Retro Renovation» 1959

Happiness is: A vintage percolator

pam kueber — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:00:05 +0000

MONEY can’t buy you love. But it can buy you a percolator full of coffee and that’s darn close enough.

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For mis-matched windows: How about cafe curtains with a valence?

pam kueber — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:00:20 +0000

Do you have a dining area with one window smaller than the other? Perhaps this solution — from a 1959 Consolidated Trimming Company’s “1,001 tips” booklet — will help. And if you’re looking for good solid cafe rods, the line available from Rejuvenation look pretty nice.

Read on for a close-up of the booklet’s explanation…

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Bo Sullivan identifies my vintage pull-down kitchen light

Pam Kueber — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:00:58 +0000

Kitchen photo: Copyright Kit Latham.

One of the highlights of my recent visit to Rejuvenation Lighting in Portland was when historian Bo Sullivan was able to – immediately – identify the vintage pulldown light over my kitchen table. I don’t think I’ve told this story before: One Friday afternoon after a hard day’s work — when I was driving home – I got the idea that I needed a vintage light NOW. This was when I was putting the final details of my kitchen together before contractor Kevin started. So as soon as I got home, I jumped on ebay and with 12 minutes to go spotted the light shown here above the tulip table. Of course, I snapped it up – for $12. Bo knows lighting – he knew exactly who made the light and showed it to me in a catalog —>

Ta da!: It’s a 1959 Imperialite, made by Emerson-Imperial.

The date on this catalog is Sept. 15, 1959. Hey, my light is 50 years old this year: Like Barbie, and me!

This light – which I spotted on ebay last year – was on the same page with my light, in the catalog:

Aren’t these all swoon-able?

Here’s Bo with another catalog. Over the past 15 years, Bo has been collecting vintage marketing material from 20th century lighting companies. The collection is AMAZING. Rejuvenation is in the process of moving the collection from the factory… over to the store. There, it will be accessible to customers as a research and inspiration resource. And guess what – there’s a latte bar at the store, too. Now, that’s all I need to be happy: Good coffee… and a million vintage lighting catalogs. Bo, are you sure I’m invited back? I’ll never leave! Thank you again for sharing your knowledge. More Rejuvenation posts to come…

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