Timeless Character Restored: 200-Year-Old Home Shines with Porcelain Lighting
David’s home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is no stranger to renovation. Built around 1800, the home was renovated in the 1850s, then again 100 years later in the 1950s. More changes were made in the 1980s and in 2000. When David purchased the home in 2015, one of the first renovations he tackled was the barn.
“Our barn doubles as our garage, wood shop, and home office. I purchased used vintage fixtures for the interior, however, it takes a lot of time and searching to find good items,” David says. “Then it’s another challenge to get the right connectors, electrical, and pipe supports in the right shape.”
David decided to purchase new fixtures for the barn’s exterior and found Barn Light Electric — America’s only source for genuine porcelain enamel barn lights.
“What I appreciate about Barn Light Electric is that I can get the same quality as the vintage, original stuff,” he explains, “but with all the modern electrical, connection, and support pipe options I could ever want.”
David chose the classic Dino Gooseneck Light for the exterior of his renovated barn. He customized these lights with 12″ shades handspun from commercial-grade steel. After each shade receives multiple layers of porcelain enamel glass, they are fired in a 1,500-degree oven to seal the glass to the shade.
David chose the porcelain enamel Black finish for his gooseneck lights and mounted three of them to the front of the barn on G11 gooseneck arms.
“The barn is about 150 years old and I wanted something that was as authentic and well built as it is,” David notes. “I wanted the classic barn light look. The trim for the barn is black and these work very well for the space.” For the man door on the side, David chose a straight G1 gooseneck arm for a more utilitarian look.
A more recent renovation to the home was a mud room addition. David tore down the existing mud room and added 60 square feet of new building.
“This is our side entrance and basically our day-to-day family entrance with the laundry, powder room, and shoe/boot storage,” David says. Wanting to stick with the colonial style that is common in the Bucks County area, David worked with his architect on the room’s design.
“I didn’t want typical drywall with closet doors,” he explains. “My architect came up with the concept of a full wall of paneling and built-ins. The vertical wainscoting was very typical for a room like this. We wanted it to look like it could have been one of the additions in the 1800s.”
Highlighting the space is a Seaside Flush Mount Light customized with a 14″ shade and porcelain enamel Cherry Red finish. David chose this particular light as he wanted something to fit the utility theme of the space but not have too much of a modern farmhouse look.
“When we saw the Seaside, we loved it as we hadn’t seen anything like this before,” he notes. “It had the perfect proportions for the room and ceiling height. Our designer actually used the color of the light to choose the wallpaper.”
The Seaside’s appeal stems from its whimsical fluted shade. Like the gooseneck lights on the garage, the Seaside is handspun by Barn Light artisans then coated with porcelain for a high-gloss, long-lasting finish.
“The color and finish are amazing!” David says. “It’s subtle, but the White finish on the inside and the Cherry Red on the outside are super quality. You can tell this thing wasn’t made in a big factory overseas.”
Photos courtesy of the homeowner
