Other than simple fixtures in the kitchen, bath, bedroom and main entrance, our loft conversion did not come with much in terms of lighting. Not surprising, as this is an excellent way for the builders to save some money. Luckily, we had the wiring done and a switch connected, so all that we needed to do was choose the right fixture for the main area and there would (finally) be light.
Choosing a pendant lamp for the main area of the loft presented a challenge. The ceiling above the dining/island (where the box is) is over 12 ft tall. Also, the loft is open concept. I was tasked with finding a lamp that was large enough to not look dwarfed in the space, and long enough to illuminate the room (had to dip beneath the kitchen bulkhead).
Having not shopped for lighting before, I was envisioning something over-sized and dramatic, knowing that we had the space. After months of scouring lighting stores and online resources, I could not find anything that I wanted that was even remotely affordable, and we were just sitting in the dark.
So on a highly eventful trip to the storage locker, I came across a lamp that my Oma and Opa had purchased upon coming to Canada. We had the companion lamp (left) already in the living area so it was a good match. The only thing was that it was not as much of a statement piece as I was looking for and it was broken. It was worth trying to fix, the benefit being that since the lamp was purchased in the mid-century it fit in well with our overall aesthetic.
In order to modernize, it was decided that we would ditch the not-working orange cord for a new, bright white one. Replacing the cord also gave us the control to create the length needed for the unusually high ceiling. For aesthetics, I decided to keep the chain, and shorten it to just the length of the cord. Originally the lamp would plug into the wall, but since we would be using the existing box in the ceiling, we needed to also affix a canopy kit.
Canopy kit, left, opening up the lamp to attach the new cord and canopy
Fixing the lamp itself was easy enough with some help from a handy friend. Really, it was as simple as opening it up, removing the existing cord and replacing it with the new one. I then had to find new bulbs and screws and attach those. More complicated was the actual install, and that was more because of the height of the room than anything.
In order to save some energy, we also switched the bubs to energy efficient ones, and added a dimmer. If you choose to do this, you need to purchase specific dimmable energy efficient bulbs.
All of the parts were purchased at Home Depot, and the replacement glass bulbs at Canadian Tire. Total cost (including dimmer and specific light bulbs) was well under $100. Much less than the statement lamps I was looking at which were averaging $900 or so. It does the trick for now, and you should have seen Oma light up when she saw her lamps being used again.
What do you think? Have you repurposed an old lamp?
Jennifer Myers is an art director/web designer based in Toronto who loves Food, Travel, Bicycles, Loft Living & Whitespace.
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