Before and After

Here is the Second Parlor or "Music Room" (as was written on the fuse box) wonderful sputnik ceiling fixture. I actually traded this ugly thing to our local lighting store with some other pieces to get a beautiful hanging fixture for the stairwell I'm working on right now.


Here is the beautiful brass fixture I replaced it with. I just love the (new) shades. Sorry you can't see them. I can't take good pictures in this room. The shades are clear at the top and frosted at the bottom and I used clear light bulbs.

When I knocked out the plug in the First Parlor ceiling I expected to find wires. No such luck! Just a gas pipe, so I hung the chandelier on a nail until I get around to running wire and putting in a box and switch. This is a "created" piece from unused old parts from a defunct lighting store. I think he did a pretty good job of capturing the Victorian spirit.

This job will be quite involved. I have to remove the door below and turn it back into a wall. This goes to the vestibule. Then I have to break out the wall behind the piano which was originally the archway into the Second Parlor. I had figured out the missing archway early on, but it took a while to understand the original configuration of these three rooms. That door woodwork always bothered me. It is put up sloppily and the door doesn't fit right, and there are two doors opening into the vestibule as well as the front door. That's not right.
The downstairs bathroom door is also missing. When I get done with this I will have an extra door. Bingo!
This new wall is directly in line with the studs in the ceiling so it should be easy to run the wire and put in the switch, as everything will be torn up anyway.
So guests will be entering the vestibule and then into the Second Parlor and on through the archway into the First Parlor or the Dining Room. I'd like to splurge and put a marble floor in the vestibule since it's not that large. I should be able to buy remainders if I'm lucky.