Thursday, July 19, 2018 – Radio Lamps – This Little Light of Mine
First – it is a misnomer when I say “I make these lamps.” I just find an old piece of junk that can no longer be used for its original purpose. The great talent goes to Amber and Bruce and the others at D and W Lighting in Austin, Texas. http://www.dandwlighting.com/welcome.html
Second – for those of you that are fortunate to own one of the lamps these wonderful folks and I put together – This is one is NOT for sale. At least not at this time.
Here’s the story. On a wonderful trip to Stephenville last summer I found this old radio in an antique store for $20. It still had the old vacuum tubes. Internet research revealed it was an Atwater Kent Radio with Cabinet by Helmers Furniture Company. It is a table top model from about the 1930’s.
Here are the before pictures:
Original dust. Multiple holes where dials once were.
And here are the after. The exterior and interior was restored.
A three-way lighting fixture was placed on the exterior. A small light was added to the interior and the holes were plugged with various colorful materials.
Then it was placed on an exquisite hand tooled base and Atwater was moved to the front.
Then it was topped off (no pun intended) by a beautiful lamp shade and a round, wooden finial.
One can turn on just the interior light for a lovely night light glow or just the exterior light. And with a third turn of the light switch both interior and exterior are illuminated.
These people are amazing!
I keep waiting to hear FDR, Sister Aimee or Edward R. Murrow come through the radio air waves. I’ll let you know if I hear any of them.
Here's What I'm Thinking 