Let's Make a Light

Let’s Make a Light

                Jeannette’s Mom was born and grew up in a place called Harkey’s Valley, near Dardanelle, Arkansas.  She was, and still is at the age of 97, a card-carrying hillbilly, with a real dialect like that of Granny and Uncle Jed.  There are so many idioms that she speaks that crack me up, and I hope they’ll be remembered long after she’s gone home to be with her maker.  When the daytime shadows loom, she gets up to turn the light switch on, saying “I’ll make a light.”  I’m guessing that as a child that is exactly what she did to brighten a room . . . make a light, because back in those days in the valley, few had electricity and nighttime lighting was by kerosene lamps.  I love that she still speaks according to how she was raised.

               

                Our newly installed recessed kitchen lighting has been documented in earlier blogs, but we still needed to have a light fixture over the sink.  In our previous home, light fixtures were one of the ways we showed some flair and pizzaz, using various chandeliers and “froo froo lamps.”   This old house, however, isn’t the place to import those kinds of lighting treatments, so we’ve been keeping our eyes peeled and our minds open to a new idea.  Last week while we burned some time around the square in Weatherford, we visited a couple of antique/collectible stores and found a sweet little vintage table lamp that was very similar to the original light fixtures we have for the living room area.

Topsy Turvy

                We remembered the old Trading Spaces TV show from 10 years ago, and how designers used table lamps occasionally for nifty light fixtures by mounting them upside down on the ceiling.  Those were really cool . . . so we nabbed it!  I really didn’t care for the glass base that was on the lamp because looked like and old fashioned ash tray.  Since the hardware in the kitchen is brushed nickel, I knew I could come up with something that would be suitable and cool looking (preferably stainless steel or aluminum).  If not, I could make some kind of wooden base and spray paint it to look like nickel.

                Last weekend I found a box of 7 or 8 assorted saucepan lids at a garage sale and paid $1.00 for the whole thing, figuring that among those different sizes and styles, I should find the right one for the job.  Some were too big, others too square; but there was one lid that was a perfect fit.  I removed the knob and had to drill a ½” hole in the top for the wiring to pass through.  Then I used auto body sanding paper to scour the lid and make it look like brushed nickel.  It looks great, and now we need to come up with an ingenious way to mount a small lampshade upside down over the bulb.

                Grandmother, you’d be so proud of me because

“I made a light.”

                So, until my next blog post, I’ll sign off just like she says goodbye . . . “we’ll see ya when we see ya.”  J