All our light fixtures are modern. Our house originally had gaslights, though - we still have gas pipes to all the ceiling fixtures! They're not connected anywhere, but they make GREAT mounting points for ceiling fans! :-)

Oh Chloe, do you know what I would give to have operating gas lights?! I think that would be the coolest...not practical, but cool nonetheless. (And who says I have to be practical anyway? LOL)

KGW, I know exactly how it feels to be obsessing over light fixtures! Two years ago I bought that chandelier for the dining room off eBay, and since then, you cannot go on my eBay page without seeing at least one antique chandelier. (Of course now I use the excuse that I'm buying for my office and the new bathroom...) I haven't bought one since then, but I'm ALWAYS looking at them.

(I need a French empire waterfall lamp for my office...in case you're interested....LOL)

...and I know, I know...pictures! LOL

I have finally stopped collecting, as of 3 or 4 years ago, but here they are.....

Here is a link that might be useful: Turn on the lights

jamies, I watched the slideshow twice! Loved each one of them, esp. the "hands". I'm looking for some small crystal scounces with shades for my bathroom. Thanks for sharing!

I have purchased fixtures from ebay and found some great bargains. Then I took them to a couple of lighting stores to be rewired or refurbished. A source I highly recommend for fixtures is an Indianna source I found on ebay. The fixtures were less expensive than most places carrying authentic antique lighting. They arrived well packaged, and in excellent condition, already wired professionally. If you are interested in checking out their beautiful sconces and chandeliers, the site address is: WWW.JFPEGAN.COM

Like you....I still look, although I'm on fixture overload.

I have come close a couple of times to ordering from J.F. Pegan. I like their fixtures a lot. Glad to know that they're pretty good in person......

I wish there had been ANYTHING left of charactor in my house when I bought it. It took me four and a half years to hunt down and purchase 6 (almost) matching antique school lights to hang in my schoolhouse...the big white globes that hang down on 3 foot chains. They came from many wildly different sources that all involved a long convoluted goose chase before I found them. They were all in rough shape-I had the fixture part bead blasted for rust and rewired and hung them myself. That was just for the great room (the classroom) I found others to hang in the front and back entrance with fancier glass shades-a little goemetric or flower embossing in the glass.
I especially love Craftsman style lighting-Restorations has some nice reproductions or Rujuvenations. The real stuff is pricey! Maybe someday for my kitchen and bathroom.
Jamies, I loved the crystal pinapple lamp.
Anne-Marie

Hello, fellow-schoolhouse owner! Anne-Marie, your great room sounds exciting. When you moved in, was it still in it's original state, with large open rooms? How lucky you are. Is it a frame or brick building?

jamies, thank you! You have opened up all new avenues of obsession for me, table and floor lamps! I am running out of places to hang chandeliers but could still use a pair or two of sconces and table and floor lamps. What wonderful pieces! And I watched the slideshow a few times too!

Right now I have two projects going on, both works in progress, since that's really the only way I can afford spectacular lighting (the fully restored stuff I've seen is just too darn expensive). Both need to be refinished/polished and rewired, one has a painted finish that I want to strip (and then possibly replicate again) and the other has a lacquer job that is long past its prime that I need to strip so I can properly polish it.

I'm still on the hunt for the perfect antique shades for my dining room chandelier but have picked up some older reproductions to use in the meantime (they are exactly the same as shades sold on rejuvenation except instead of having a pink bottom they have a gold one).

I already showed off my living room chandelier which was a question of seeing it, loving it, had to have it. The glass is the extraordinary part to that one. I still need to find a canopy for it since it didn't come with one and of course I want one correct for the fixture.

I thought I was "done" with antique lighting and was planning to go with this fixture in satin nickel in my {{gwi:1998894}} (Wallpaper to be removed and walls and trim to be painted, also looking for the perfect throw rug for in there and style will depend on the fixture). I just picked up this completely fabulous (at least I think so) to go on it. I think it's perfect for a mudroom and even though my house is a (modest) Queen Anne, I am going for a 20's vintageish look in the kitchen/mudroom/rear entry hall.

Okay so the rear entry hall nonsense is because I have also completely fallen in love with this fabulous french deco mini-chandelier. It was pointed out that it was probably (definately) a bit much for a "mud room" but since this is the entrance that we use all the time, I figured maybe I could fancy it up a bit and make it into a real entrance. I don't have possession of that fixture and it may be WAY out of my price range anyway but I guess if it is meant to be, it will be. If not, I have my much simpler schoolhouse lighting theme and will go back to calling it the mudroom.

Vivian, tap tap tap...

Wyndyacre and Schoolhouse, did I miss pictures of your fabulous places? I have always had this weird fantasy about converting something that wasn't originally a house into a funky awesome space.

bluerem, I know about them but haven't found anything that really floats my boat (plus they lacquer everything and I would have to really love it to deal with the removal of lacquer since I would like my brass to patinate).

ChloeCat, if you haven't "gone there" yet with antique lighting, don't. It's addictive and an expensive proposition. There are so many beautiful things out there!

I lucked out on an antique floor lamp 20 years ago at a garage sale. I was in my 20's, had started collecting antiques but hadn't truly developed any knowledge yet. The lamp is a tri with a central light and small glass shade. The stand is brass that comes down to three lions' heads that each rest on a paw. They stand on a marble base and then a metal base. I bought it for $5.00!!! I triumphantly tucked it under my arm and spirited it home. All I had to do was put a fabric shade on it and plug it in and I use it to this day.

Schoolhouse-when I bought my place, I had to gut out all the "improvements" done to it in the 60's. The 25x28 classroom had been divided into typical livingroom, diningroom, two bedrooms...8' ceilings covered the original 12' tongue and groove wood ceilings. Two mammoth windows in the west wall had been bricked in to make smaller and 1 bricked up altogether. The front windows have been bricked 'down' also. The bathroom which was the teachers office was just SCAREY-I gutted back to studs and subfloor and redid. The boys and girls cloakrooms are bedroom and kitchen. The kitchen is the only room that has not been gutted completely and therefore has no insulation yet. The room has been renovated tho. It has a full basement with large windows. It is a brick building-very square and sturdy and will never be quaint or cute. But "stately" is what I'm aiming for and am restoring to original architicture and a Craftsman feel.
KGW- last night was my first post to this forum so I haven't figured out how to post pictures yet. I didn't actually set out to live in a school..it wasn't recognizable as one when I looked at it to buy! I was just looking for an old, small house in the country to have my gardens and pets and the school fell into my lap. Now, I can't remember what it was like to live in a house with "rooms". I love the open concept.
Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie, thanks for sharing. I've been "post chasing" you with questions in several different posts! Sorry, just found this one from you. I'm getting goose bumps with every one I read. Your place sounds fantastic. Only lovers of old houses can appreciate.
You're making me dream of "wide open spaces" again.

Good timing, we are selling the house so I have pictures up on my website.

In the bedrooms ( see first yellow room, and blue room being used as office ) we have the original lights. They have gas on one side and electricity on the other. After all who trusted that new fangled stuff.

Here is a link that might be useful: Original gas/electric light fixtures

KitchenGod'sWife--I haven't ordered anything brass, only nickle, bronze and cast aluminum...all had nice patinas. I have delt with them directly as well as for auctions. They went out of their way to find the finishes I wanted. If you call them, tell them what you are looking for. I think they have a large warehouse. (I like the natural patina as well). I sound like a rep for them! I'm not. Just had such a good experience in dealing with them, I had to share.

Here's the original fixture in our dining room. Unfortunately, it almost burned up! Glass cracked, smoke was spewing, and sparks were going everywhere. Everything was charred. I thought the house was burning up.

Here is a link that might be useful: Original shower light

Hey KGW, have you seen this?

Here is a link that might be useful: You're gonna wish you hadn't.....:)

That was naughty! LOL...
Mary Lu

Yes,....well,.....I know that she has a thing for those filigree chandeliers. Although this one is bright brass, it's extremely similar to ones she's been looking at....

:)

Just trying to help....LOL

Jamies, loved your slideshow. Our house (1880's QA townhouse) has been stripped of all fixtures. I'm looking forward to a mix of Rejuvenation and ebay.

Thanks to the people who posted photos. Can't wait till I have some to post. We have a 1930's home that we are trying to restore. The original dinning room chandelier is in the house so we have that to start from. I am looking for the right livingroom clandelier now. I am John_of_Mpls's wife and have to wait for him to load pictures of the one. I also think I should go ahead and get my own user account rather than keep using his. I have a feeling I am in on yet another fun and exciting hunt.

Jamies I love the Funky and Fun light.

I have posted my ceiling lights before, but after rereading all the posts....I gotta do it.

KGW...lamps are really FUN to collect.
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Mary Lu

Hey Vivian, spend a little time getting pictures of your house up and less time surfing ebay for ways to get me into trouble! Actually I am not a big fan of prism/crystals on chandelier anyway so no big deal. Hehe. I still have my fixer upper to finish fixing up and I got a great deal on some repro shades ($10 a piece) that will hold me until I find something fantastic.

The nickel art deco piece went way too high for me, so I decided to go with the simple schoolhouse fixture with funky deco shade and replace the hallway lights with the same type of fixture but with a brushed nickel finish (only $10 at HD) and change out the shades for opal shades ($5 at Lowes).

BUT my new find is this funky deco chandelier that I have fallen head over heels with for my kitchen. I will post pictures if I actually win it. It's a painted finish in that pale green (perfect for my kitchen) and light blue (which I am planning to repaint cranberry to go with my color scheme). I was unsure about the shades at first because they reminded me of 60's and 70's fixtures but the more I researched 20's/30's deco fixtures, the more they seemed to work and now I'm in love with the crazy thing. I can completely see it in my kitchen too.

MaryLu, those lamps are fabulous! I've seen some gorgeous shades like that in singles, they would look great on a lamp like that. Something else to think about.

bluerm, I will keep that in mind if I am looking for something specific, right now the things I love are slapping me in the face on ebay.

John's wife (what's your name? :) ), you are in for a good time if you check out ebay. 1930's fixtures are WAY more reasonable than Victorian era and there are so many beautiful things, often for less than a "new" fixture. My mudroom/kitchen is definitely not victorian so I am doing them in more of a 20's/30's period style.

This is in the entry area. It came with the house. Needs cleaning right now but very nice when clean
{{gwi:1998900}}

We found this upstairs and in very dirty condition. We cleaned it and re-wired it and now it hangs downstairs.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1998896}}

Michorion, I love your fixture!!! Aren't you lucky to have found it in the house?

I know I'm bumping this up from the abyss but I just had to say thank you so much, bluerem for the tip about JF PeGan. I was looking for a pair of sconces for my living room and they had something similar but not quite what I was looking for on ebay so I emailed them a picture of my chandelier that I was trying to coordinate with and he restored the most BEAUTIFUL set of sconces for me. They were a steal and so gorgeous that I got a quote for them to restore my two antique chandeliers and those prices were so reasonable too, I sent them off! I highly recommend them for the most gorgeous pieces at really reasonable prices (if you can get an antique rully restored for less than the cost of a reproduction I consider that a steal!)

I can't wait to update my page with these things installed but I put all of my antique lighting on a single page (and it shows the sconces) if anyone is interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: our antique lighting

You done good, girl!

JF Pegan is only about 2 1/2 hours up the road from here. They have a chandelier that I am coveting, but alas can't afford right now....*sigh*

Lighting is SO difficult, I think. I'm constantly trolling chandeliers on eBay, thinking that I'll find the perfect one for my office one of these days.

I need more sparkly things in my life....LOL