selling off

Pittsburgh is not overly large, nor does it particularly care about it's history.  And its people, by and large, are not super enamoured with antiques.  While these things sadden me, they also make it possible for me to obtain lots of stuff that I couldn't otherwise afford.  Some of this stuff, as it turns out, I don't need.  And although it's fun for me to take them out of their packing and pet them sometimes, I'd much rather they be used and appreciated.  To that end, when we head to NYC this week to see the Dresden Dolls (tickets to which were my mother's day present) I'm planning on bringing some of my lighting to sell.  I desperately need money for the porch, so this must happen.

Off to the big city is a pair of Tudor Revival 5 light chandeliers, with their original bronze and iron finish.

And sure, while those are pretty spiffy they can't hold a candle to my set of 15 aluminum Art Deco slip shade fixtures.  

The coolest pull chain switch ever, just fyi...

And yes, by set I mean a matched set, including one 5 light chandelier, 3 two light drop fixtures, 3 two light flush mount fixtures and 8 single shade sconces (obviously, I have all the shades as well, but they are meticulously wrapped and stashed away).  The pictures clearly don't do them justice, but this isn't ebay is it?

I'm not in the habit of using this blog as a platform for selling, but I post these here because I KNOW no salvage yard will give a hoot about keeping the set together.  But, it's important to me.  So, if any of you dear readers feel that you must have either set, do let me know.  Obviously, rewiring and some paint stripping will be required...  And don't forget, the deco fixtures are famous, as they're the ones that were rented for The Last Witchhunter (I'll ask them to keep their egos in check).  And if you know of any other contractors that buy a house just for its huge garage and can't get rid of its pink fixtures fast enough, send them my way.

clear a path

Getting things done would be so much easier if cool stuff didn't keep getting in the way...

We haven't had a week like this in a while. A house of antique wavy glass windows (including three stained glass transoms with a single textured purple glass pane), a tramp art parlor set, some estate sale nonsense and a rather fantastic chandelier, with extra shades... Also, since we had a trailer rented, we'd be remiss if we didn't buy blueboard too. Real work posts to come soon, you know, once we clear a path through the house again...

master of the house, keeper of the zoo...

I was utterly sick of anything that might require wielding a brush yesterday, so I dug through my piles and unearthed a few antique light fixtures to figure out which one to restore for our laundry room. We have accumulated an extraordinary number of these gas and early electric fixtures, ranging in price from free to a few dollars. I had planned on soliciting some advice on which one to use, but that might have undermined the dictatorship I have going on around here. As it turns out, the gas fixture I had hoped to use will need to be professionally rewired (the gas valves need to be drilled out), and honestly, with a hundred fixtures in the basement (oh you think I'm joking?) it's not in the budget to deal with it now.

The budget concern is due in large part to our menagerie, which, epileptic dog aside, has been fairly low maintenance. This month we were hit with a newly diabetic cat with an ulcerated eye and ear infection, and a dog with a broken and infected canine. Everyone's been patched back together, but it'll take our bank account a while to recover.

the creatures in question

Grandma was concerned enough that the cat got a get well soon card - addressed to "Master Crom," I guess we know who the favorite grand-animal is . . . Our mail lady must have loved it, if Crom's not there to greet her she asks where he is, and we've caught her sitting on the porch taking pictures of herself with him!

The fixture we put back together required very little work, it had a fair amount of its original polychome paint and decent wiring, so it was cleaned, polished with 0000 steel wool and waxed. Most of the fixtures we have are basketcases, and are completely taken apart, stripped, painted, and rewired from scratch - which is far more fun than it might sound.

The trained monkey may
require a bit more
training in photography