Vintage lighting:

[Kahuna]

What this thread needs is more pictures. There's nothing drier than talking about lighting without the ability to see it. So here's my hula lamp, found when I was cleaning out my father-in-law's garage. Nothing better than a free hula lamp! More pictures please!

 

[dhermann1]

That's a major prize if I ever saw one!

 

[rocketeer]

I have original 1930s art deco lighting in my living room, I also have some old deco wall lights from a demolished cinema. They look quite normal in their correct surroundings but at nearly 2 feet across they are just too big for home use.
Sorry no pics, the cinema lights are in storage and I'm fed up with negative pm's about me mixing 'vintage' with my DFS(Discount Furniture Centre) suite and other modern throwaway furniture.

 

[vitanola]

I have original 1930s art deco lighting in my living room, I also have some old deco wall lights from a demolished cinema. They look quite normal in their correct surroundings but at nearly 2 feet across they are just too big for home use.
Sorry no pics, the cinema lights are in storage and I'm fed up with negative pm's about me mixing 'vintage' with my DFS(Discount Furniture Centre) suite and other modern throwaway furniture.

Heavens!

I cannot imagine why anyone would criticize YOUR home in such a manner, for home decoration is really a very personal matter. We all furnish with that which we love, and which we can afford, and decor is after all not essential to the function of a home. A true "Golden Era" working or middle class interior would have almost lways been a bit of a mish-mosh, with bits of Victoriana and other oddiments handed down by older relatives.

Now, were you asking for constructive criticism, perhaps some gentle suggestions might be in order, but if you were only proudly posting photos of your beautiful home, then anyone who may have not cared for your decoration could simply have not responded, or at worst said "how nice, I'm sure you must love it".


Here are some photos of period (1910-1925) lighting as used in our house in Jonesville:

 

[vitanola]

Something from the 'Teens (Eighteen-'Teens):

Note, candles were generally only placed in the fixture when it was to be used.

 

[bunnyb.gal]

I love the Galle lamp above - very sweet!

I agree, worthlesswithoutpics (well, not worthless, but it would certainly be a plus!)

Most of the lighting in my house is art deco, I'll try to post some pics later!

 

[vitanola]

The Galle' shade is a fake, and a poor one at that, but it doesn't look too terribly bad when placed atop a 1910's vintage iron base.

 

[rocketeer]

Its ok, probably people I know who have some kind of problem with me from the past and my light heated approach to old stuff.
Nice Victorian era lamps(How do people from other countries refer to this era)
Love the red yellow, black table lamp)
Johnny T

 

[Miss Golightly]

Some lovely lighting there folks!

Here are some bullet lamps that I got off Etsy:

 

[BigFitz]

Its ok, probably people I know who have some kind of problem with me from the past and my light heated approach to old stuff.
Nice Victorian era lamps(How do people from other countries refer to this era)
Love the red yellow, black table lamp)
Johnny T

Well, I know I refer to the era as Victorian even though I live in the colonies.

 

[tonyb]

... anyone who's ever worked on a movie set or for a ride design company (particularly Disney Imagineering) knows that the way a scene is lit will do far more to affect how it looks (and therefore its feel) than what's actually in the room. ...

Ain't that the truth. Once a person understands that all you're seeing is light, the concept becomes clear. Sure, that chair (for instance) I'm gazing upon is indeed a chair, made of wood and upholstery fabric or whatever, but what I'm actually seeing is the light reflected off it. And differing light will dramatically affect how I perceive it.

 

[tonyb]

... Sorry no pics, the cinema lights are in storage and I'm fed up with negative pm's about me mixing 'vintage' with my DFS(Discount Furniture Centre) suite and other modern throwaway furniture.

People give you grief over this? Sheesh. I can appreciate the time and effort and thought (and expense) that might have gone into a person's period-accurate living space, just as I give a nod to a person who has a knack for putting together pieces of differing styles and eras. Different strokes, and all that.

 

[rocketeer]

People give you grief over this? Sheesh. I can appreciate the time and effort and thought (and expense) that might have gone into a person's period-accurate living space, just as I give a nod to a person who has a knack for putting together pieces of differing styles and eras. Different strokes, and all that.

Goes back to the days, (late 1970s) when I was a teenager and worked in demolition. No one wanted the old furniture from the 1930s and I often told(and still do) stories of gutting houses for modernisation and scrapping all the art deco fittings and furniture etc. The only people really enthusiastic about this stuff back then were the cinema organ restorers.
I once had a 1930s walnut dresser in my garage, it had solid walnut curved sides and weight about half a ton so was excellent for a garage bench, some guy wanted it but would not buy me a replacement bench when I said he could have it so it stayed in the garage.
OH well, off to Next(UK furniture store) to buy some dining chairs, unfortunately they are made in China and no where near as good quality as old stuff. My own fault I suppose for throwing all the old stuff on the bonfire when it was just cheap stuff:eeek:

 

[bunnyb.gal]

Oh, no not Next!!! I'm sure you could pick up for the same price or less some nice ones on that well-known auction site, ones that have lasted 80 years and would doubtless last 80 more!

 

[rocketeer]

Oh, no not Next!!! I'm sure you could pick up for the same price or less some nice ones on that well-known auction site, ones that have lasted 80 years and would doubtless last 80 more!

Yes the dreaded *Bay, but if its old and collectable you are not usually the only person interested, you usually have to bid, maybe you will win if you put in an overly high price, maybe you will lose, so the process goes on and you lose again and again and again.
Meanwhile the dinner part you wanted the chairs for has come and gone, and everyone has had to sit on my old mix and match set, impressed with the food, they may not be too impressed having to sit on computer chairs, a bar stool and two falling apart plain spindle back dining chairs..
Modern stuff isnt that bad if you take your time and choose carefully. Unless of course you are obsessed with collecting or it is your hobby.
I'm now looking for some Bauhaus furniture, some shelving really takes my fancy. if the price is out of my reach there are some nice pieces in Dansk that are similar, or even IKEA If I am willing to paint and re-laqure.
It may not last 100 years but then again nor will I

 

[bunnyb.gal]

I must admit to spending waaaaay too much time on Ebay drooling over furniture when my house is already chock full of it; I see a lot of art deco furniture go without bids. I've never seen anything modern that would hit the spot for me; the details are lacking and I like my furniture looking "lived in". That's pretty much all I look at, so a different story for Bauhaus I guess?

In any case, good luck with finding your chairs!

 

[tonyb]

I don't know how these things work over there where y'all drive on the wrong side of the road, but over here most anything in the way of home furnishings a person might reasonably expect to acquire can be found cheap (and locally) at thrift stores and garage sales and, these days, on craigslist. Taking the time to find it ain't everybody's cup of coffee, but for those who enjoy the hunt, it's the only way to go.

Ikea has been around this part of the world long enough now that I stumble across their stuff frequently. Indeed, rare is the day a person can go on craigslist without finding scads of it. I went hunting for a black leather Ikea loveseat that sells for $500 new, which is real cheap as leather loveseats go, but it's still several times more than my parsimonious self is willing to pay. (I mean, it is Ikea, after all.) Found one on craigslist for 50 bucks. Had to drive about an hour and a half each way to get it home, but still ...

And I figure it'll hold up okay around here, where there are no young children practicing gymnastics on it, and the bit of superficial damage it came with just keeps me from regarding it as anything at all precious. Go ahead, spill your wine.

 

[TraditionalFrog]

Vladimir Berkov is correct on the vintage idea of lighting. Actually, that is how it always has been in my family. Growing up we always used lamps with soft light bulbs and they were placed next to the areas when they were used. Right now I'm renting a small space, but when I had a larger apartment I had a vintagesque floor lamp next to my easy chair, and another lamp next to one end of my couch on an end table. In my bedroom I had a lamp on my nightstand and a bankers lamp on my desk. In the kitchen there was an overhead and a small light over the sink. I almost always used the light over the sink. My bathroom had an overhead and a fixture over the sink, but unfortunately they were connected so I had no choice. Had an overhead in the living room and hall, but rarely used those, in fact I don't think I had to replace the bulbs in the whole 12 years I lived there. I've never been one to need big bright light during the evening/night. Besides, I have sensitive eyes to boot. Also, it seems like the big overheads that so many people prefer today just run the electric meter. With a lamp I simply turn it off when done. Most evenings unless I have guests there is only one lamp on at a given time. My grandparents have always been like this.

I remember when I was growing up and we first moved in to a new house, I had to use the over head in my bedroom until mom got the lamps unpacked. I got so used to the overhead even after the lamps were placed in my room, I'd go off and leave it on. So many times my mom would holler after me "Go turn off that light... you think your dad works for the light company?". Never had the same problem with the lamps, likely because unlike overhead, I could see them in front of me.

 

[mummyjohn]

At home we have can lights all over, and I didn't notice how much of a difference it made to use lamps instead of the in-ceiling lights until I was probably fifteen years old.

Can lights provide a bland, uniform illumination. In some video games, there is an option to use "global lighting" instead of source lighting, which is easier on the computer's video processor because it doesn't have to calculate how every object in the scene is illuminated by every light source, it can just calculate how a simple "virtual" overhead light source would make things appear. Can lights are basically like global lighting in a game! That is to say, blanketing and uninteresting. I found that the lower (literally lower in the room, on desks or tables instead of in the ceiling) point source of lamps, as well as using dimmer bulbs (20-60 watts instead of 60-100 in the cans), not to mention the hyperbolas of light splashed on walls and ceilings, make for much more dramatic illumination of rooms.


P.S. The video game comparison is sort of hard to understand without seeing it. Here's two scenes from BioShock (which is a work of art in it's own right, but that's not what I'm here to talk about). This one uses global lighting, whereas this one takes into account every light source in the game world (lamps, televisions, etc...) and does so dynamically, I.E. if you bump a lamp and it rolls across the floor, all the objects in the world cast the shadows they would in real life as the light source moves.
P.P.S. At the point in the game where these frames are from, Bing Crosby's "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams" is playing.

 

[Fastuni]

For my office/study I got these refurbished 1930's desk lamps:

Left a "Kaiser Idell" 6551 from 1935-1950.
Right a "Schaco" from 1935-1940 (using the Flash-Logo from 1930-1940).

A helpful website for dating period lamps is this French one. See the flags on the side for translation.

http://www.autrefois-la-lumiere.com/2010/12/kaiser-idell_26.html
http://www.autrefois-la-lumiere.com/2013/06/lampe-schaco.html