To date there are 111 photos of all varieties of original lighting fixtures from 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s houses in our gallery of Vintage Midcentury Lighting. Over the next several days I’ll open the public uploader – and invite you to upload photos of either (1) the original lighting in your house or (2) the lighting that you have installed. For this gallery, let’s keep it to lighting installed in the ceiling – chandeliers, pendants and ceiling fixtures, as well as swag lighting. I’ll do a separate “lamps” collection at some point.
Do you love the lighting in your house? Share it here –>
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Upload photos of the lighting in your house, below… Tips:
- (1) Please be courteous and set your camera to no bigger than “medium” images, so files aren’t too large — large files really slow down the slide show and over time increase my costs to run this website.
- (2) Uploader DOES work but message you get on screen *may be* funky and confusing. Upload ONCE and trust the image it there — I just need to “set new photos free” from my control panel and will be checking hourly to do so.
- (3) Terms of Use apply.
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Tips to view slide show: Click on first image… it will enlarge and you can also read my captions… move forward or back via arrows below the photo… you can start or stop at any image:
This is fun and a fabulous reference!
I uploaded my NOS light – finally installed it recently, a year and a half after buying it on eBay.
Anne K – I am in total lust for your perforated kitchen pendant light!
Pam… thanks so much for this cool opportunity to share and to see the things that others love about their houses.
You’re welcome, Tina, and thank you for the luv. These lights are AMAZING!!!!!
Unfortunately, I do not love the lights in my house as they are newer. I’m slowly trying to save the money to buy & have original lights put back in. The lights I have are ok – but were installed to “sell” the house in 2006 (which I bought).
Meanwhile – today I went to an estate sale – lovely 60′s ranch that had lovely sconces in the master bedroom, an intercom system in the kitchen to the bedrooms & basement ….and the most amazing light I’ve seen – it was a night light in the hallway, installed about shin high. You pushed a button and it would shine down on the floor. How cool is that?
Oh – I forgot to mention. Since I don’t like my lights and a gal at work has a 50′s ranch and she wants to upgrade – we are switching lights, one at a time. It’s a great idea – she gets the new stuff she wants and I get the retro stuff I want.
What a great idea! You’ll have to show us when you’ve installed them!
Nina, my friends and family have given me their cast-off light fixtures too. And they’re fantastic. It’s so fun!
Awesome! We bought that Thomasville chandelier off of some dude on Craigslist for 60 bucks! It looks amazing above our dining table.
It’s gorgeous; truly timeless!
What’s so cool about so many of these is that they were either original to the house or incredible bargain finds.
I am so frenvious of that amazing multi-colored acrylic swag lamp.
Ha. Thanks Tina! North Dakota is a largely untapped thrifting paradise. You never know what you’ll find!
I uploaded pix of three of the cool lamps found in the time capsule house. I wish I had pix of the one unlit, but it is in such a dark corner… There are more.
very nice, Elaine — but you are the first person I have had to suggest: Make the photos bigger!
Oh, my, I clipped them off full size photos. I will try and get better ones next time I am down there.
I uploaded a photo of wall sconces from my time capsule home…it was a photo with 3 pics framed of lights throughout the house. Did it work?
Love this! Our house has pretty boring lighting, as most of the fixtures were changed by previous owners. I’m slowly working on switching them out to vintage of the appropriate era, but it’s getting so much harder to find 1940′s fixtures than it used to be, at least at my normal shopping venues (garage sales and thrift stores).
My partner has one of those multi-colored acrylic swag lamps – his brother “rescued” 4 of them years ago when a bar in Pittsburgh was being torn down. We would NEVER part with it even though it isn’t in use now!!
I am so glad I stumbled upon this site while trying to find info about vintage tiles. I have a beloved mid ’50′s brick ranch that suffered somewhat at the hands of a flipper. No original light fixtures in the house unless you count the basement florescents
A friend of mine said lowes has got in a few vintage fixtures in, but i havent seen them yet. I have a ceiling fan .ugh. in the kitchen part of the kitchen (i.e, not the dining area side but the cooking side.) Any advice on what would have been there, or what would look great?
Welcome, Christina. I have lots and lots of stories on lighting, including one I just did about new mid mod style at Lowes. See the category (above): Remodeling Basics / Lighting. Also see the Slide Shows for kitchens, too.