Antique Lighting

Antique lighting can give your home personality and style. Perhaps you have a fixture or floor lamp that needs repair or fallen into disrepair.

How to decide if it is worth it to refurbish. If it was a quality peice to begin with it might be quite expensive to replace. A general rule if it had been of high quality when it was new it probably still is of high quality and expensive to replace now.

Refurbishing this fixtures might be as simple as replacing switches, electrical fittings or electrical cords. Check with lighting stores in your area or a hardware store that might have the necessary parts to rewire yourself. Simple take in a sample of the part or pieces you need replaced.

DO IT YOURSELF

Most lamps are easily rewired. A new cord and plug might me all you need. New sockets are easily installed. Simple feed wire through the lamp and attach wire to it's respective terminal on the bulb socket.

The "hot" and "neutral" wires should be indicated in some way (black for hot or the letter L, and the white for neutral or the letter N), as should the terminals on the bulb socket (prossibly a brass screw for HOT and a silver one for NEUTRAL). A ground isn't necessary and most modern lamps don't have them anyway.

If the lamp is metal you could ground it to prevent it from becoming entergized, just get a three conductor cable and solder or bolt the ground wire to the metal base in an inconspicus place. Electrified torchiere, floor and table lamps date back to the early 1900's are timeless. They have typically heavy bases, long poles using mogul base bulbs for maximum illumination.

What was once outdated is coming back in reproductions in hopes of satisfing home owners who want a more fitting fixture for their older homes, perhaps someone trying to renovate an old historic building, but why not the real thing. Why not check with a lighting store that specializes in these types of fixtures in your area. Many stores already have refurbished antique fixtures. Why not look.