Repurposed for Lighting

Recently, a visitor to my home commented on how unusual most of my lamps and chandeliers were. I didn't consider the lights in my house unique, but maybe she's right. Maybe I've lived with these for so long, they've become a part of my family.

One of my favorite lamps is in my office. In another life, it kept track of kilowatt hours used. The dials still track kilowatt hours used, but no one reads this meter. A Junior Achievement group made and sold these many years ago.

In my living room there's a fire extinguisher that's been converted to a lamp. I bought a light kit at a home improvement store and the lampshade was a real bargain at $3 from the Pottery Barn outlet located a dangerous 35 minutes from my garage.

One of the many projects I'm working on is a chandelier "remodel" that will eventually live in my bedroom. Swagged across the room wearing a pretty cozy to soften up the hard realities of chain and wire and dangling just above a mirror-topped night stand, this delicate little chandelier is being embellished with beads and baubels and pieces of old jewelry.

I bought the night stand at our Pottery Barn Outlet for just $30 - it was originally $300 or $400 but it had a major boo-boo on the top. I had Mr. Cooper (Cooper's Glass) cut a piece of mirror for the top and he also sold me some flexible chrome trim that I used around the edge.

And I have an old Singer sewing machine that's just begging to become a lamp. I'll have to get out the jars of old buttons and and those old cloth tape-measures for the shade.

Lately I've been eyeing the corbels we have in stock as potential lamps. Some copper pipe attached to the back and a light kit and you'd have a one-of-a-kind light to brag about and make a part of your family.