bohemian hellhole

How to fix a lamp with superglue and tape

Meet the worlds best finder of things that require parts that don't exist. Me. Yes, I get good deals sometimes, but the price I pay is in hunting and gathering the strange {sometimes unorthodox} pieces needed to make them fully functional. Even then, it's not uncommon for those items to only really work when I use them. {because they need crazy special treatment or carefully choreographed moves} All of that said, this lamp is no exception. While I was out antiquing with my brother in law a few years ago, I found this lamp. We kind of fought over it, but it was mine. It made me think of some strange east india trading company, Caribbean colonial, almost haunted house kind of lamp. It had no canopy, just the curved arch ending in the part shown above. That part has a corresponding other half which allows the socket to be adjusted. I hurriedly found a canopy for it, but didn't really bother to put it together right, there is a threaded end on that part that I figured would be easy to find a nut for later on, thus securing the canopy and preventing the shade from swinging around on the wiring alone. I was wrong.  During the move,{all my stories start this way:} the canopy that was held on by the lamp wire alone was bumped around and generally abused. When I went to set up our living room, the light didn't work at all. It was as good a time as any to fix the whole thing properly. First things first, I thought, find a nut for that socket holder part! Simple right? Nope.  That thread size and shape cannot be found. I have carried it in my bag for months, lurking in the plumbing aisles and electrical departments, testing and fitting, and failing.
The solution I came up with is less than glamorous, and most likely will not stand the ultimate test of time, but it should work until I hone my craft as a metal smith and make my own fittings for it. I chose to use a standard threaded rod, and then superglue it inside the hollow of the other threaded section. The glow of resolution only lasted until I realized that the threaded rod was slightly smaller in diameter than the diameter of the socket holder piece. Not close enough for superglue anyway. Normally in this case I would suggest JB Weld, because it's awesome for fixing anything. The superglue was already purchased however, so I went with plan B. Tape. I chose masking tape, purely because it was easy to find. The threaded rod only needed a few wraps around to make it a snug fit, and I gooped it up with Locktite as I went.

Once the glue had hardened, I was able to slip the canopy on, and thread the rod onto a standard light socket housing.


Lastly, I wired the socket with a pull chain, and pushed on the socket housing to enclose the electrical contacts.
Shade on, light in place! {on a side note, I feel that this chest may not be the right scale for this corner...any thoughts? Maybe a taller table of sorts? A bookcase?}

Turning up the heat, Alice

 

I am becoming obsessed with this photo

via apartment therapy

Can I put these lights around my bathroom mirror? I think it might be the best idea EVER. Now I just have to find these fixtures...

Making Lemonade, Alice

Yes, another light.

On my list of things to do this year is 'replace the ceiling fan in bedroom #2'. In order to do this, I had to go light shopping. When visiting Hippo Hardware, there was a sign above the knobs and pulls that read 'The Jewelry of your Home'. I have to disagree, I think that lighting is the jewelry, knobs and pulls can be the accessories that compliment the lights. If you change a regular boring light to a fancy pretty one, your room automatically becomes fancy. Just like if you put on a fancy necklace, your jeans and sweater are then fancy. It's easy. Finding the right light isn't always that simple. We visited Seattle this weekend, and since there was still some store credit in my name at the ReStore from the last trip, I took the opportunity to go light hunting. Amy was with me, and she wisely cautioned me against buying a ridiculously gaudy wall sconce that looked like ribbons and tassels, but made of brass. {I still love it} Walking away from it we spotted this light that went unnoticed until then, and I quickly bought it. It is vintage, blown glass and hand painted.

It is a complete and total grandma light, but it is fancy, and shiny, and ended up being perfect in our bedroom, which freed up the 'Nimbus' light for bedroom #2, giving me immediate cause to take down the ceiling fan. When I got it home, I realized that the mounting holes were {as always} abnormally spaced, so I went to work rigging a wider crossbar. What I discovered was that Erector Sets make the perfect small, sturdy additions to mounting plates and crossbars.

They have the exact right size holes, and come with tiny little machine screws and nuts, that don't take up much space, and do a wonderful job making an oddly shaped bespoke piece of lighting hardware. {go run out and buy a little set right away and keep it in your toolbox~you'll thank me later}

Watering the plants, Alice

 

Ask Alice: Is it hard to re-wire a lamp?

Dear Alice, I recently purchased a lamp with a frayed cord. Is this easy to fix? Where should I start? ~ Regina

 

via Rental House Rules {where they have how to links and lots of advice on buying second hand lamps!}

Dear Regina, Last week I did an unreasonable amount of little projects, spurred on my the list I made for the William Morris project. Funny you should ask, because one of the things I did was to repair and re-wire a lamp. This little light was given to me years ago by a dear friend for Christmas. I used it, and moved it, and eventually broke it. Somewhere along the line I also lost the threaded rod that held it all together. It sat in a drawer, or a box or a bag for seriously 9 years, and I could never bring myself to just get rid of it. I also never managed to fix it until this week.

The first thing to do is inspect what you do have, is your lamp complete? Does it have a socket, switch, cord? Is it stable? Do you need to add feet, or like me a new threaded rod to hold it all together?

This is a diagram of basic parts. Not all lamps are identical, but they usually include a healthy dose of these parts. {via glassart3}

When I got out my bag of parts, I realized the the bakelite piece holding the socket together was broken. I decided the best way to fix it was superglue and duct tape. It works quite well, and no one will ever know. Except you. Then, I made a list, went to the hardware store and purchased a lamp kit. It was the easiest thing to do, it came with extra nuts and washers, as well as two threaded rods. I needed a cord too, to I took one off of a super lame Ikea lamp that was in my give away pile. {free!}

The lamp I have is basically a bunch of parts, stacked on top of a threaded rod. It was like a giant beading project, only I didn't lose all the beads. I started by threading the socket cap onto the rod, and then adding parts down to the base. The rod was longer than what I needed, so I marked it, and cut it off with my very favorite English hack saw, the 'Break Neck'. It's so lovely, and so handy!

After that was done, I added a washer and two nuts, forming a lock nut on the end of the rod. This keeps the whole thing firmly together. The next step was the actual wiring.

I threaded my lamp cord through the rod, up through the socket cap, and stripped about half an inch off each side.

{you may say 'hey, I can totally see that duct tape!', just wait.}

Twist these wire ends so that they don't fray out and poke you in the finger.  Each socket has connections that vary a bit, this lamp just had little 'tunnels' that I sent the stripped wire into, then tightened down the connection screw on top of the wire. {lamps are simple circuits, unless you have a crazy fancy light that has computers or AI inside it, you don't really have to worry which side each wire goes to}

Once the connecting screws are nice and tight you can add the finishing touches, socket sleeve, harp {if relevant}, shade and bulb. I do not recommend a CFL. If you are really worried about how much electricity you use in your lamps, buy a halogen bulb please. Other wise you might end up with a brain cloud. I am not kidding, CFL bulbs can do you in.

That's about it. If you have further questions, ask in the comment section below, and I will do my best to help!

Washing clothes, Alice

Ask Alice: What am I doing wrong?	Ask Alice: How do I put up wallpaper?	Ask Alice: Is it hard to re-wire a Lamp?
Ask Alice: What's your Secret?	Ask Alice: Open Shelves or Cabinets?	Ask Alice: Spray Paint or Brush?

Ask Alice: How should I clean wood floors?

Hippo Hardware {and more cheap lights}

I have been wanting to visit Hippo Hardware since we moved to Portland. This weekend a dear friend came to visit and we went on a bathroom light hunt, beginning at Hippo! It was really fun, just wandering around with someone I know, talking and examining lighting treasures, and ultimately scoffing at the prices. I was pretty disappointed in how expensive everything was, but I might have been slightly affected by my last lighting purchase. We stopped by a few other places and ended up at the Rebuilding Center, or as I call it "home of the $5 light". I thought maybe they would have something that I could fit together that might work at least for a while in the bathroom. Guess what? I found a matching pair of Rejuvenation Humboldt lights in polished chrome. Guess how much they were? $5 each. Yes, I am available as a personal shopper, if you ever need a light. Just ask! The shades are probably not going to work, they are frosted square-ish ones that look a little too 'I wish I owned a craftsman bungalow', BUT, the bases with a nice clear globe {or round open} shade will look perfectly modern in the space.

Painting my bedroom, Alice

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The Hall light is up!

{I still need to paint...a fact made clearer by the ghost of the old fixture}

This is the old fixture, just in case you're interested. It is rusty {how does that happen inside?} and full of blackened crispy insulation. It's not the worst, but definitely makes me think of an 'old camper in the woods full of moldy cushions' kind of light.

After a harrowing trip to Home Depot, where I spent nearly an hour wandering through aisles of items that were 'almost right, but not quite', I went home with a bag of assorted metal things.

The base for this light was a challenge, it was small, irregular and since it was without electrical components of any kind, I was on a mission to figure it out, because I had become very attached to the idea of that particular light hanging in the hallway.

What I ended up doing was making a sort of crossbar mess, with a universal mounting plate, a threaded rod, a 4 inch crossbar, lots of washers and nuts and a ceramic socket with a threaded rod adapter on the end. The only thing I didn't use was the package of 'steel nipples' a name I will probably never get over seeing in the electrical department.

The whole contraption was wired and fastened together, then mounted to the electrical box in the cieling. The base for the fixture came next, fitting the keyhole  mounting holes onto the 8/32 machine screws hanging out of my universal mounting plate.

If anyone finds this interesting, call me, I need a friend.  Most people get a glazed look in their eyes a few seconds in to me describing anything like this, but if I am just writing about it, I don't see it, so it doesn't count, right?


In the end, it worked out well, and unlike many of my projects, you can change a light bulb without a long list of special instructions from me. Next up? The bathroom lights.

{On a side note, I couldn't very well replace the light in the hall without changing the switch plate as well. While it is a beauty, I feel it would be better suited somewhere else, like a country feed store, or any home in Purdy.}

The new one is staying on a trial basis, I haven't decided if it is quite right yet. It was the best Home Depot had to offer, and it was only $5. The picture is terrible.

On to greater things, like lunch, Alice

 

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Stripping paint from a vintage fixture

I picked up this light fixture from the Ballard Re-Store when I was in Seattle a couple of weeks ago, even though it was painted a horrible peach color. The shade is quite wonderful and since I have been on a hunt for clear shaded lights lately, this fit the bill {even though it is open, and in my mind I wanted a closed shade, the geometric ribbing totally makes up for it}. The plan is to install it in the hall, with a mirrored bulb in it. I just have to find some guts to fit in it, since there isn't a socket or anything in it right now. First things first, I needed to get the ugly paint off. After moving you realize that you are out of{or just can't find} all sorts of things-Worcestershire sauce, dryer sheets, stud-finders, wall fasteners, hard drives, books, vacuum cleaners, and in this case, paint stripper. I decided to try the hot water bath.

After boiling the metal parts in clean water for about 5 minutes I let it cool enough to touch, and holding it under hot tap water the paint peeled right off. 

The boiling separated the paint from the metal enough to loosen the bond, little bubbles appeared all over the paint when this happened. I suspect that really old deadly paints might not come off this easy, but latex would for sure. Since this was a salvaged light, there is no telling what kind of paint was on it, but it did come off perfectly. {the screws will need a little touching up, but I almost don't care}

The best part of it all was the shiny chrome finish that was hiding under the paint, no repainting needed! The inside was kind of a brushed aluminum and I was a little worried that the whole thing would look like the inside of a pop can, but it turned out great. And free.

Taking out the Christmas tree, Alice

How I spent Black Friday

(sorry for the terrible pictures~ I was too impatient to wait for better lighting)

I went to the Rebuilding Center on Black Friday. They did not open at midnight nor did they have any crazy sales*. I walked in looking for something that I could just temporarily replace the awful ceiling fan with, but instead I found an original vintage fixture that Rejuvenation now makes called the Nimbus. I grabbed it, like I was actually at a black friday sale, looked around and realized that no one else was even around. Then, on the next aisle, I found another identical fixture. I grabbed it too. I was now hugging two rather cumbersome and fragile lights. Then I found the globe light.  Unable to grab it too, I had to ask for help. There was also the issue of the price, which is never marked there. I asked how much for the first two, and hoped it would be less than $30 each. The lady I asked came back with a $7 price tag for each. Amazing. Now that I wasn't breaking the bank, I asked about the globe. She looked at it, raised her eyebrows and informed me that it wouldn't be so cheap. It was 'really cool'. So I bravely walked to the counter with her to hear the verdict. $5. I bought them as quick as I could so that the guy who priced them couldn't change his mind, and carrying all three very precariously, bolted for the car.

The Nimbus retails for $172, and the Rejuvenation version of the globe light the Sfera retails for $228. So, essentially I saved myself $553. That doesn't happen everyday.

Unpacking boxes, Alice

*{unless getting three lights for $19 counts}

Schoolhouse Electric

A dear friend pointed out to me that Schoolhouse Electric had recently expanded their offerings significantly, and I have to agree. There were so many lights and things there that were fantastic, I wanted to share a few.

I love a good mirrored bulb, but housing it in a classic clear shade adds a little finish to the industrial modern bare light bulb look. I think the whole thing looks more current with the bulb showing too. I normally wouldn't give this fixture a second look if it were a white glass shade.

This fixture would look amazing if the interior were gold....

I don't even know how much this set is, I just want it. Badly.

Lucky for me, I just purchased a white bed identical to this from Portland Craigslist, for $40. The best thing about it is the little stamped brass badge on the foot board that reads 'Property of Multnomah County'.

Ticking sheets always make me feel like I might be on vacation somewhere on the coast.

Recharging my batteries, Alice

Spun, by Evie

via Evie

These lights are so fun, I think I might have to get one. They are like giant toys, but gold, and they light up!

Listening to Elvis, Alice