Let There be Lights!

Here's the thing about an old house -- it's possible for stuff to be original without actually being original.

A prime example of that in this house is the light fixtures. We think the house was built around 1885, but in the 1880s, only a few very rich people in fancy places like New York City had electrical lights in their homes; it was a brand new technology, and those lights were generator-powered. A farmhouse in the Midwest -- in an area that's still considered pretty rural 130 years later -- would certainly not have had electricity until much later. What that means is that the house also wouldn't have had fixtures for electric lights when it was originally built.

Eventually, though, electricity did make its way to Michigan farms. Some quick Internet searching suggests that the style of most of the light fixtures in our farmhouse is one that was common in the 1920s and 30s. Since nearly all the fixtures fit into that period, we're guessing that sometime around then is when the house was wired for electric lights. So, although the fixtures were added 40 - 50 years after the house was built (i.e. not original) we think they probably are the first light fixtures that were installed (i.e. original).

Master bedroom light fixture

Parlor light fixture

Fixture in the three upstairs bedrooms

 We're not hoping to restore this farmhouse to like-original condition for obvious reasons, like electric lights, and modern plumbing, and not having to cook on a woodstove. What we're hoping for is something closer to creating a home that feels like it's been lived in since it was built, with pieces from different time periods blending together (and if it can't blend, it gets left out -- I'm looking at you, 1970s). This is a long way of saying that we're not going to try to find, say, gas light fixtures from the 1880s that could be reworked to take electric bulbs -- if the house's fixtures seem centered on a particular period, that's what we'll work with.

And the good news is that we had almost all the fixtures. The kitchen fixture is more modern, but pretty unobtrusive, so we'll probably leave it unless we find something truly amazing to take its place.

Kitchen light

However, in the dining room, the light had been totally removed; at some point, a drop ceiling had been added, with fluorescent lights and a ceiling fan. The light is off-center, and the ceiling fan is wired to an extension cord that plugs into the wall. Classy. So those definitely have to go.

We're also short a fixture upstairs. There are three matching fixtures upstairs -- currently, one is in the hallway, one is in one of the bedrooms, and the other is on the floor in the back bedroom. The third bedroom, though, had nothing, so we decided to move the matching fixtures into the three bedrooms and get a different fixture for the hallway.

We thought this might take awhile, but in the course of one weekend, we actually found fixtures for both places. They aren't installed yet (ceilings need work and painting, so there's no point in getting ahead of ourselves), but they're waiting. They're also getting cleaned up, which is why they're currently pictured on lovely backdrops of newsprint...

New fixture for the upstairs hallway

Dining rooms need chandeliers.

And this one is perfect!