Note, for fun I kind of intensified the colors in these photos — see Susan’s website for colors as per her camera. Susan’s work is gorgeous, she uses all high-end materials. As you will recall, she and I had fun launching her Original Cloth Cord Swag & Pendant Light Kits – which you can use to create fabulous upcycled lighting of your own.

Love these lights or anything else on Susan’s site? Susan says to use the code RETRO for a 10% discount on anything you buy. Disclosure: She’s an advertiser currently, but this was not part of the deal. Those party horns just made me gleeful!

Related posts:

1. Put A Bulb In It: 24 upcycled pendant lights made from thrifty vintage treasures Put a Bird on it? Sure. But let’s throw a big...
2. Video: Make pendant lights out of thrifty vintage finds. Put A Bulb In It! Were you so inspired by yesterday’s story about 24 pendant...
3. $30 mid-century modern pendant lights from Menard’s Mid-century lighting continues to go very much mainstream — evidenced...

…DH and I have decided that whether you place sconces on the setback wall (first photo), or on the face of the mantel wall itself (above)… sconces will look *not quite right*… kind of crowded… and most importantly, won’t throw enough light anyway. I hope you can follow this. The triangulation of decision-making is torturous, as forewarned. Truly, all the comments that readers provided were really helpful in terms of raising even more options for me to consider — thank you!

We are setting aside the sconce option for now and instead — based on suggestions from reader comments — we are going to explore pinlight recessed lights in front of the mantel. Over by the big window (shown back in story #1), we’re going to try side tables with table lamps for now. (I’ll come back to this part of the project later.) Continue on for more of Chase’s mockups, along with some of the sconces that I had been considering — it’s still fun to show them.

I also really like the idea of these classic Library Sconces from Visual Comfort. Actually, I think these look pretty nice in the mockups — the tall, narrow works. On the setback wall (very first photo in this story), though, they look kinda scrunched in — we need just a few more inches to the right to get the proportions right… moreover, there, they would cast a shadow — I could see this when I placed tall narrow boudoir lamps up there to get the effect of how the light would shine. On the mantel wall, they look okay, but fundamentally, the concern is that they would not throw enough light anyway.

A sconce with two candle bulbs to get more light? Good idea *theoretically* but Ack! No, in *reality*! We have these House of Troy sconces in our basement man cave, in the dark bronze finish. We love them there — and there’s that benefit that there are two candle bulbs. But they are way too too here on the mantel wall. Ack!

Stay tuned. Research on pinlight can lights is next. Lord help me, I’m pooped on this project already.

Related posts:

1. Should we use recessed can lighting in a mid century living room? Should recessed can lighting be added to mid century homes,...
2. Retro 50s 60s lighting for kitchen, bathroom, dining room and more — from Rejuvenation Lighting I’ve had great luck with finding vintage lighting on eBay....
3. Retro lighting: Square recessed can lights – reproductions The recessed lights throughout my 1951 colonial-traditional ranch are all...

Proof? D’Lana sent me 20+ photos of different projects. They continue after the jump, along with additional background from D’Lana on how she got started in this business. How’s business? Business is Good, she says. Yay!

.D’Lana writes:

We started in 1998 in Memphis, TN. I went to school for interior design but was working as a bartender when a friend mentioned he was selling left over stock from making reproduction vintage lamp shades for his vintage furniture store to replace missing shades on vintage lamps he had found. My husband, James, is a musician. We decided to buy the materials and started building a business. At that time, there were about six styles and four different patterns to choose from. We had a friend build a website for us and started going to trade shows. We started with gift shows and gradually moved to design shows.

We do crazy projects almost weekly. The way we expand our knowledge is by accepting nearly ANY design and rising to the challenge. We have done 8 ft diameter shades, 8 ft tall shades, ones made entirely of ribbon, a steel laser cut shade of the Houston skyline, wood veneer shades, aluminum mesh shades, 3 ft cubes…we can make lamp shades out of almost any material. We do custom printing on shades as well.

We are very busy and have remained steady through the trying economy.

I LOVE the sconces!

Thank you, D’Lana, for sharing all these photos. It’s great to hear success stories like yours of entrepreneurs in the mid mod space — taking a chance, focusing on quality and craftsmanship, and in reality, creating their own markets. Good on you!

Where to buy: Moon Shine Lamp & Shade

I also want to note that in addition to being pretty snappy, fiberglass shades can be better for the environment in that: They generally are quite translucent and let a lot of light show through. If you want to save on electricity, make sure your lamp shades are made of materials with a lot of translucency. Many decorative shades — I have some myself — look pretty, but in reality block out the full effect of the bulb. Which means I have to turn on more lights elsewhere. Remember how, in way back olden days, they put clear glass over their hurricane lamps — because they wanted to maximize the available, costly light? Duh.

Related posts:

1. Make your own Kodachrome slide lamp shade — but it will be hard to top Shane’s Yesterday I saw some instructions on how make a curtain...
2. Retro Rando pole lamp for your basement or living room – today’s ebay pick Update: Item did not sell. If you’re interested – contact...
3. 3 ways to recreate a vintage style roller shade ARE YOU LOOKING FOR an authentic midcentury window treatment that...