Vintage Tavern Sconces & other Basement Lighting

It's pretty obvious that I can't design a space in my house without using something vintage. We searched flea markets with our basement design in mind but didn't really come up with any lighting fixtures that fit our taste. Well, my dad came to the rescue with these awesome old tavern lights.

They looked pretty junky when he handed them over. They were full of grime, crusty decades old cigarette smoke from the tavern where they lived combined with being stored in a musty dusty garage for years after that. But I love a good vintage find, and Adam loves old beer goodies so we took them home and cleaned them up.

The pair of Schlitz Bottle Sconces will go behind the bar next to the barn beam floating shelves. They're for sure from a local tavern in my hometown area, and from the late 50's. Just for fun, I did a little bit of googling and I found a few sets listed on Ebay. Guess how much... almost 300 bucks for the set! YIPES. That wasn't even in our budget to buy new sconces! Glad we got these babies for free.
Can be found on Ebay here: Schlitz Bottle Sconces.

1959 Schlitz Tavern Light

My dad also gave us a globe Schlitz light. This one is magical because it not only lights up but the globe spins. A quick google search verified this one was not as old, from the late 60's. I found the Schlitz globe light listed on Ebay too.  I'm surprised they are going for this much. We're not ever selling them, but it's fun to look up the going price of these old finds!

These oldies have been cleaned up and fitted with new wiring for a new home in our basement bar.

We also have been pretty annoyed with each other over the search for pendant lighting for the bar.
I wanted something ORB, and rustic looking.
Adam wanted small--like smaller than they make. But they lights still had to be 'manly enough' for a bar, and had to be adjustable height.

We ended up with 5 Kenroy Home Carson mini pendants.

The color and finish is perfect, and we both agreed on the shape. At 8 inches, they are a little larger than Adam wanted, but we compromised and he's hanging them a little higher than I normally would agree on. Who knew so many ridiculous arguments could be had over lighting. Now we know.

When we were building I had about 95% control over the lighting choices. Adam only vetoed a few of my picks and mostly because they were over budget. This time, he counts the wet bar as his space, so we had to compromise.

Under Construction Basement Bar

Our contractor is building us a beam in the ceiling to help show a separation of the wet bar and the family room. We have a nice separation with the flooring and I wanted to carry that up to the ceiling too. These pendants will be attached to that barn beam.  You can see above where the electrician roughed them in yesterday.

We'll have a few sconces on the barn beam poles in the hallway. We decided on these Globe Electric lights.

We think they'll pair nicely with the pendant lights, and the rest of the fixtures in our home.

We plan to have most of the lights in the basement on a dimmer so we can set the lighting to whatever we like for movie nights, parties, or just hanging out as a family. We're really looking forward to getting this space finished up in the next month or so. It's been lots of work on evenings and weekends.

What do you think of our lighting choices? Would you pay $300 for a vintage light fixture?

Lighting in the Basement: Shopping with Parrot Uncle

Lately, I've been spending more time shopping for basement fixtures, flooring, and lighting than I have shopping for cute baby clothes--which is most of my free time. To top off the basement shopping list I need beautiful lighting for the every room. I've been shopping all over and today I've compiled several choices from Parrot Uncle that I've got my eye on! 

Vintage Industrial Wall Sconce | Hat Shape Wall Sconce | Rustic Pendant | Pendant with Iron Shade 

| Foldable Ceiling Fan | Swing Arm Glass Shade Sconce  | Wooden Swing Arm Sconce

They had a great selection it was hard to choose a short list. I'd choose one of these two swinging arm sconces for the guest bedroom. Can't you imagine a swing arm sconce on each side of the bed? Perfect for reading.  The rustic pendant would go great over the cocktail table next to the wet bar. I love rustic style, and things brings some industrial edge into the room as well.

The one item that I thought was really different was the foldable ceiling fan. In the photo it just looks like a pretty hanging pendant, but it turns into a ceiling fan! We are ceiling fan people, but the looks of them isn't always the most beautiful light. You can have beauty and comfort! This might be at the top of my list.

They have a great selection of lighting for every room in your home. Modern Industrial, chic and sleek, and
Tiffany pendant lighting and Tiffany style lamps too! Whatever your're looking for to light up your rooms and make an impression or a design statement...they have it! For a steal! Parrot Uncle offers Free Shipping, free returns, and even 1.99 deals!

What light fixtures would you choose from at Parrot Uncle? 

This post was sponsored by Parrot Uncle but all opinions are my own. 

stairs to upstairs...

So a few posts ago, I shared the boys laying the floors upstairs. Many of you were stressing out about the lack of railings...scaredy cats! We are now much safer, and pretty to look at too.

Paint color SW Restrained Gold,
although I am still not getting the correct color with my lack of camera skills

Since the basement is far from finished and full of stuff we have yet to unpack, let's head upstairs.

We have two bedrooms and a bathroom separated by a sort of cat walk type hallway above our great room. We also have a little loft area in between the bedrooms.

Don't look at the sconce which doesn't have a shade yet...

We stained the stair treads, newel posts, and the railings ourselves. The color we used was Jacobean from Minwax. We used one coat of stain and three coats of sealer. I can not imagine doing any more coats---all that sanding and staining! 

And get this... our builder supply store didn't measure right the first time, so we have 7 stair treads in our basement that are too small...and all stained and varnished! But that is another story, for another day.

Turn right at the top of the steps and you have the guest area (futureroomforsupercutekidssomeday) Straight ahead is our guest bedroom or currently my dad's room since he stays with us a few days every week while he works on the exterior stone. To the left is our full guest bath.

I like how the area is separated by a little nook, and there is enough room for a small dresser or large hamper...which is good new to us...because silly me didn't put a linen closet near that bathroom...

to the left to the left...

To the left you see our entry foyer over the railing and the other guest room behind that door. We added a little loft area last minute when they told us that was just going to be wasted space behind a wall. We are happy we did, it will be a nice place for a desk or a little reading nook.

Our chandelier is actually from the good old Home Depot. It is the Barcelona 6 light Rustic Iron Chandelier
We wanted sometime that wouldn't break the bank, but still had the style we were going for in the house.  It actually looks a little dinky in this photo for some reason, but it's pretty large in real life, but it does fit in well with the space.

Iron balusters and jacobean stained newel posts and treads.

The iron ballusters. This is second behind my fireplace as my favorite item in the house....We couldn't decide on the basket design that attaches on the iron balusters so we said NEVERMIND in the midst of frustration to make a choice. But I am glad we left them as is. Some of the designs are just too fancy for me and I like the look we ended up with.

Watching Adam build a fire.

Now everyone can relax. The dog will not fall off the catwalk...getting his head stuck in between those iron balusters? Maybe.