Given our lack of furniture/decor, I decided to start looking for some antique lamps for our place like the ones in the pictures. I soon realized that all the antique lamps I liked were ridiculously out of my price range. I really had no idea that authentic antique lamps sell for thousands of dollars in many cases. I just can't justify spending that much of a lamp, no matter how cool it is.
So, I realized I would have to get creative. Sadly, craigslist is pretty much the extent of my creativity. Luckily, I was able to find a posting from a great local antique store that was looking to clear out some extra inventory. Among this inventory were two lamp bases I liked. One was a student lamp from the 30's or so, and the other was a reproduction cast bronze arts and crafts base. The two bases cost me just under $100.
I then learned that finding shades is trickier than finding bases. The student lamp has a 2.25" shade fitter, so that was the easy one. For that, I started watching art glass shades on eBay. After about a week of watching, I found an antique Quezal shade I liked for a fair price ($120). This was considerably lower than similar antique art glass shades at local salvage stores. The finished product is shown below. I think it looks pretty cool and fits nicely on my wife's desk.
I thought I had done pretty well to keep it under $200, but then I saw this on craigslist. Dang.
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/atq/2057536340.html
The picture below shows the second base I bought. It isn't antique, but I really like the look of it. Finding a shade for it is proving to be painful though. I wanted to get a tiffany style stained glass shade, but I am finding those are very pricey. I have been looking at mica shades as well, but am not entirely sold on those either. If anyone has any ideas on where I could find an authentic looking arts and crafts lampshade for a reasonable price, please let me know.
