Weekend Finds: the Lamp I Love

Good morning!

Two separate out-of-state vintage hauls, a trip to Home Depot, and an afternoon with my dad spent carefully tinkering over this trinket have all paid off, ladies and gentlemen. Check out my new/old/Frankenstein of a vintage find, the figural lamp of my dreams!

On the way back from Missouri, we stopped in Benton, Ohio to grab lunch, and I was pulled into the gravitational field of their town square. Anytime I see a tiny brown highway sign that reads "ANTIQUE DISTRICT -->" or "HISTORIC TOWN SQUARE--->", it's pretty much impossible for me to ignore the call of the junk. The first thing I saw coming into the store was an atomic aqua love seat and matching coral colored arm chair...while I caught my breath and began tabulating how much a Uhaul back to Nashville might cost, I was shot back down to earth by the price tag. $695 for the sofa, and $395 for the chair. WHAT. WHY. WHAT. WHY AGAIN. Most things in the store were more reasonably priced than that, but most things in the store also didn't have the knock-yer-eye-out curb appeal of the living room set. My heart momentarily thrilled at the sight of an Enid Collins bag in a case, but further inspection proved that it was missing several key stones and badly scratched. Boo. I was strikin' out on this trip, folks!

We were almost out of the store when I saw this two-tier, fiberglass barrel shade sitting on top of a cupboard in one of the booths. With the store's dubious-up-until-now track record, I expected to experience the sticker shock of a way out of price range shade. And if it was in my price range, it probably had a hole burned in one side or something else criminally wrong with it.  But no! $30 was inked on the little hang tag attached, and there wasn't a mark on the shade itself. After some booth-circling, I finally decided to just buy the thing, and carry it back to Tennessee with the hopes of attaching it to just-the-right lamp. I had one in mind, matterafact:

Do you remember the Louisville trip Matthew took me on last year for my birthday? This lamp base was one of the Peddler's Market finds from that fair city. I'm still groping for the correct term to describe his vocation, even a year later...matador? Harlequin? Matador-in-disguise? Man of mystery? At any rate, I had been looking for a crazy fifties' lamp-with-person for a base for the longest time, and now the opportunity to put shade-to-lamp presented itself! Only one impediment, there-- the lamp base's cord was cut, rendering useless its basic functionality. Dad-durn it. The harp was in pretty bad shape too, and I figured if we were going to go to the trouble of rewiring it, it might as well be with new parts. After picking up a "make-a-lamp" kit at Home Depot, I took the kit and caboodle over to my parents' house, and my dad and I fiddled with it until we had a working lamp!

I am still the world's worst blog photographer, so here's another shot of the lamp outside, which was taken in the vain hope that the outdoor lighting would help with seeing what the piece "really looks like". Something about the fiberglass of the shade just makes the lamp look so expensive when you turn it on and the light's coming through. $30 shade + $15 base + $10 lamp kit = $55 total for the lamp. Compare that to the $75-$125 price range of lamps I've had a little sorrow-induced tear over at Pre to Post Modern, and I think I might have come out a little ahead! Plus the fun of "picking it myself", one piece at a time, kind of adds to the value for me.

So! What did you find over the weekend? Do you have any fiberglass lamp shades or fifties' lamps (or both) in your collection? What's the story behind how you got them? Let's talk!

That's all for today, but I'll be back here tomorrow. Til then!