New Front Porch Lights

Another week has begun, and our temperatures look to be cooling off this week.  It was quite hot last week and over the weekend, too.  Whew!  I'm done with the heat, folks.  😳  Has it cooled off in your part of the world, yet?  I have a trip to the garden shop planned for this week because I'm ready to get our front porch pots planted.  We installed the new front porch lights over the weekend, and we're both very happy with them.     

      

   

These fixtures are a little bit smaller than the ones we had before.  They had a shiny brass finish, and shiny brass just doesn't hold up well outdoors in this region.  

   

This is what the previous fixtures looked like when we first put them up in 2004.  These replaced a set of porch lights that just screamed 1970's.  Ughhh.  I really liked everything about the brass fixtures, except that the shiny brass finish didn't hold up in the elements.  However, they were actually solid brass and very well made.     

      

Unfortunately, this is what they looked like after about five years -- not pretty.  In 2016, Hal cleaned and polished them, spent a lot of time and effort on that job so that they again looked like this --      

 Sadly, they didn't stay pretty for long.  This spring when we got our porch ceiling redone, new shutters, new roof, etc., we decided it was time to replace these fixtures.  We went a little smaller with the new ones because Hal had decided that these were a bit big to be in proportion to the size of our house.  We didn't want to err on the side of too small, though, as that can look dinky.     

I hope we got it right with these; I feel like we did.  We love the way they look.  They look black in these pictures, and they blend very well with our black shutters and dark bronze hardware on the new front door.  These lights actually have a bronze finish, and they have a little bit of copper and verdigris showing through in spots.   

   These are made of cast iron, and we had 45 hand-painted finishes to choose from (choice overload).  This finish is called "Patina Bronze."  We probably (knock on wood) should not ever have to replace these.  We purchased them from a small, local lighting company that we have dealt with several times in the past, and we had an interesting experience this time.       We originally picked out two completely different fixtures back at the end of June.  When we were told the price, we thought they were a little expensive, but decided they would be worth it, as everything we've ever bought at this store has been good quality.  After waiting a month for them to get here from Atlanta, we picked them up and brought them home.  On opening the first box, we discovered that one of the panes of glass had fallen out of the frame, and it took Hal a while and a bit of fiddling to get the glass back in.  After looking at the fixture properly, Hal decided it was not well designed or put together.  He said he didn't want to keep them and we needed to pick out a different style.  I was really disappointed, but I agreed that he was right.         

      
We returned the fixtures the next day, and they apologized and before they could offer to re-order the fixture, Hal said we wanted to pick out a different style.  I then piped in with "Does anyone have anything made in the U.S. anymore -- these things came from China."  😒  There was a very uncomfortable silence at that point, and then after a big sigh, the salesman picked out two catalogs for us to look through.  I thought he seemed a bit put out, to tell the truth.  We finally decided on a style, but the catalogs don't have prices, so when we went back to get the quotes, I was really nervous about the cost.  I was afraid they would be a lot more expensive than the first set.  A different sales lady helped us the second time, and we were pleasantly surprised to hear that these fixtures were a hundred dollars cheaper each than the first set.  We only had to wait three weeks to receive these, from the great state of Texas, and they seem to be very well made.                 I often hear people say, " I would buy American made, but it's too expensive."  Well, here was one instance when that wasn't true.  I wonder how often that's actually the case?  It saddens, and angers me, that so many of our jobs here have been sent to China, and that it continues to happen.  Just a thought from one of the little people.         

  We were glad to get the new lights installed.  We feel like every project (large or small) is improving the appearance and comfort of our home.  This has been a long time coming, and I think the house just might be happy with its makeover.        The Harvest Moon of 2021 rises tonight shortly after sunset.  The moon was almost full last night -- did you happen to see it?  It was beautiful!  In spite of these crazy times, there is still so much beauty in the world.  I hope you get to view the full moon tonight and hope your week is a good one.  Thank you for visiting today!