Ode to Lamps

My stash of wedding and baby gifts was depleted so I've restocked from one my favorite multi-department stores, Gordman's. My go-to wedding gifts are almost always lamps or clocks. 

At our bridal showers in 1966 we got lots of kitchen stuff and 23 sets of bath towels!  In those days the only items we registered were flatware and dishes, so sometimes you received lots of the same other gifts. I'm not complaining; some of those towels lasted twenty years!

Bob's favorite wedding gifts, though, were a magazine rack, a lamp, and a footstool: more masculine type home furnishings I guess.  Since then I've always leaned toward purchases I imagine the grooms will appreciate too. 

A Gordman's find

But I've decided that I actually have a weakness for lamps myself and they say you buy for others what you really want yourself. As you might suspect, we have lamps and clocks in every room of our house!

Some lights have stories behind them, like this cowboy lamp on Bob's desk.  I bought it under a pecan tree in Texas. My sister and I were trying to shake it free of its nuts when a man headed to a flea market with a trailer load of western decor pulled into the lot beside us to see what in the world we were doing.  He helped us reach the higher branches and we struck up a con-versation. When we found out what he had on-board, he unpacked some samples and I promptly bought this one.

Some like these above I've purchased at The General Store in Kiowa, Kansas for a couple dollars. Love a usable bargain!

Some years ago I admired a lamp made of an old meat grinder and metal colander which my sister had found at First Monday Trade Days in Canton. After studying it for awhile I came home determined to make some myself.  I found lots of the grinders and colanders cheap at junk stores, got some electrical kits and learned how to wire them. I sold and gave away several and kept this one. It's a great conversation piece and the holes in the colander "shade" cast a nice light pattern as well.

Sometimes I re-design and embellish flea market lamp bargains too.

As you can see, our style is western, so this Kokopelli dancer lamp with a copper shade is a favorite birthday gift from my sister RoJean.

Right now I'm on the hunt for just the right lamps for our new guest suite addition.  Maybe lamps are my current hobby, but with our diminishing eye sight, they are at least a practical one!