guest room & studio, part 06: installing hardware
04.08 know what's worth keeping. and what definitely isn't.
click to see the full photo gallery[NOTE: this project was done in conjunction with the library project.]
There was a surprising amount of hardware to deal with for rooms that don't have appliances or fixtures like a bathroom or kitchen. The bedroom window has a sash pull and sash lock, the closet window has casement arm hardware and hinges, the doors in the closet cabinets have hinges and knobs, there are outlet covers and a switchplate, and of course both doors have knobs, plates, strikeplates, and hinges. There are fixtures, too: an overhead light and a wall sconce.
Because we wanted the rooms to be consistent, we decided to get the same switchplate and outlet covers for the guest room that we'd chosen for the library. Even though it's a little dark for the overall room scheme. But since paint colors and decorating schemes change over time, we figured it was more important to keep that consistency between the two rooms than to try to match to the current decorating plan for that one room.
Same for the hardware between the two rooms (well, actually three counting the bathroom, since we want the hardware to be the same or similar). Even keeping as much of the existing hardware as possible, it still meant another stint of digging through bins of very old hardware at Hippo, an ultimately empty-handed search at The Rebuilding Center, and finally, a surprisingly easy and fruitful (and affordable!) trip to Rejuvenation. It goes like that sometimes.
As for the fixtures, the overhead light in the bedroom is an original 3-chain fixture with a duotone milk glass shade. It's kind of a pinky-peachy color so it doesn't go with the rest of the room, but it's cool and old (though probably installed some years after the house was built...1920s, maybe?) and in perfect condition, so there was no reason to change it.
The wall sconce, on the other hand, while okay, wasn't going to fit with the rest of the room and was newer than the overhead fixture (probably circa early-1950s?). Since we had to replace the fixtures in the library anyway, we decided to get it in the same style as what we chose for the library, but in a different finish that would integrate better into the overall look of the room since it's such a noticeable main feature.
We decided to splurge on quality reproduction fixtures. You see, among the many awesome things located in Portland, among them is Schoolhouse Electric, which specializes in crafting very quality reproduction fixtures. Particularly, reproductions of old schoolhouse fixtures. Which meant they had exactly what we wanted for the library. Which ultimately decided what we'd use for the guest bedroom sconce.
click to see the full photo galleryThe sconces in the guest room and library were a bit tricky. We wanted them to point downward, for one thing. However, I hate to see the bulbs in a light fixture -- what's the point of the shade, if you can still see the bulbs? -- but it's hard to find closed shades for a downward-pointing sconce. Plus, we needed the on/off switch to be accessible from below, especially since the sconces are kind of high on the wall and I'm not exactly the tallest person walking the planet.
Luckily, Schoolhouse can customize pretty much every aspect since you choose the fixture style, finish, and shade separately, and they wire it specifically to your need, so they could place the power switch where we needed it and ensure the arm of the fixture would extend far enough from the wall to accomodate the width of the shade bell we chose.
So we were able to get the same fixture and shade as what we'd chosen for the library fixture, but in a silver finish this time. Yeah, yeah, consistency, blah blah. What can I say? We're fickle bitches.