Albemarle Reno

The light fixtures that were included with the purchase of our house needed the same electric wiring upgrade to which the rest of the house was treated. The name that kept coming up when asking folks about who could rehab our twenty-plus ceiling fixtures and sconces was “Lamp Doctor.”

Located on Coney Island Avenue around Avenue P, the Lamp Doctor and his crew worked quickly and thoroughly to bring our pieces back to their former lustre, without cheeze-balling them out with super-shiny bright laquered finishes. Carol oversees the front of the shop — she assesses the needs of each piece and breaks down the cost for each service. Our most complicated job was this chandelier from our entry hall — shown below, before it was taken down for repair

Here she is laid out on the exam table, a jellyfish washed ashore

Even in its dowdy, dusty condition it made a big impression on Carol — I was surprised to hear she’d never seen anything like it in her many years in the shop. We signed it up for rewiring and cleaning, but Carol wasn’t sure how the Doctor would handle cleaning all those crystals. Turns out he had to take them all off and restring them to get each individual one clean.

And so it went — I’d pick up a few fixtures and drop off the next batch. This is one of two sconces that match the entry hall chandelier, before they both went to Lamp Doctor

Boxed clumsily for station-wagon transport

and post-treatment

This is the fixture from our main stair to the second floor before its appointment with Lamp Doctor

and after

We had a problem with one of the circuits melting

so back it went. The thought was that maybe the shades were too heavy for the wiring to stay in place so they added chains to help support the weight

I’m not thrilled with the shorter length, so I may have them try to come up with another solution — though I like that the fixture doesn’t block our Knight in Shining Armor when looking at him from the top of the stairs

I could just tell this fixture felt underappreciated in our narrow first floor hallway

The shades are Quezal glass, which I found out is kind of fancy, in a pulled-feather pattern that has a seashell-like iridescence to it. I wanted to see it more often than just when I walk down the hall — so, perhaps selfishly, we co-opted it for the master bedroom, where I love waking to it every day.

The displaced master bedroom fixture, shown here with its menagerie of shades, before rehab

now classes up our guest bedroom

This fixture, shown here in the “breakfast room” when we bought the house

seemed better suited to the dining room, which was lit by this smaller fixture

We’ll put it in the “breakfast room” which will be our family room once it’s no longer being used for carpentry

A closer look at the fixture I intended for the dining room, revealed these screw holes for securing glass shades

At some point the chandelier had been given tall candle-style sockets and the glass shades discarded. The Lamp Doctor replaced the sockets with a shorter version so I could go back to glass shades on the fixture again. The shades should be a 3.25-inch fitter size, but the choices I found were pretty limited — so I fudged it and got 2.25-inch fitter shades

They’re only okay for me — better than bare bulbs for now, but I think something wider and rounder would suit the fixture and the room better, so my search continues.

I’ll close this post with photos of more fixtures post-Lamp Doctor. They don’t have quite the back-stories as those above, but nevertheless deserve shout-outs for being their handsome, historic selves.

Music Room

Mudroom ceiling

and sconce

We have several porcelain fixtures labeled “Efcolite by DuRock” — samples below

These sconces were in the “breakfast room,” but will be featured in the newly restored back stair hall

The sweet old biddies below are hidden in closets. Thanks to jamb switched, they turn on and off upon opening and closing the door. In the first photo, the shade is old but the fixture is new

I’d like to get the fancier fixtures in the house appraised, for insurance and curiosity purposes — and find out about their history. Anyone know who offers this kind of service?