Now we can see in the kitchen sink...

...for better or for worse! That sink needs cleaning. This was a busy weekend, but then my job-work got cancelled Sunday due to a rain/windstorm, so I had a bit of free time. I finished putting together and wiring the light fixtures, after having assembled all the bits & pieces.

Assembling the right bits was a challenge - after a few failed attempts to get the rid threaded rod (called nipple) and then getting the right stuff but the wrong mounting bar, then finding that the right bar was for the smaller (now standard) 1/8" tapped rod, I went to our local hardware store and raided their lamp repair section, and found lovely brass reducer couplings and the correct threaded rod & plate. Geez, what a pain. This was my first real light restoration, so I'm pretty pleased with the results.

The main part of the fixtures was from ebay (see previous post; God they were ugly!). The shade fitter rings were from a separate ebay auction. They're Hubbell rings, very nice. The shades (all 4) were from a third auction, in which the seller happened to be located about 3 miles from our house -so we went & picked them up. The guts were all replaced - socket (though we kept the brass housing, just replaced the actual socket & cardboard insulator), threaded rod, mounting plate, and wiring.

Then, we got our lamp cord in Fedex on Saturday - although you don't see it much on this fixture, I have another fixture to do where it will run down long chains - so we were testing it here, and using it because you do see it a little bit. The wire is from Sundial Wire, in Western Mass., and they are super-nice. We got their sample pack a year or more ago - all their wires so you can see what they're like (in the little bag in the middle). We picked the gold rayon-coated twisted wire, and it's totally fab.

So, on the rainy Sunday, Ken took an hour off from his busy work tasks and hung the lights, wiring them into the kitchen system. Nothing like over-the-head work, but his arms are recovering. Here they are, it is soooo bright in there now!

Turns out, several thousand people lost power because of the storm Sunday, so we were pretty lucky that we didn't so we could do this project!