Inspiration

Featured Customer | Porcelain Enamel Lighting Adds Unexpected Whimsy to Farmhouse

Take one “sad-looking house” on a farm in Virginia, add in a recent retiree with a great eye and sense of delight, and you get one amazing makeover!

“I have admired Barn Light Electric fixtures for a long time,” says Susan of Lexington, Virginia, “and when it came time to renovate, I bolted to your website for inspiration.” The original understated porch was removed and a new porch was added along with new roofing, vertical siding, a new door and windows plus an addition to the left of the house. With an interest in vintage lighting, Susan chose porcelain enamel fixtures for her new porch — the Benjamin® Seaside Radial Wave Reflector Stem Light and the matching Goodrich® Seaside Radial Wave Reflector Gooseneck Light.

“Our design direction for the lighting was vintage with a bit of spunk, so I chose the Jadite finish with a Cherry Red guard,” Susan explains. “Our new red door was matched to your Cherry Red finish.” While Lexington is a rather historical area with a great deal of focus on the Civil War period, Susan doesn’t like the stuffiness of that era’s design.

“Lighting to me is an integral part of the entire design, like the icing on the cake,” she says. “And since this house isn’t historical, I had the opportunity to do something fresh and interesting both with fun color and form.” For the gooseneck light by the front door, Susan selected a 12″ shade and a G11 gooseneck arm in a brushed aluminum finish. The clear glass is accented by the Cherry Red guard. For the stem mount lights, Susan chose a slightly larger 14″ shade with the matching glass and guard and mounted them with a 6″ brushed aluminum stem.

“I love the surprise factor the lighting fixtures provide,” Susan notes. “Friends and neighbors can’t believe the drastic difference the porch addition has made. Then they get close and the lighting provides an unexpected delight.” Susan’s neighbors would also love knowing that her porcelain enamel fixtures are simple to keep clean and will maintain their high gloss finish for years to come.

“We love spending time in the porch swing watching the storms roll in,” Susan says. “Though it is our front porch, our routine is to enter and exit the house through the side porch. But I must admit, I go out of my way to pass through the front just to get my eye candy fix!”

Photos courtesy of the homeowner