[Adam]

I finally gave up on the retracting mechanism and just put the light up at a set length. The spiral spring in there was bent back on itself and I tried to bend it back - but that didn't work, it just broke. Then, I pulled the spring out of another lamp - but that one didn't have enough springiness left in it to actually pull the lamp back up after it was down. It looks good even if it doesn't retract, I'll post a picture later.

I'm working on that 1920s one now, and I want to strip all the old paint off it and repaint it, but am not having much luck finding paint in a similar color (I was hoping to just find spray paint in a can) - it's sort of a nonmetallic copper color. Has anyone found anything that looks good for these?