New Living Room Light
Living in an old house I have spent a lot of time while remodeling scouring around for antique items or reproduction items that I can use in my home. I want to give it back the feeling of an old home that the previous owners had stripped away in their 1960s remodeling.
One of the things I love are the fixtures at Rejuvenation. They have gorgeous reproductions based on antique lights. In particular I would love to hang their Orville Chandelier in my living room.
Unfortunately, since it is a chandelier the minimum height you can order it is 24" which is way too tall for the low ceilings in my old home. The bigger problem for me, however is that it comes with a $580 price tag which is out of my price range.
Using the Orville as my inspiration I searched around for something similar that was a semi-flush fixture in my price range. I came across a light fixture from Minka Lavery's 1730 Series on Lighting Direct.
The light was a semi-flush and hung down only 13-1/2" from the ceiling which was workable. The fixture had a classic style with three arms that I loved, but the glass shades looked pretty modern in the photos. The price was great at $139.90 plus Lighting Direct had an additional 10% off on Minka Lavery fixtures at the time making the light only $125.91. I decided to get it with the idea that if the shades did look too modern I could always switch them out.
After the fixture arrived Frank helped me hang it. I've hung several lights by myself, but holding the fixture with one hand while you are twisting on wire nuts with the other can be a tricky proposition so it is always easier to do with two people. The fixture looked great and I love how bright it made the living room with the three bulbs. My initial hunch that the shades were way too modern looking was correct, however. Here is the fixture hung in my living room.
I set about looking for some white bell shades with 2-1/4" fitters that looked similar to the Orville shades. I found some for $5.00 a piece with another 10% discount running at the time and decided to get them.
The shades arrived on Friday and I was excited to put them up on Saturday. They really make a difference and I love how the new light fixture looks now.
It's not too far off from my inspiration and I really love how it looks in the living room. Now if only I could figure out what to do with the entryway light...
Monday, February 11, 2013 at 8:32AM | Posted by Lisa | 3 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (3)
I like the light fixture with the "tulip" shades. We just replaced the glass shades and blades on our ceiling fan in the kitchen and I was surprised what a difference it made. I am now looking for new glass shades for the ceiling fan in our bedroom, update/change at a fraction of the cost of replacing the entire unit. We looked for a long time for new glass covers for our hall ceiling lights - the hall way runs the length of the house and up the stairs we bought light covers that were similar but just different enough to help define each space.
Nice job making your new light fixture emulate the seriously expensive original one! I love how you took parts and pieces and really made it work for your space and era. It looks great!
Mary-Lou- Thank you! I like it with the bell shades, too. Changing the shades can do so much to change a fixture. Good luck looking for new shades for your fixtures!
Sandy- Thank you! I am really happy with how it looks now, too! It makes everything so bright and happy in my living room.