper to size, formed it into a tube and slid it inside the covers before putting them up and that did the trick.

Some candelabra bulbs, a wipe down with a swiffer, and she was good to go. I’m hoping to add a dimmer to this switch as well. 12 bulbs is a bit bright!

Now we just need to install the fixture we’ve picked out for the front entry and we’ll be good to go on the first floor!

Sarah