Business Spotlight: Restored vintage lamps light up couple's business

It started when Diane Pinkston asked her husband Dean to fix a circa-1940 floor lamp she had inherited from her mother.

Dean Pinkston, a retired Southwestern Bell employee, agreed to give it a try and discovered he was pretty handy at repairing and restoring vintage lamps.

Before long, the Pinkstons began buying, repairing and restoring other vintage lamps. In 1994, they decided to turn their hobby into a business when they opened Lights Your Way.

Originally in Springfield's Spring Valley Shopping Center, the Pinkstons decided to relocate their business to downtown Republic in 1996.

Most of the lamps that are repaired and restored at Lights Your Way were manufactured from the 1870s to the 1920s. Several of these lamps originally were oil lamps, which Dean Pinkston converts into electrical lamps. Most of the lamps, however, are restored to their original state.

"We try to preserve the look and feel as much as possible," said Dean Pinkston. "I won't even use a new screw. I'll get a screw from another old lamp that can't be repaired. The only new parts are the wiring and the components inside the light socket."

In addition to repairing and restoring old lamps, Lights Your Way duplicates vintage hand-painted lampshades. Diane Pinkston, who does all of the lampshade duplication work, recently entered into an agreement with a gallery owner in Santa Monica, Calif., who commissioned her to make several reproductions of lampshades that were manufactured by the Handel Lamp Co. of Meriden, Conn.

Handel Lamp Co. produced a wide array of upscale lamps from 1890 to 1929. The company's talented artisans hand-painted colorful nature scenes inside each lampshade, a process known as reverse painting.

According to the Pinkstons, duplicating vintage lampshades is both difficult and time-consuming.

Not only must Diane Pinkston match the original colors, she also must match the artist's style.

These details are particularly important when she duplicates parlor-style "Gone with the Wind" lampshades. When working on these lamps, Diane Pinkston must match the colors and scene painted on the base and reproduce it exactly on the glass lampshade.

"When a "Gone with the Wind" lamp goes out of here, I want people to look at it and wonder whether I did the base or the top," she said.

In addition to serving many southwest Missourians who collect vintage lamps, Lights Your Way caters to many out-of-state customers. These customers ship their vintage lamps to the Pinkstons' shop for repair. Customers who need to have a lampshade duplicated also must ship the lamp's base or pieces of the broken lampshade to the shop so Diane Pinkston has a model.

"I won't work off photographs," she said. "I have to have something from the original to work from so I can match the colors and the style exactly."

Many out-of-state customers learn about the services Lights Your Way offers through the shop's Web site at www.gtweb. com/lightsyourway. These customers often contact the Pinkstons via e-mail and ask for bids on repairs, restoration and duplication work.

In addition, the Pinkstons sell on eBay vintage lamps they have bought, repaired and restored. The Pinkstons' shop also contains a wide variety of repaired and restored vintage lamps in different styles, which range from $38 to $300.

Although vintage lamp work accounts for most of the Pinkstons' business, Lights Your Way does carry some new lamps. Dean Pinkston also repairs everyday lamps.

Lights Your Way, which is located at 705 N. Main St. in Republic, is open 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday.