Retro Lamp Resto

In August this year, I had a brilliant day at the snow (Falls Creek) with my lovely wife, sister-in-law and nephew, followed by a day of cruising around the Kiewa and Ovens valleys, enjoying the scenery and searching for treasure in every junk and antiques store we saw.

I found this ugly duckling lamp for $15 at the Co-op Collectibles Vintage Store in Dederang. Surely that mucky bakelite and rusty metal could be made more interesting! What on earth were they thinking with that concrete block though?

“Unrealised potential”

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Home-made LED outdoor lighting

We have 3 beautiful silver birch trees in our back yard, set in a lovely garden curated by my even lovelier wife. It seemed such a shame to miss out on that garden after the sun went down.

LED cube lightSo, back in 2005, I sought an outdoor garden lighting solution — what I found left me wanting. All I could find was 12V halogens, sucking up 50 watts a piece and costing an absolute bomb. Why, oh why, couldn’t I buy some efficient LED lights? The only commercially available ones I could find were outrageously expensive. So I decided to build my own. Continue reading