A beautiful antique table lamp or an ornamental antique lamp shade can really finish off the character and the style of the room you are redesigning. One of these elegant pieces of history can create a true period feel to any home, and make itself the outstanding feature of your design.
Kerosene Lamps
The first lamps used way back in the late 1700s burned whale oil or lard, and were being used in addition to candles. In the 1850s kerosene lamps were introduced and quickly became widespread. They were portable lamps, so could be carried about the house, which made them very useful. Although, at around the same time, gas was being piped into houses in larger cities for wall lighting, kerosene lamps were still used throughout the country in more rural areas right up until the 1930s.
Antique lamp shades have changed immensely over the course of time, from their early crude beginnings to the colourful intricate designs, more commonly associated with antique lights. The first shades used with oil and kerosene lamps were simple glass coverings, usually, in the shape of a vase that allowed air to the flame, but protected it from breezes. As time passed, the kerosene lamp shades were made taller and thinner. This effect pulled the flame towards the top of the lamp and made it shine brighter.
Electricity was introduced in the late 1800s and slowly began to take over from kerosene as the more modern type of lighting.
As electricity began to power more and more lamps, not only did the lamps give off a more soothing and softer light, the shades were less integral to the way the lamp worked. This meant that designers were able to produce shades in a variety of different shapes and sizes, and experiment with different styles and materials. The stained glass lamp shades associated with designers like Tiffany, really started to take lighting into new directions. No longer just a thing of necessity, a lamp became a thing of beauty. Considered status symbols and signs of wealth, more and more extravagant lamps were designed, with ever-increasing skill required by the craftsmen to make them.
With more people looking to the past for inspiration, when it comes to interior design, the antique lamp shade is one of the most desirable furnishings. To truly recreate the ambience of a particular period of history, it is the detail that makes it credible and sympathetic. A classic antique lamp shade in great condition can draw the components of a room together by re-creating the same tones and lighting onto furniture that it would have done in its heyday.
As any antique enthusiast will tell you, the careful inspection of the item is of paramount importance; that adage is never truer than when applied to antique lighting.
If you've got the period fireplace, and you've bought the antique furniture to fill a room, don't neglect the need for the correct lighting, and the exquisite addition, that an antique lamp will bring to your design. Just like the lamps themselves, the beauty of your home is in the detail.
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