Our first DIY

Hi There… This is our very first DIY post and it’s kind of terrifying. SO many good blogs out there, how do we make this one our very own? Jump in both feet, be yourself… The only way we know how.

This post is dedicated to a very good friend of ours, Dwight. He has just recently passed away. While this may seem morbid I feel compelled to pay my respects to him in this way.

Only one week older than me his passing gave me yet another “sign” that life is very short, too short to not be doing what you love, so here I am, doing what I love. He was a base (military) brat and we grew up together,  us brats have been compared to Dandelions…

Dandelion_Medphoto credit: geezaweezer via photopin cc

“We don’t have fewer “roots” than peers who grew up in one place. It’s just that our roots grow wide rather than deep, and they sprout quickly where ever we land!”

~ unknown

He had a great love of all things vintage and antique, he was a great Junk hunter <3!  Lastly, the actual item that we are refurbishing was given to us by Dwight. I hope you like our first DIY post, simple yes, but very personal…

This is a vintage space heater, for the table… We’re making it into a wall sconce!

FirstDIY-1Why did I want to mess with this pretty thing? Well it doesn’t have a cage on the front where the heating bulb goes, the wiring has been spliced and a new (well an old really) piece was added. Untrustworthy! I got the idea to hang it as a sconce from the mounting hole on the base plate.

FirstDIY-3

What needs to be done? New wiring, we aren’t going to hard wire this, so the cord will remain as is ref the location of it coming out of the back dome… I move things around so much, it’s easier to explain a screw hole to Bud rather than a hard wire… 😉

First step, what do I need to make this safe? New cord and new innards… Innards? The porcelain thingy the light bulb screws into. (I never promised to be technical with my DIY descriptions)

I unscrewed the gold back dome where the brown wire is coming out, this released the porcelain insert (innards) inside the lamp. Off to Home Depot to find replacement innards and a 6′ lamp cord, that’s it, very simple…

Not so simple after all! of course this being a vintage piece there were no replacement pieces at Home Depot, great! Other than the brown 6′ cord that is…

new cord

I talked to the electrical expert at the store and he inspected the porcelain piece for me, good news! He said he’d feel confident to use this in his own home, all he was recommending was a fine grit sanding pad to clean it up a bit and improve connectivity. That I can do!!innards

As you can see it’s pretty dirty, but all of the metal attached to the porcelain was sturdy, according to the Home Depot guy… Let me clarify, this expert was an older gentleman, full time, not a part time weekend kid… Wanted to mention that…

Okay, so the porcelain is cleaned the new wire is installed and my new (low wattage) Edison bulb is in… Drum roll…

Installed wall sconce | Vin'yet Etc. I just hid the cord behind the base and behind the mirror… it’s easily unplugged at the outlet source, but the switch can also be made accessible. I chose to hide it all…

                 Installed1Installed2Thanks Dwight, she looks real pretty!

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21 Comments

  • Reply Dani @ lifeovereasy February 22, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    What a fabulous idea – it looks gorgeous!

  • Reply Shannon February 22, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    Love it. Seems like it was always meant to be a sconce. Dwight had great taste.

  • Reply Queenie Bernard February 22, 2013 at 9:18 pm

    A very nice dedication indeed Laurie.. It looks lovely !!

  • Reply Pamela Milner February 22, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    what an awesome job you did !! It looks beautiful :):):)

  • Reply Trisha February 22, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    This is an amazing idea . I love looking at your pics to get ideas for my own home . Very talented ! I love vintage stuff and making something new out of it or just cleaning up the old. You have a knack for this ,I’m glad you did this

  • Reply Zöe February 22, 2013 at 11:30 pm

    Love it! Beautiful tribute to your friend too. Great job Laurie 🙂

  • Reply Missy Savoy February 23, 2013 at 12:47 am

    Gorgeous!! What a wonderful tribute to a special guy! One of kind….just like Dwight!

  • Reply Anne@DesignDreams February 23, 2013 at 1:01 am

    You are a ROCK STAR! What a cool idea and beautiful execution. Love your beautiful new light!
    Great job!!

  • Reply Laurie February 23, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    Thank-you all so much! Really glad you like it! 🙂

  • Reply Candice February 23, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    Truly amazing Laurie and obviously a very personal piece that you will treasure. I am sure every time you turn it on you will think of Dwight, and in that his memory will continue to live on. Thank you for sharing.

  • Reply Tin Barn Market February 28, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    Perfect, looks beautiful! We can’t wait for our Edison bulbs to arrive so we can start creating more exciting & creative lights too…we have had one of these vintage heaters in storage forever for exactly this purpose…but alas haven’t had the chance to get to it. You’ve motivated us !

  • Reply Sharon May 17, 2013 at 3:24 am

    This is a great project. I love how it turned out and really like the industrial look. Great job!

    • Reply Laurie May 18, 2013 at 11:00 am

      Thanks Sharon! I am a bit obsessed with the industrial look lately! I really appreciate you stopping in and leaving your comment! Xo

  • Reply Debra Yearwood May 18, 2013 at 1:48 am

    Absolutely love this. Using original materials to create an utterly unique piece is not just clever but, environmentally friendly and incredibly creative. My husband, a stalwart about authenticity in design, loved it.

    • Reply Laurie May 18, 2013 at 10:57 am

      Why thank-you very much! I just love you use of the word stalwart, it’s a very rarely used word and is so descriptive. Thank-you for stopping by the blog!

  • Reply Jen from insideways October 11, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    OMG so perfect!!! EXCELLENT first DIY post 😉

    • Reply Laurie October 14, 2013 at 8:58 pm

      Thanks Jen! 😉

  • Reply Home To Heather September 12, 2014 at 7:11 pm

    *gasp* it is GORGEOUS! I absolutely love it!

    • Reply Laurie September 17, 2014 at 2:48 pm

      Thanks so much Heather! And thanks for that extra tweet, you’re awesome! xoxo

  • Reply Donna @ Paisley and Perspective September 12, 2014 at 7:23 pm

    Love this! And I’m guessing Dwight would too 🙂

    • Reply Laurie September 17, 2014 at 2:47 pm

      I think he would too Donna, he liked when I didn’t modify things… he didn’t care for the modification of antique and vintage. We agreed to disagree. 🙂 xo

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