13.4.13

New Life for an OLD Light


We fell in love with this vintage industrial pendant light from Craigslist before we moved to our condo.  We loved it so much that we drove out to Oshawa to pick it up and, we discovered that by chance, it was the same seller who had sold us our director's chairs just a few weeks earlier.  Too funny!

We loved the look of this large vintage lamp with the worn patina and we decided to hang it in our bedroom.  This lamp, along with our dining room chandelier were the only light fixtures we did not include in the sale of our condo because we thought we could use them in our next home.  To be honest, my main reason for not including the pendant is because I assumed our buyers would think it was hideous and, since we actually DO like it, I thought this 60-80 year old lamp should spend retirement in our little old house being enjoyed!

The other day, the giant bulb burned out so we decided to visit Home Depot for a new one.  We have often complained that the huge bulb receptacle... or maybe it's the socket... (Corey's either going to be impressed that I know that word, or tell me that I'm butchering electrical terms when he reads this later.) limited us to huge, industrial bulbs that made our bedroom so bright that it felt like an institution... Not exactly the ambiance we were going for in the bedroom!

Anyway, we took the bulb burning out two weeks before our move to be a sign that maybe it was time to take another look at our pendant light.  We spoke with a great sales associate at Home Depot who was really interested in the age of our light and suggested that we think of a bulb that will compliment the vintage element of our lamp.

We bought an adaptor so that we would no longer be constrained by the size of the receptacle and looked at some Marconi Light Bulbs.


The great thing about the vintage style Edison/Marconi tungsten filaments is that they mimic vacuum tubes used in classic radios and produce a warm, glow.  The shape of the bulb even has a retro vibe!  Here it is in our lamp with the new Marconi bulb.


Not a huge different but here's a picture of the bulb in action.


Much more WOW factor!  In hindsight, the 40 Watt bulb may not be strong enough for the bedroom and we may need to graduate to a 60 Watt.  We're going to wait and see though, since we're actually not sure where this lamp will end up in our new home.

This brings us to the second part of our lamp makeover:  I'm thinking of painting it.  I'm still not positive, since it would lose some of the "vintage industrial" character, but I'm thinking of hanging this lamp either in our living room or kitchen and I think both rooms may require a more polished look.

Recently, I've been seeing similar styled industrial pendants all over the pages of decor magazines and I'm starting to feel like a "fresh coat of paint" (cheesy, but I couldn't resist) would breathe some new life into this old girl.  Here are some pictures which inspire me:

This metallic lamp looks clean but retains the industrial look because of the metal.  I've seen lovely chrome lamps too but I think I'd like a warmer metal like copper or gold in our next home...

While this room is not my taste, I admire this blue pendant which is similar in shape to ours.  I'm hoping to incorporate some more blue in our next house and the bright colour is quite unexpected here.
 
   
While the lamp is a different shape, the ombre painted shade is very chic!  I could see myself doing something like this but I am also conscious that this trend may not last much longer.


I love this grouping of black and white painted pendants in a kitchen.  Even if they were not identical in shape, the paint could tie them together nicely and they look very clean in a kitchen.


I also love the idea of metallic paint on the inside of the lamp.  I think this would warm the light and make for some lovely ambiance.

 
I haven't decided exactly what I'll do or where I'll put the lamp yet but I think it's safe to say that I'll probably use a bold colour with (maybe) some metallic accents.
 
If anyone cares to join me in updating some industrial lights, this pair of shades is currently available on Toronto kijiji for $50 each. 
 
 
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