Vintage Hardware Follow-up
A follow-up on our previous tips regarding Vintage Hardware. Another consideration when you are deciding on using vintage lighting is our government’s decision regarding the forced retirement of incandescent lighting… The quality of the light and the aesthetics of the fixture may be changed radically if you’re forced to replace the decorative incandescent bulbs with curly-cue CFL’s. This isn’t such a big deal with shaded fixtures, but open sconces or chandeliers will look and function differently. Even with shaded fixtures, make sure you examine the shade connection. In some old fixtures the shade attached directly to the bulb.
Both CFLs and LEDs are available in candelabra styles, but effects and aesthetics vary.
Picture Source: nolico.com
A Paradox
Kevin D. Williamson
“Our governments and our business and political elites are not mainly made up of stupid people. One of the shocking things about getting to know people in government, whether in elected office or in the bureaucracies, is that they are mostly bright, well-intentioned, and honest. Together they represent a sterling example of one of the most important and least understood of modern social paradoxes: None of us is as dumb as all of us.”
Kevin D. Williamson from his article Davos’s Destructive Elites
Vintage Hardware
Cast Iron Chandelier at Architectural Antiques of Indianapolis
Vintage building materials have become quite popular, inspiring online catalog stores producing new “old” materials on a large scale. We have a plethora of catalogs coming through with companies specializing in this area. Restoration Hardware is probably the best known. Other companies such as Pottery Barn are providing products in this line as well, though they are not making this niche their sole product. The advantages to these reproductions are that they are made from modern materials reducing concerns about possible lead paint and about improper wiring in older electrical fixtures.
If you truly want vintage architectural items, there are firms that specialize in that as well. Firms such as Doc’s Architectural Salvage & Reclamation Services and Architectural Antiques, both in the Indianapolis area have warehouses full of reclaimed architectural treasures. These are both large scale salvage operations where you can spend hours browsing through thousands of items. On a local level, check out the Habitat for Humanity’s Restores. Locally, there is a Restore in Plymouth in the old Plymouth Lumber building on Walnut Street just southwest of downtown. In South Bend, the Restore is on South Main Street and is set up much like an old department store. You can also find the occasional architectural focal point at local antique shops mixed in with furniture and other historic items.
