Last week I took a wee road trip to Stockbridge, Mass. — the next town over, here in the Berkshires — to see the new guest house at the Red Lion Inn. My goal: to be first in world to showcase the fabulous foyer that features not one, not two, but 14 vintage TV lamps lighting up the two-story entrance way. Above: That’s Stephanie Gravalese, the marketing manager who gave me a tour — she was as delightful as the TV lamps. Except, there were 14 TV lamps as sconces, so that was some competition.
This is such a fantastic idea. Vintage TV lamps as sconces. The folks at the Red Lion Inn have them on bracketed shelves, with plugs and dimmers hidden behind each TV lamp. But I could also envision finding a matching pair of vintage TV lamps… rewiring them for hard-wiring right into the wall… then putting them on floating (invisible) acrylic shelves. Place and wire them into the wall just like you’d wire in a matching pair of mid mod sconce lights. I must find a pair of matching TV lamps and try this, I must! 23 more photos of the lights, and Maple Glen –>
For ease of discussion, I say “Red Lion Inn” — but this wall of lights is actually at the Red Lion’s Inn new guest house, the new/old “Maple Glen” development right behind the Red Lion. The Red Lion Inn is a super famous New England Inn. It’s the anchor of the Berkshires streetscape that Norman Rockwell made famous — Stockbridge, Massachusetts, America idealized. Rockwell lived and worked right around the corner. And the Norman Rockwell Museum is just a hop and a skip away.
The Maple Glen — shown above — started with the 2,700 s.f., 1850 Greek Revivial house (at rear of photo). The Red Lion Inn — which consistently sells out all its room space — bought the house when it came up for sale last year. They then expanded the property by another 3,500 s.f. to house, in all, 17 guest rooms.
Red Lion Inn owner Nancy Fitzpatrick loves the retro, vintage, eclectic aesthetic, so the rooms mix it all up with contemporary elements and for sure, contemporary comfort. In essence:
This is not your granny’s Red Lion Inn.
The rooms at the Maple Glen are elegant, colorful, quirky, comfortable, luxurious, cozy, fun. The idea for the wall of TV lamps was Nancy’s. Stephanie told me the lamps were purchased from ebay and the like.
Artsy fartsy follows. What I lack in terms of wide-angle lens, I make up for in… volume:
TV lamps! Now we all need a pair of matching TV lamps! I think this could be tough, but it is a noble quest. Reco: Search ebay and etsy at the same time. Here are some good looking candidates spotted for sale right now on ebay:
Thank you, Stephanie, for being such a gracious house. Good luck, Nancy and team, with the new digs. 🙂
Leslie says
Now this is beautiful! I can see the sales of TV lamps in Estate Sales and Thrift Shops all over the USA rising!
Amanda says
My parents have the Owl lamp – it was a wedding gift when they were married in 1979. I had no idea it was a TV lamp. Mom & Dad are not big fans of it and so it has always been kept in storage in the basement, except for on Halloween night when it is displayed in the front window to scare trick-or-treaters!
Sara Gee says
The blue deer lamp…I DIE.
Janice says
Oooh…PAM! I feel another “Everyone post pics of your….” coming! TV lamp pics?!?!
Please?
Jessie SP says
I just had to google this because I’ve never heard the term “TV lamp” before: http://www.tvlamps.net/lamp_history.html
I think I actually have one. It’s a peacock with little lights sticking up out of the back feathers that actually change color! It’s so kitschy that we’ve never been quite sure what to do with it. It came with our inherited house, so we didn’t seek it out ourselves, but we could never quite get rid of it. Now that I know it has a purpose maybe I can convince my husband to display it….
Janice says
Deb and Kirsten, a TV lamp was a lamp that was made specifically to be used on top of a television. I think it had something to do with the belief that watching tv would hurt your eyes, etc, etc., and the tv lamp would reduce eye strain when you watched tv in a dark room. Go to tvlamps.net – lots of info and pictures and history! Cool site.
Kirsten says
I second Deb’s question. I’ve never heard of TV lamps. What are they? What were they used for?
Anna says
The story behind them is ‘watching tv in the dark is bad for your eyes!’
http://www.tvlamps.net/lamp_history.html
Deb says
I’ve never heard of TV lamps. What’s the story behind them?
Just another Pam says
Our parents and grandparents used to believe that sitting in an all dark room with only the TV on would harm our eyes so pretty much everyone I knew had one of these light up sculptures on their TV to protect eyes and make a little more light for moving around.
There’s lots ‘n’ lots of websites for collectors and the curious.
http://www.tvlamps.net/manufacturers.html
each name with a link to the product….really
http://www.tvlamps.net/blog/category/lamp-history/
Sherry King says
What a cool idea. Would love to seem them at night with the room dark and just the glow each little lit-up sculpture. Probably would be surreal…in a good way!
Janet says
What a wonderful idea – I just love them! I will have to dig mine out of the box it is stored in down the basement! My cousin owned an inn in Wilmington, Vermont and she would find those really elaborate and colorful old marriage certificates and frame them to hang in groups in the rooms, especially the ones with romantic fireplaces that were most frequently reserved by newlyweds! That was a really interesting way to decorate too!