One of my most notable character flaws is buying cool vintage pieces because “I have to have it” without necessarily having a clear plan for it. Don’t do this unless you have a job that benefits from such hoarding. When everything is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (!!), passing up something that makes my gut scream OMG feels almost irresponsible. I stopped doing this with furniture when I stopped going to flea markets (sadly, very few up here), but mostly because the logistics and coordination it takes to get something home, to just be stored in my garage, was annoying (and then I felt hoarding shame). And I don’t hoard pottery or tchokes anymore (Have you seen my prop garage? We are all set there!), but I still can’t seem to pass up good vintage art or statement vintage lamps. And honestly, those are two things (as well as vintage rugs) that can absolutely make a room so much more interesting and stylish (even near really basic, simple furniture) and are so much cheaper than new/original, so I feel almost no guilt about the hoard. I’ve come to regret my vintage standing lamp impulse buys (so much harder to place – I don’t love standing lamps in the middle of a room!) but I still can’t seem to quit really cool table lamps. But rewiring can be expensive unless you DIY it (which I didn’t), so I figured I’d walk you through some recent rewire adventure so we can all really come to terms with the real cost.

So these are the three lamps in question. The wood Danish lamp I bought on Etsy. The Italian pottery one was from Monticello, and the two sconces were from 1stDibs. All three of these I had been “using” without them actually functioning, so it was time to actually make them lamps, not just sculptures:)

I took them to Hippo Hardware in town, which is one of the only places that does rewiring, 5 weeks later, we picked them up and paid $300. They charge by the hour, so you don’t necessarily know what you are going to pay before you get there. You choose the cord, switch, and the plug style. Now, I personally think they should have more options (like cloth cords, twisted cords, and more vintage-style switches), but once we were there and saw the options, I didn’t feel like taking them back home and sourcing my own. What they have is totally great for contemporary lamps, but for vintage I wish they had more vintage-style lamp parts. P.S. I love Hippo Hardware; this is no shade to them, and they did great work, I’m just being picky. But if I’m going to spend this kind of money rewiring vintage fixtures, I wish the little details were more dialed in.

Ok so here are the four fixtures – two table lamps and two sconces. BTW, I’ll get a better shade for the Italian pottery lamp; that’s just what I had on hand.

I found this lamp at Monticello Antique Mall (one of my favorites in Portland), and I don’t remember the exact price, but def between $100-$200. My justification was that if I were in Italy, I totally would buy it (and then have to ship or bring it home), so obviously having it already be in America, it’s so easy 🙂 The colors and pattern and level of handmade-ness are sooooooo good, both in shape and in design. So I actually think this is a great price for the level of impact it has in a room.

It’s hard to fully calculate how much it was to rewire it, but it seems safe to say around $100. I don’t mind this cord and plug for this fixture – it feels appropriate. The on/off switch is on the lamp itself, which is great, and this gold cord is good enough.

Now, hilariously, this Danish lamp has sat here for years without working. What’s even funnier is that a few years ago when I was going to rewire it, I went ahead and cut the cord (with the European plug) because the cord kept getting in the way of shots. BTW, this was before the now popular wireless remote control rechargeable light bulb that you can use in any lamp/sconce.

I love this lamp on the washer/dryer permanently, so I felt ok about making the cord really short so that once plugged in it wasn’t annoying or create clutter. This lamp is honestly so dim with the wood shade that it acts like more of a nightlight, which is kinda nice for the pups at night (their food and water is in the mudroom). This is the lamp that I wish the cord and switch were a bit more interesting, but since it’s in a really bright room on a white surface, it’s kinda fine.

The vintage sconces. I mean I LOVE these sconces. They are really small and can’t be hardwired because of the size of the backplate, but we took them out of Elliot’s room a while ago to try them somewhere else, and we’ve never really found a better place for them (I want them to have a more prominent location).

The mixed finishes and colors are PERFECT – blue, brass, and wicker? Ugh. And the shape of the gooseneck along with the teardrop base – it’s just so pretty. Now, as you can see, these came with a simple white cord with a Scandi/vintage on/of switch.

This is the one that I wish we could have done a twisted cord because I think no matter where you hang it, you are going to see the cord (unless you use a painted-out cord cover/conduit).

I also really want to make an announcement to the lamp industry – do not, under most circumstances, put the switch on the cord. This causes us to have to fish for it every time, often in the dark. Please put plainly, the on/off needs to be attached to the lamp itself – neck or base- not the cord. Does that make sense?

Anyway, all in, these cost about $300. I think individually you could estimate $80 per lamp. It’s also very DIY-able if you watch some YouTube videos. But if you buy European vintage lamps, know that the investment isn’t over, unless you just want it to be a “sculpture”.

**Also, friends, we are having some serious glitches in our comment monitor that is instructed to block “mean-spirited” comments and yet blocks my “thank you so much” replies all the time! We are working on it. One thing I just learned is that if I use smiley faces (which I obviously do a lot), it thinks it’s spam and blocks…even me! We are relaunching the site soon, and we really hope to fix this, but I just wanted you to know that we are aware and we are on top of it! Of course it would just be so much easier if no one left mean spirited comments in the first place as they are just unproductive, distracting and damaging on every front, but this is the internet so I’ve made the decision to safeguard myself, my team, and my lovely non-mean-spirited readers from such ugly negativity (its not a lot, but its always a bummer and we’ve heard from so many readers that they really appreciate the comment section being positive and healthy). But we are working out the comment bugs and are internally frustrated as well. We always appreciate kind criticism, suggestions, and feedback 🙂

*Photos by Kaitlin Green