It only took me a couple of months, but I finally got this fabulous vintage light fixture cleaned up and installed. Some of you might remember this piece in it’s ultra vintage condition (seen here), as in extremely dusty and rusty… and in truth it’s still a tad rusty, but that is all part of the charm as far as I’m concerned! She sure did clean up nicely though and with some fabulous small round globe bulbs that are meant for candelabras, it has that perfect retro vibe I was hoping it would! The best part is the $5 price tag it came with along with a little bit of elbow grease and new bulbs, makes the grand total for this light fixture are mere $10 or so.
There are dozens of tutorials and instructions to be found on the web for installing a light fixture or swapping out one light fixture for another, so I will spare you there. Just be sure you consult with an electrician when necessary and turn your power off completely before you begin messing around with electrical. And by completely, I actually do mean completely. Don’t risk it by it by attempting to simply shut down the portion of your house you are working on. Sometimes that isn’t enough… Otherwise, the swap is really pretty simple. Just unscrew and unfasten your current fixture, wrap the new wires with the existing wires in your electrical box above where the fixture lives, reattach and screw in place and you are essentially done. Obviously you should attempt to match up the wires (copper ground with copper ground and white with white) as best you can and wrap the matching pairs in the electrical caps. Sometimes they are all virtually identical so you will have to get a bit Sherlock on your electrical, but hopefully yours is not this way!
Isn’t she fabulous? I just love her… she is a beauty and wouldn’t you know, the mister now likes her too. Of course he hated her at first, but as usual he couldn’t see the vision before the vision was complete. And of course I know this, so I regularly ignore him and go forth anyhow. I always know he will come around once it’s finished and will love whatever it is, just as I thought he would. All is right in the world at least for this one small project. Now for the remaining projects left to be done. Fingers crossed I will be just as successful. It’s certainly not all rainbows and care bears in the world of DIY.
