that brown house

through the power of the internet eric and i have ascertained that the light fixtures i posted about yesterday are by markel lighting - new england electrical supply, of boston, mass. somebody selling a brightly painted version of one on ebay dated it to the 1920s. i found light fixtures like those from two of the bedrooms in a markel catalog from the 1930s (original price $2.10), but the style of the more ornamental fixtures in that catalog had evolved such that i’m confident ours are from at least the mid-20s, if not earlier. based on markel catalog descriptions, it is entirely possible that the paint is original to the fixtures; one of the finish options for cast fixtures is ivory paint with gold or pewter painted accents. i know, gasp! we’ve found three for sale, all with a pan that looks like our dining room fixture. all describe it as “cast art deco…” but none say if it is cast steel or iron and all three of the ones for sale are suspended while ours is flush to the ceiling. two have been repainted in victorian revival colors and the other, amazingly, is ivory with gold paint in the places ours has silver paint:

so this introduces a few new decisions. the debate in my head has moved from plated vs. painted to restore vs. refresh. i like the idea of restoring and/or preserving aspects of the house that don’t hinder modern convenience & safety, but neither of us find the fixtures terribly attractive in their current semi-restored state. does the hypothesis that they were originally painted somehow validate the concept of re-painting them?

i’m leaning toward painting over plating because i think i can make them coordinate nicely with the cast iron heating grille we ordered and with whatever cabinet hardware we get for the built-in. i’m not much of a fan of brass or bronze and nickel doesn’t seem to go with this type/age of fixture. a pewter finish would be nice with our intended decor (i’m designing the dining room to coordinate with my mother’s dishes: white with a wedgewood blue pattern and silver trim.) plating in chrome, nickel and brass seem most readily available, though there also appear to be options for gold, silver, copper, tin, etc.

after meeting with the electrician yesterday afternoon, i’m even more confident that opting to rewire the entire house is the right decision. none of the existing receptacles that he has removed so far have been in boxes, some of the wires were literally crumbling, the heavy light fixtures that i’ve been describing were only being held up by the lathe strips for the plaster (no wood blocking)…eep.

as far as electrical work progress is concerned, all there is to see so far are the new receptacle boxes in the baseboard in the living room and dining room (but with the new wire poking out!). the outlets existing in the house are placed horizontally in the baseboard. we’re continuing this trend in the living and dining room (for aesthetics), but installing vertical outlets elsewhere.

the electrician isn’t working monday, but tuesday there should be a full house since the bathroom contractor is slated to start tuesday or wednesday. exciting!