The porch may be my favorite feature on a historic house. I fell in love with the porch on our 1901 farmhouse long before I committed myself to the rest of the structure. At 11 feet deep and 32 feet long, there is plenty of space about which to be passionate. Alas, my ardor does not keep pace with my ability to actually get things done. Although we had to replace a rotten beam from a leaking porch roof before we even moved in (and to accomplish that, remove suffocating layers of vinyl and aluminum siding), much remains to be completed. But this week – I got the new porch light up.
Our porch, around 1920.
A very ugly, big box store exterior light has leered down at me from its perch on the (unpainted) original bead board – but the weathered wood is protected at least, and is much better than the vinyl siding that had been covering it.
The despised porch light.
Sometimes the smallest irritants are the worse – like a grain of sand in your eye. But on Monday, the hateful light was taken down, and a new porch light (complete with a globe I’ve been packing around since 2011) was installed.
A thing of beauty!
My attempt to procure a a fitter for this light ended (at Lowe’s) in failure. Big box stores don’t carry such arcane products, but small local merchants do! Thanks to Setzer’s Chandelier and Restoration Shop in downtown Winchester, Kentucky, I was able to order the correct base with wires (can you tell I know nothing about wiring?) for my 1920s-1930s porch globe.
Porch sitting season has ended (for the most part) in the Bluegrass, which means I will enjoy my new/old porch light as it shines out through the winter darkness, and while tucked up inside with a mug of hot chocolate and my gardening catalogs, I can plan for warmer weather and the scraping, sanding, and painting that needs to happen next. Hope springs eternal for old house projects…
The new light is a nice improvement!
Thank you!
Be sure to paint the porch ceiling sky blue. Old timers believed it kept the wasps and hornets away. 😊
I love your new globe!
And the haints! I plan to do that…next spring.
That light globe is a gem and what a wonderful, large porch! Every happy detail like this seems to make going back to the list of things to do a little easier-enjoy!
My immediate response to your light was one of calm, surely because I sat under globes of this style through the first 12 years of school. They were probably installed in the ’20s so…. Good choice! I hope a little girl lived in your house in the 1920’s. What a lovely place to play on a warm summer day!