Patina aluminum house9/19/2023 ![]() ![]() It’s a rare vintage lighting fixture that comes to the repair shop with all pieces intact. Old House Directory: Architectural Salvage & Antique Dealers.How to Choose Lighting for Period Homes.“You have to have that record of how it was put together.”Ī little cleaning goes a long way: A vintage chandelier before and after being cleaned by Appleton Antique Lighting. “Sometimes there are multiple ways a fixture can be assembled,” says Jones. A good shop will document the process with photographs. Keep in mind that even a straightforward cleaning and rewiring usually requires taking the fixture completely apart. Ultimately, most important decisions are referred to the client, who may have a desired look in mind or budgetary constraints to consider. “You have to respect what the piece is and not make it worse than it was.” “Every piece is different,” continues Deimezis. ![]() At the same time, it may be possible to add a patina to darken the metal slightly and give it a more consistent appearance or an aged look. In cases where the cleaned finish is uneven, the customer may opt for a more in-depth cleaning, taking the metal down to bare brass, with the option of re-lacquering. A surface cleaning for a brass light may be followed by a hand polishing, with or without a protective coating of wax that helps protect the existing patina. Many early 20th-century lighting fixtures were made of brass, typically finished with a coat of lacquer. “If we know what the metal is, we know what cleaning approach to use,” says Jane Deimezis, owner of Appleton Antique Lighting. Sometimes a fixture only needs a light cleaning to remove superficial dirt, leaving the original lacquered finish intact. These vintage shades have been converted to pendant lights with the addition of new sockets and vintage-look, cloth-covered wire from Sundial Wire. They’ll offer expertise in matching or replicating finishes. They’ll know, for instance, whether arms that are bent can be reshaped, where wiring can or cannot safely go, and sources for missing components. A good shop can safely clean an old fixture and make repairs with sensitivity to its original character. That’s because it’s impossible to tell whether a fixture you’ve rewired yourself is safe checking it requires testing equipment only a pro shop will have. At worst, it could burn your house down.”Ĭhris Jones of Historic Houseparts, a dealer in architectural salvage and reproductions, concurs: “For anything more than a single wire and socket, I would recommend sending it to a professional.” “If you do it wrong, you could get shocked or blow an electrical circuit. “If you rewire an old light fixture yourself, you’d better have a good idea what you’re doing,” says Nigel Barnes, manager of Antique and Vintage at Rejuvenation, which restores and sells antique lighting fixtures. Does it still have the original wiring? If so, it should be professionally rewired before any other steps are taken. Before touching an antique lighting fixture, however, assess its condition. It’s natural to want to give a good cleaning to a chandelier coated with an amalgam of grease and dust. No matter what its apparent condition, rehanging or restoring an original fixture is a way to honor the architecture of the house. You’ve really scored if you find an original fixture stashed away like a broken toy in the back of a closet. Count yourself lucky if any of the pendants, chandeliers, ceiling lights, or sconces hung and mounted soon after your house was built are still in place, even if a shade is cracked or the metalwork is black with nicotine. ![]() Like hemlines and film stars, lighting fixtures tend to go in and out of fashion.
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