Something Old Becomes New Again: Victorian Style Lamp Repair.

Shopping at Yard Sales and Flea Markets is something that Tom and I really enjoy doing in summer. So, when Tom found  these two beautiful dismantled lamps tossed in a box at a yard sale, he had to have them. The price was reasonable at $8 dollars and it looked as if all the parts were in the box. I have never seen a set of lamps like them before and found them to be the perfect solution to life in West Virginia. Here the hills never know when you are going to have to live without power and for how long. Having the candles in the same place as the lamps makes life easier when you are looking for a secondary light source.

Antique lamps in need of some TLC

When we returned home with the box  of parts I did a quick inventory of all the hanging crystals. I needed to see if they were all still in the box. I really did not want to go looking for 3 or 4 antique chandler crystals, if I could possible help it. I was in luck all of them were in the box all were in good shape and usable.

The pair of lamps were actually wired with a single plug-in cord so we knew that in all likely hood they were used on a dresser or on a antique vanity in the bedroom. The problem for us was that the cord was too short to go between our night stands to be used in the bedroom. We started a list and noted that we would need several feet of  lamp wiring cord to separate the two lamps. A screw was missing from the base of one of the candle holders and very few of the crystals had their hanging wires left. We would need a little light weight wire, about 12 feet of cord, a screw and 2 new plugs to make the needed repairs. Now the cost of my $8 lamps would be about $30 dollars for the pair. I still think that price is reasonable for beautiful lamps like these.

Tom disassembled the lamps so he could rewire the sockets. The sockets were old like the lamps but not in need of replacement. Tom fed the old sockets and new 5 foot section of wire through the glass body of each lamp added a new plug to the end of the wires making the lamps individuals. He  cleaned and polished all the glass of the lamps and reattached the candle holder and protective dish to the lamp that was missing them. Then the process of hanging the crystals was handed to me. I spent about two hours cutting uniform lengths of wire and hanging the crystals.

When we bought the lamps it appeared that the crystals had been hung on the lamps with wire nails. One end blunt and wide enough to not pass through the holes. The other end was a sharp point like a nail.  I am guessing that this is not the usual way to hang crystals on light fixtures so I removed all the old rusty wire nails and started replacing them with short pieces of sliver wire. In the end I crimped the wires so the crystals would not have any way to fall off the lamp even if tipped over. They looked so nice once washed and put back in place where they belonged. Finally we could see what we had bought in the bottom of that old b

As you can see the end result is a lovely set of night stand lamps that fit the decor of the bedroom. I am often surprised at what we find on our trips to Flea Markets and Yard Sales, where something wonderful just needs someone to take the time to repair it. Toms nature is to see the potential in almost anything and I am so fortunate that he likes to bring wonderful things back to life.