An older family member mentioned that was one reason everything had a place and you returned it to it's place when you were done with it. In the dark, your mind's eye knew where everything was in the room, without lighting a lamp.
When I lived at home my mum and dad didn’t have enough money to repair the water damage in the back of the house resulting in 70% of the house having no lighting. Literally I could walk through that house with my eyes closed knowing where everything was 😂 until someone moved a chair..
To heat or cook, the logs in the fireplace are lain down horizontally. To read or work by firelight, the logs are stacked up sort of like a tipi. This gives a brighter burn with a concentrated flame source. You can see this in some old illustrations and paintings.
@J No worries lol. I only had access to wood stoves, never a working fireplace let alone one large enough to cook in, and obviously there is a correct way to orient the wood in the stoves so this distinction just never came up. ...And unfortunately I never had the inclination to submit myself to the trials of reading outdoors by firelight when I had the opportunity. ...not yet anyway
@J That’s pretty much how I imagine it would be lol. I know I enjoy reading by candlelight. The fire outside would probably have to be out west somewhere reading an old book pioneers or cowboys would have had. That’s the only way I think would enjoy it.
@@faithrada ... And other, arguably better, uses for pages than for reading, especially if you're illit/illegit/can't read and need frequent use of the outhouse!
To remove spilled wax from fabrics, place brown paper on both sides (like from a grocery bag) and use a low iron. The wax melts out and onto the paper.
You can do a similar thing to remove wax dripped onto carpet. Place the brown paper bag on top of the carpet and iron it with a warm iron. Picks the wax right up, amazing! Thank you for posting, Kate :-).
You may need to do it several times, then boiling water poured over it. Hint, put the spot in a small embroidery hoop to hold tight without burning your fingers.
I lived five years off-grid in a deep woods cabin with one window that faced a bit if a clearing. Mostly I used candles and kerosene lamps. Watching you on this video brings back that wonderful feeling of warm dim lighting in the evening. I actually loved how it allowed a more natural transition from day to night, and encouraged much better sleep habits.
@Jesse Link 3 I worked at that time, and it was difficult as mid-winter I had to hike in for roughly six weeks each winter. Now I live where there is electricity, but am retired and do homestead. My Christmas feast was 100% grown on this little farm of three acres. 2014 I began by raising heritage turkeys; 2014 also started with 2 beautiful Saanen goats that grew up to give together 3.5 gallons a day milk; 2015 planted 8 cultivar apples and 8 blueberry bushes; 2015 started composting and gardening. My plate had sauerkraut, applesauce, green beans and carrots, turkey (I humanely butcher right here myself) and of course gravy, red Norland potatoes and Beauregard sweet potatoes. I am 65 with rheumatoid arthritis. If I can I know you can do it. Only the salt and pepper were not from this little homestead. 100% organic and amazingly delicious! Start this spring. Just do it. I started before my retirement paychecks even started and they are way below poverty level at $800 per month. But my larder is overflowing and I can help other hungry families. We all need to go back to this if we can find any way possible to begin. Good luck!
I'm really young but this is one of my life goals. In the future I wish to have my family and be able to raise my kids in a calm and healthy environment. That's real life imo.
Healthy natural sleeping habits base on the light cycle ? L.O.L. _ L.M.A.O. On my mom's side of the family, her parents were .. night owls .. working 3rd shift. My grand father side were a long line of German foresters and night watch. Fun bit about my grandma's grand dad, he was a sailor as a young man, and when he moved into the mainland and became a farmer, he still slept in a hammock till the day he dead. . Once you gain good night vision, in woodlands under Moon Light only, they will not blossom under a street lamp, there are some plants, bushes put out pretty smelling blue flowers for only one week out of the year. Some plants only open their flowers between 3am to just before sun rise. Yeah, it is magical. Along with eatable flowers that make nice homemade perfume.
@@opybrook7766 mostly the health needs of my adult daughter. She passed away last year at age 48. We made many journeys back and forth across the country in order to get advanced medical care and it was worth it. She lived an additional 20 years because of a double-lung transplant. God rest her soul. Her life with the living was a long desperate struggle. I'm also content...I did all that I could do.
My Dad made reproduction colonial lighting. 'Turner's Tin Shop' was the name. It was in Massachusetts. He made a lot of exterior lighting, mainly in copper and electrified. He also made many "sconces" or interior wall hanging candle lights. He closed-up in 1975. I was the "antique-ing boy." I dipped the copper lanterns in Sulfuric acid, then washed them, which gave them a good patina (but didn't go green like very old architectural copper flashing). I still have a catalog and a mold for hammering out dished tin sconce reflectors.
I wish there was more of the market for that now. Sounds like you could be wrong position to make original style pieces for the historical homes, which have to be maintained to a historical standard when in a historical district.
When I lived without electricity one winter, I used lanerns and candles. I found having lots of shiny reflective material in the room enhanced the light. It explains why they had lots of crystals in the wealthy homes and also why the maids always had to polish everything. I used mirrors and aluminum foil to create extra shiny surfaces.
Yes! It feels like I'm sitting across from a classy gentleman and having an intellectual discussion over a pint of beer and some kind of pudding with copious amounts of nutmeg. 😂
when we were very young and living with my Grandmother once a week there would be no electricity used. Every 2 hrs her old wind up alarm clock would go and she would plug the fridge back in, let it run for 15 mins, shut off and then unplug. Everything needed for lunch and supper was made the day before and in the fridge. Breakfast on the wood/oil/coal stove. Cold baths. Candles and the kerosene lamps. Stories after supper till late, no t.v. or radio. In summer it was never a problem - light until after 9 p.m. (well, light enough).
Until you have had to live without electricity, you cannot appreciate modern lighting. I always have lamps, lanterns and candles in case of a power outage. Had to use them more than once. Once for three days due to a winter storm.
I always keep plenty of beeswax candles and a flashlight ready. I've experienced a few power outages here and it's terrible because I'm scared of the dark, lol.
Lived in a cabin in Alaska for 3 months. Even a Coleman lantern doesn't give a off all that much light so we had to have three or four of them going at the same time. If I got a dollar for everytime I hit my head on one of those lanterns I could have retired by age 40. Now that could just mean I'm stupid, but we had three other guys in the same cabin and we all hit our heads hundreds of times throughout that three month period.
At my grandma's house back in the 60s, when the sun went down, this was family time! Reading, genealogy, games for the kids and of course bath time 😊. This is how our time was spent! And people wonder why family's aren't as close today☹️
When I was a small kid my grandfather (1875-1961) told us stories of "the olden days," one of which related challenging his kids (they had 10) when visiting someone's house in "the big city: "Try to blow that lantern out." It was one of those newfangled electric light bulbs, which some of them had never seen before. (They lived in cabins and houses in the mountains west of Colorado Springs, none of which had electricity or running water.) I don't know if they really tried to blow it out or not, but it was fun imagining them staring in wonderment at the lamp that their mightiest puffs couldn't extinguish.
This is a great episode to watch in completely dark room. I'd like to see an entire episode lit just like this where you tell period ghost stories - PLEASE!.
We have two wooden framed with glass outdoor lanterns on our front porch steps, when I first moved here to Danmark from Ohio I asked why so many people have lanterns on their front steps or porches, it dates back very far to keep bad spirits away around their Halloween (Allehelgensaften) also for travelers lost in snowstorms, or just lost, etc. The tradition is still in use and sometimes it saves lives!
Finally decided to watch this episode of the nutmeg tavern. By candlelight! Got my four-stick candle holder, a bunch of tealights, including a wall mounted one and a tealight chandelier, and two oil lanterns. I have a thing for archaic light sources.
We often lost power when I was younger, to make us feel better my mom would tell us it was like the old timey days and we would pretend we lived back then. It was some of the best memories of my mom. We had candles and a fire place for light🙂
The last photo of the family with the man lighting his pipe, notice on the right side, a stained glass window, this family was very comfortable financially, stained glass windows were very expensive in those days! So, they were well to do.
John, at 31:39 "like living in a sieve" you hit the nail right on the head. Our 1812 house has six fire places and still has the original window sashes held together with wooden pegs. Many of the panes are still blown glass.. There are modern storm windows painted to match the windows and blend in very well. Even with the storm windows it can get a bit drafty on windy days, but I can't imagine up dating the windows.
For a experiment I used the leftover grease from cooking a single chicken breast and poured it into a tuna can with a homemade cotton wick and it burned for well over a hour.
I´d love to see an episode on working horn into flat transparend sheets. And of course horn made tools, cutlery and household things as like hair combs, clothing buttons and stuff.
I spend an hour each day with everything off and just the candles 🕯. It's so relaxing 😌. People need to get back to some of the simple things in life, like just sitting down with a candle 🕯.
I love the scene in "Cranford" where the two sisters light a second candle because a neighbor is about to enter, and she shields her eyes, "My, how bright you have it in here."
In my youth (in the 90s) I lived a couple of years on a cattle ranch with no electricity. The kitchen lighting was a pressurized kerosene lamp. Bathrooms and bedrooms were single candles. Very peaceful living, and I read many books with nothing better to do after dark.
I presume by their standards Jon is either a merchant class or gentleman. I am unsure of his exact financial position. The traditional definition of gentleman meant someone that could live without laboring.
I often wonder if the lack of evidence of nefarious activities being linked to the full moon in modern studies us more to do with electric lighting than anything else. After all before street lights and controllable handheld lights it would have been as difficult for the nefarious to be about in the dark as anyone else. They came out with the moon because they needed it to see.
@J That makes a lot of sense. It really does stand to reason that people would be more likely to go outside at night if the natural illumination from the moon is greater. It also stands that the ability to see more or see further would result in seeing more of the nighttime wildlife. The bit about doing chores and visiting people around midnight I did not know. That is very interesting. Perhaps it would be good to get back into that habit, it sounds productive.
@@canwenot573 You can find more information under the term "interrupted sleep". I think it is a subcategory of biphasic sleep, but biphasic sleep refers often to one long sleep at night and a nap at day. A. Roger Ekirch is known for known for his pioneering research into pre-industrial sleeping patterns.
@@hansmeier9214 Wow, thanks for the follow up! Not only is there remarkably good content on this channel, but excellent comment sections filled with interesting discussions! I'll look into A. Roger Ekirch. My curiosity about pre-industrial sleeping habits is definitely piqued!
@@canwenot573 thanks, a lot of people think they have sleeping problems or insomnia, but there is a good chance that interrupted sleeping is a more natural way of sleeping for them than we think today. Many poems were written and many children were "produced" at these nighttimes :)
At the Alafia River Rendezvous, each afternoon, around 4pm, when I closed my Shortbread Shoppe, I would proceed to get the oil lamps ready to be lit. We don't think of these things in modern life, but the children began to see the need to have the lamps and candles at the ready. Awesome video! Thank you!
If this were the 90s, we'd be watching you on PBS. I loved this one show called Dutch Oven Cooking, and the guy would cook outside on a campfire. I convinced my parents to buy me a dutch oven. I built a fire pit in my parents back yard, and started making recipes. I was 12 or 13. I'm starting to realize how privileged I was. Most people, especially middle class white people, don't get the opportunity to learn to cook as children. I burned so many recipes in the dutch oven, but I am such a good cook now.
My wife and I love candles (we make our own beeswax and bayberry) and we often light oil candles with floating wicks. Olive oil tends to burn very clean but other oils seem to produce a lot more smoke and carbon.
Trimming is the word you want, at around the 17:52 mark. Candles were constantly being trimmed to shorten the wick to prevent it from causing way too much smoke, etc, and this was done with little shears (scissors) or pincers (pliers). An experienced trimmer would know exactly which part of the wick would part the easiest (based on what kind of material the wick was made from, as well as the length of the wick that had blackened), and would only snuff the candle when it came time to end the light, or swap out the old candle for the new (after lighting the new one, of course).
Ive collected lamps and lanterns for years. Every now and then I'll fill one up and light it. I need to work on my candle and holder collection. Spill planes made a wooden spill to transfer a flame to a candle or to start a fire
I live near a small city that I believe was the first to have electricity. Victorian engineers used explosives to turn a creek into a waterfall to create hydroelectricity. It's amazing how quickly electricity changed house designs and electric trams allowed even working people to live in pleasant detached houses instead of crowded terraces.
Fire extinguisher lol. I have one from the 20th century. It's a sealed softball size glass globe with water in it. It hung on the wall and you would throw it at the fire. I figured a 18th century fire extinguisher probably looked a lot like a bucket.
Now, wax clean up, I helped a church to clean candle wax from fabric of the pews, we placed wax paper over the wax, used a clothing iron set to dry, no stem. Iron the wax paper, the wax was wicked into the wax paper. Try it! Amazing results
As an author who writes stories in the historical setting you "illuminate", thank you. You cover details that readers hardly think about, but provide such immersion in character and scene. It's the little details the provide the fuel for the imagination to travel to eras' I write in.
What a great live stream!! I’m really sad I missed this one today, I usually try to watch them from my off grid stone cabin by candle and fireplace light :)
The painting at 3:57 , the look on his face is from the hot wax dripping down his hand ;-) 7:05 I get the feeling two of the gentlemen on the left were hiding under the other guys skirt, trying to be sneaky about doing something. Great video, thank you! I've always loved the flicker of a fireplace or warm candle light. But just recently been playing with a medieval living room theme, using a nutmeg burner, #2 lamp and a couple mini Moroccan tea light lanterns. It does bring a warm old style ambiance. I remember some of the restaurants my parents took us too as kids would use candles on the tables, gave dinner a whole new feeling. Now I know why I look forward to power outages, always gave me a reason to break out the candle lights. :-)
I never knew about that use of horn! I learned a lot thanks to a couple who did various work with horn at an event at Stagville years ago. I got to hear so much while I sat nearby demonstrating spinning on a gorgeous wheel from the period (which is now in the hands of a friend who does reenactment and interpretation work in that state.)
This is how the sulfur "matches" worked- First you used flint and steel to throw a spark onto tinder and make an ember. Then you put the sulfur "match" on the ember and it would light. So it made it a little bit easier, I think.
My grandparents' cottage in the UK had no electricity. It was lit by gas. Even the refrigerator was gas powered. My grandma would wait until it was dark before lighting the living room light, which was quite depressing as a kid. The house only had a wood stove in the living room. In winter the house was freezing cold and often iced up on the inside. How she lived there as an old lady I don't know...she was tough as old boots.
Wax clean up, this trick will also get grease and oil out of clothing. Taught to me by my grandmother. Lay your piece out on an ironing board, give a generous dusting of talcum powder or baby powder, lay a piece of cotton fabric overtop, iron thoroughly. This will heat up the wax or grease and the talcum powder will soak it up. Toss it in the dryer to remove residue, repeat as needed. Courtesy of Zelma Mathis, I miss you Zelm ; )
My mother said that she remembered using rushlights when she was still a child ... this was in rural SD. Sadly I didn't think to press for more details before she passed on ... she was born in the 1920s
I enjoyed watching this illuminating livestream so much, that I near forgot to leave a comment! Back again for a second round of glowing insight into this fascinating piece of history. Thank you as always. Cheers!
I've walked in the dark before with no problems...I lived in a very rural area, and unless it was cloudy, there's enough to get by. During a power failure some years ago, I read by the light of a single candle. Once your eyes get used to it , there's not much of a problem My grandparents lived in very rural Clay county , Kentucky ..power failures were common. I've read science fiction by kerosene lamp more than once..I spent a lot of time there as a teenager. The room I stayed in at their house had a " grate " - a small fireplace. My feet would be warm, but there would be frost on the pillow and my glasses in the morning. Cool video! I suspect most people back then just went to bed at dark and.called it a day...
You said you did not know how sulfur matches worked. I assume you know that they were made by melting the sulfur and dipping the end of a small stick in it to build the head. To use them, you use you flint and steel to spark char cloth. Once you have the ember on char cloth you touch the sulfur end of the match to it and gently blow. The sulfur lights and makes it easy to then light a candle. If you do this be careful, if you inhale the fumes from the burning sulfur it does some nasty stuff in your lungs. Ive made and used them many times and it sure beats building a birds nest to blow the ember into a flame. lol
The ambiance of the additional candles and no artificial lights makes this episode even more convincing. Looks like a real tavern visit!!❤️ Love the look.
Here in Scotland people used to use fir candles, i.e. pieces of resinous wood taken from pine logs dug up out of peat bogs. It was so full of resin you could light it and it would burn like a candle. The metal holder for it was called a puir man/peer man (poor man) because the legend is someone would actually pay a poor man to hold the fir candle like a human candlestick holder.
This is one amazing channel. I love watching. Your decision to view historic period paintings, and do the show with strictly candle lit stage, prepares us, the viewer with real world understanding of the limitations of the 18th century.
I've always been interested in candles, lamps and lanterns, because we often didn't have electricity when I was young. I've made lamps with lots of old oils good for nothing else and candles from deer tallow and even bacon grease. Bee's wax candles are my favorite.
Thank goodness for the Coleman lantern! It really was a game changer when it came out. Check out the Coleman 316 Arc lantern for Colemans first lantern.
I am not sure if it was carbon dioxide or a lack of oxygen, but Thomas Hardy has a scene in his novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd' where the shepherd Gabriel Oak almost accidentally kills himself because he forgets to open the vents in the cabin he is in when he falls asleep with a fire going. The story was written in 1874 so a bit later then the discussion here but it was on old, abandoned shepherd's cabin so nothing high class. But still airtight. So it shows that asphyxiation was definitely a concern back then. Great video! Thanks for all of them!
A friend of my sister had a farm house with a hand pump for water and an outhouse for the restroom! Baths were in a large tub with water heated on the stove.
Whale oil was replaced by the more abundant fish oil from Menhaden fish (bunker). A whaling ship could get as much of this oil in just a few weeks as in 2 years of whaling. Soon the petroleum oils replaced everything.
Where'd you source this information? I've done some research into historical whaling, and have never come across any account of a whaling fleet switching over into fish oil. I'd love to learn more about this topic. Can you recommend any sources?
@@piatpotatopeon8305 www.southernfriedscience.com/six-reasons-why-menhaden-are-the-greatest-fish-we-ever-fished/ "By 1880, half a billion menhaden were being rendered into oil and fertilizer. There were almost three times as many menhaden ships as whaling ship. A menhaden boat could produce more oil in a week than a whaling ship could during it’s entire, multi-year voyage, and it could do so close to shore and out of harms way."
@@nunyabizness199 From what I've read, whale oil isn't nearly as bright as modern petroleum-based oils. That's part of why the industry decreased as the petroleum industry rose. It's supposed to be brighter than other animal fats or plant oils, but not the equal of stuff like kerosene or turpentine. There are two main types of whale oil: the kind gathered from processing body and muscle fats, and a higher grade substance only derived from the spermaceti of sperm whales. Sperm oil was supposed to be nearly scentless when burned. It could also be used to make high-quality candles. I've seen period advertisements featuring "Adamantine Candles" made from sperm oil. One of the marks of their quality was their hardness in a variety of temperatures. Tallow candles, and even beeswax to a lesser extent, get soft in hot climates, and can break more easily. There's also the small problem of it being currently illegal to buy whale products. Ever since the international moratorium in the 1960s, most countries have banned trafficking in whale products. There are a few loopholes that allow Japan to have whale meat locally, and exceptions have been made for specific traditional lifestyles, but, to my knowledge, there is no legal way to commercially acquire whale oil.
My mother in law got married in 1969 in north Georgia. Her family did not have an out house at all. They just went out as Jon said. Sometimes chamber pots were used.
Love it, would have made a great Halloween episode! This looks like a typical night for me in the winter. I have always had dozens upon dozens of candleholders scattered around my front room...love the Gothic look of tons of candles.
Thank y’all! I have some wood candle lamps I made for reenactment campouts. We love them and use them often in the house. My Grand kids dip candles for them every year.
Stanley Kubrick shot the indoor night scenes in his film, “Barry Lyndon” entirely by candlelight using some of the largest camera lenses ever used in a film.
Kubrick (edit: not Coppola) filmed all the interior scenes of _Barry Lyndon_ with only candlelight... he had to source his lenses from NASA in order to see anything.
This guy is awsome i wish he would put these videos on website you dont have to pay RUclips to watch offline,it would be great to have these videos very interesting and well made,i love this time period
I made candles for many years for people who used candles for display and use. I had a lot of fun making candles. Beeswax for candles was too expensive and not in demand. I also restored and used oil sconces and oil burners for wicks. I used them for my own use as they were not in demand for others.
Many times while camping our fire was or only light, warmth, and form of cooking. Probably should have brought a lantern, but it worked. And it reminded me how important fire is.
If your eyes are fully adjusted to the dark, it doesn't take much light to ruin your night vision. The sword fighting picture makes perfect sense to me, at least from that perspective.
Wax Cleanup If on fabric: take a paper bag and lay it on the fabric and heat it with a high heat blow dryer or low heat iron. The wax will prefer the paper from the fabric. Then you will remove the residue by soaking in hot water (non- wool). If itd wool you cant soak in hot water or else it will full it out and ruin it. So, you need to use a fuller brush and brush the residue out. Takes a bit of work, but it will come out. If on wood: take a butter knife and scrap off, then using a high heat blow dryer to melt the residue and then wipe with paper towel. You can use a pumice soap to help abrase the surface and clean away the wax if on tile or hard surfaces after you removed the majority by eater heat or by scraping.
All I remember hearing in this whole long discussion was "bacon grease" and got to thinking about what it would be like if all of our lighting emitted a bacon smell all of the time and just got lost in the wonder of that thought.
Oh im so glad you said that, I actually did! Yesterday I was telling myself remember to call and pay the electric tomorrow and here I am watching YT instead lol thank you!
can we all take a moment to appreciate that at 29:33 he said he loved the name “crossfade” unironically. This man is a national treasure and i will never stop singing his praises from the mountain.
Great vibes man. The lighting and look of the video plus learning and seeing how they used light back in the day made it all blend together perfectly. All these videos yall make has a good mood type of energy when you watch them
My husband and I stopped using house lights at night and early in the morning a few months ago and now only use candle and oil lamps to light the house. It creates such a relaxing atmosphere every night before bed and makes it so nice to wake up to. We got rid of all our lamps except my daughters in her room. We are even looking to add oil lamp sconces in our living room.
I can imagine when you don’t get to actually use a light how annoying it can be. We still turn them on when we need extra light. But we mostly do it to tone down the evening or ease our eyes into the lights in the morning.
Lanterns, candles, and lamps! www.townsends.us/collections/lamps-lanterns-lighting
An older family member mentioned that was one reason everything had a place and you returned it to it's place when you were done with it. In the dark, your mind's eye knew where everything was in the room, without lighting a lamp.
that makes too much sense to not be right. Thank you!
You nailed it...💯
When I lived at home my mum and dad didn’t have enough money to repair the water damage in the back of the house resulting in 70% of the house having no lighting. Literally I could walk through that house with my eyes closed knowing where everything was 😂 until someone moved a chair..
Can't you tell that I'm letting you go?!
I love your name. Remove the ‘h’ from your last name, though. 😯🕯
Culper, Sr. saying goodnight!
To heat or cook, the logs in the fireplace are lain down horizontally. To read or work by firelight, the logs are stacked up sort of like a tipi. This gives a brighter burn with a concentrated flame source. You can see this in some old illustrations and paintings.
Cool thx for this!
@J No worries lol. I only had access to wood stoves, never a working fireplace let alone one large enough to cook in, and obviously there is a correct way to orient the wood in the stoves so this distinction just never came up. ...And unfortunately I never had the inclination to submit myself to the trials of reading outdoors by firelight when I had the opportunity. ...not yet anyway
@J That’s pretty much how I imagine it would be lol. I know I enjoy reading by candlelight. The fire outside would probably have to be out west somewhere reading an old book pioneers or cowboys would have had. That’s the only way I think would enjoy it.
@J Plus... there were likely not a lot of books.
@@faithrada ... And other, arguably better, uses for pages than for reading, especially if you're illit/illegit/can't read and need frequent use of the outhouse!
To remove spilled wax from fabrics, place brown paper on both sides (like from a grocery bag) and use a low iron. The wax melts out and onto the paper.
You can do a similar thing to remove wax dripped onto carpet. Place the brown paper bag on top of the carpet and iron it with a warm iron. Picks the wax right up, amazing! Thank you for posting, Kate :-).
You may need to do it several times, then boiling water poured over it. Hint, put the spot in a small embroidery hoop to hold tight without burning your fingers.
Yep the paper sucks it up or “wicks it up” lol
I hadn't heard about this trick, is it just capillary action?
I lived five years off-grid in a deep woods cabin with one window that faced a bit if a clearing. Mostly I used candles and kerosene lamps. Watching you on this video brings back that wonderful feeling of warm dim lighting in the evening. I actually loved how it allowed a more natural transition from day to night, and encouraged much better sleep habits.
@Jesse Link 3 I worked at that time, and it was difficult as mid-winter I had to hike in for roughly six weeks each winter. Now I live where there is electricity, but am retired and do homestead. My Christmas feast was 100% grown on this little farm of three acres. 2014 I began by raising heritage turkeys; 2014 also started with 2 beautiful Saanen goats that grew up to give together 3.5 gallons a day milk; 2015 planted 8 cultivar apples and 8 blueberry bushes; 2015 started composting and gardening. My plate had sauerkraut, applesauce, green beans and carrots, turkey (I humanely butcher right here myself) and of course gravy, red Norland potatoes and Beauregard sweet potatoes. I am 65 with rheumatoid arthritis. If I can I know you can do it. Only the salt and pepper were not from this little homestead. 100% organic and amazingly delicious! Start this spring. Just do it. I started before my retirement paychecks even started and they are way below poverty level at $800 per month. But my larder is overflowing and I can help other hungry families. We all need to go back to this if we can find any way possible to begin. Good luck!
I'm really young but this is one of my life goals. In the future I wish to have my family and be able to raise my kids in a calm and healthy environment. That's real life imo.
Healthy natural sleeping habits base on the light cycle ?
L.O.L. _ L.M.A.O.
On my mom's side of the family, her parents were .. night owls .. working 3rd shift.
My grand father side were a long line of German foresters and night watch.
Fun bit about my grandma's grand dad, he was a sailor as a young man, and when he moved into the mainland and became a farmer, he still slept in a hammock till the day he dead. .
Once you gain good night vision, in woodlands under Moon Light only, they will not blossom under a street lamp, there are some plants, bushes put out pretty smelling blue flowers for only one week out of the year. Some plants only open their flowers between 3am to just before sun rise. Yeah, it is magical. Along with eatable flowers that make nice homemade perfume.
Would be interesting to learn why you changed back to this? But I have lived a long time without modern anything at all and was very content 😄.
@@opybrook7766 mostly the health needs of my adult daughter. She passed away last year at age 48. We made many journeys back and forth across the country in order to get advanced medical care and it was worth it. She lived an additional 20 years because of a double-lung transplant. God rest her soul. Her life with the living was a long desperate struggle. I'm also content...I did all that I could do.
this looks AWESOME! you gotta get more candle-lit episodes!
Great idea!
Comlpletely agree!! This is such a peacefilled video.
My Dad made reproduction colonial lighting. 'Turner's Tin Shop' was the name. It was in Massachusetts. He made a lot of exterior lighting, mainly in copper and electrified. He also made many "sconces" or interior wall hanging candle lights. He closed-up in 1975. I was the "antique-ing boy." I dipped the copper lanterns in Sulfuric acid, then washed them, which gave them a good patina (but didn't go green like very old architectural copper flashing). I still have a catalog and a mold for hammering out dished tin sconce reflectors.
We remember him and have sconces in our home here in eastrn coastal Massachusetts. You have come from good stock!
Is this where all the Thomases come to hang out??
That heritage may come in handy in the near future as a skill if the grids go down.
very fascinating
I wish there was more of the market for that now. Sounds like you could be wrong position to make original style pieces for the historical homes, which have to be maintained to a historical standard when in a historical district.
When I lived without electricity one winter, I used lanerns and candles. I found having lots of shiny reflective material in the room enhanced the light. It explains why they had lots of crystals in the wealthy homes and also why the maids always had to polish everything. I used mirrors and aluminum foil to create extra shiny surfaces.
The candle lit set looks amazing!!!! Truly looks like you are in an 18th century tavern. Please do every live stream like this!
Oh yes that would be lovely!
Yes! It feels like I'm sitting across from a classy gentleman and having an intellectual discussion over a pint of beer and some kind of pudding with copious amounts of nutmeg. 😂
yes yes yes
Agreed
No! He's making me too nervous.
I still use my vintage oil lamps, and I make my own candles. This was amazing!
when we were very young and living with my Grandmother once a week there would be no electricity used. Every 2 hrs her old wind up alarm clock would go and she would plug the fridge back in, let it run for 15 mins, shut off and then unplug. Everything needed for lunch and supper was made the day before and in the fridge. Breakfast on the wood/oil/coal stove. Cold baths. Candles and the kerosene lamps. Stories after supper till late, no t.v. or radio. In summer it was never a problem - light until after 9 p.m. (well, light enough).
Until you have had to live without electricity, you cannot appreciate modern lighting. I always have lamps, lanterns and candles in case of a power outage. Had to use them more than once. Once for three days due to a winter storm.
I always keep plenty of beeswax candles and a flashlight ready. I've experienced a few power outages here and it's terrible because I'm scared of the dark, lol.
Typical situation in FL after a hurricane
@@Espresso101 Typical situation in Florida even without a hurricane. Power grid down here is absolutely dodgy.
Lived in a cabin in Alaska for 3 months. Even a Coleman lantern doesn't give a off all that much light so we had to have three or four of them going at the same time. If I got a dollar for everytime I hit my head on one of those lanterns I could have retired by age 40. Now that could just mean I'm stupid, but we had three other guys in the same cabin and we all hit our heads hundreds of times throughout that three month period.
I'm at a point where I think that's a lot, when really there's millions who live with worse.
At my grandma's house back in the 60s, when the sun went down, this was family time!
Reading, genealogy, games for the kids and of course bath time 😊.
This is how our time was spent!
And people wonder why family's aren't as close today☹️
I love that so much.
That sounds so awesome and beautiful.
Genealogy?
Not going to lie that sounds terrible. Introvert like myself likes my quiet time.
When I was a small kid my grandfather (1875-1961) told us stories of "the olden days," one of which related challenging his kids (they had 10) when visiting someone's house in "the big city: "Try to blow that lantern out." It was one of those newfangled electric light bulbs, which some of them had never seen before. (They lived in cabins and houses in the mountains west of Colorado Springs, none of which had electricity or running water.) I don't know if they really tried to blow it out or not, but it was fun imagining them staring in wonderment at the lamp that their mightiest puffs couldn't extinguish.
I love the art work from this period in time. Its great that your adding these to your video.
This is a great episode to watch in completely dark room.
I'd like to see an entire episode lit just like this where you tell period ghost stories - PLEASE!.
We don't tell ghost stories for the entire episode but it is lit like this ruclips.net/user/livea1TI7uxlFoI?feature=share
We have two wooden framed with glass outdoor lanterns on our front porch steps, when I first moved here to Danmark from Ohio I asked why so many people have lanterns on their front steps or porches, it dates back very far to keep bad spirits away around their Halloween (Allehelgensaften) also for travelers lost in snowstorms, or just lost, etc. The tradition is still in use and sometimes it saves lives!
Finally decided to watch this episode of the nutmeg tavern. By candlelight! Got my four-stick candle holder, a bunch of tealights, including a wall mounted one and a tealight chandelier, and two oil lanterns.
I have a thing for archaic light sources.
We often lost power when I was younger, to make us feel better my mom would tell us it was like the old timey days and we would pretend we lived back then. It was some of the best memories of my mom. We had candles and a fire place for light🙂
The last photo of the family with the man lighting his pipe, notice on the right side, a stained glass window, this family was very comfortable financially, stained glass windows were very expensive in those days! So, they were well to do.
John, at 31:39 "like living in a sieve" you hit the nail right on the head. Our 1812 house has six fire places and still has the original window sashes held together with wooden pegs. Many of the panes are still blown glass..
There are modern storm windows painted to match the windows and blend in very well.
Even with the storm windows it can get a bit drafty on windy days, but I can't imagine up dating the windows.
Love the candlelight the casual conversation and the calming demeanour you both have love you guys
For a experiment I used the leftover grease from cooking a single chicken breast and poured it into a tuna can with a homemade cotton wick and it burned for well over a hour.
I´d love to see an episode on working horn into flat transparend sheets. And of course horn made tools, cutlery and household things as like hair combs, clothing buttons and stuff.
I spend an hour each day with everything off and just the candles 🕯. It's so relaxing 😌. People need to get back to some of the simple things in life, like just sitting down with a candle 🕯.
I love the scene in "Cranford" where the two sisters light a second candle because a neighbor is about to enter, and she shields her eyes, "My, how bright you have it in here."
In my youth (in the 90s) I lived a couple of years on a cattle ranch with no electricity. The kitchen lighting was a pressurized kerosene lamp. Bathrooms and bedrooms were single candles. Very peaceful living, and I read many books with nothing better to do after dark.
I don't need the music. Love your content so much. You are one of my new favorite channels. Great job!
Look at the rich guy with all his candles. Guess we know who the landed gentry are around here.
I presume by their standards Jon is either a merchant class or gentleman. I am unsure of his exact financial position. The traditional definition of gentleman meant someone that could live without laboring.
Well he got pineapple on the table and an ample stash of nutmeg.
@@kikoedano6861 17th century baller?
Where is your video? I cannot find it. Oops, you're just a troll who likes to complain. Geez, another totally useless idiot.
Jer N: You're behind the times, by about 100 years. ;-)
I often wonder if the lack of evidence of nefarious activities being linked to the full moon in modern studies us more to do with electric lighting than anything else.
After all before street lights and controllable handheld lights it would have been as difficult for the nefarious to be about in the dark as anyone else. They came out with the moon because they needed it to see.
@J That makes a lot of sense. It really does stand to reason that people would be more likely to go outside at night if the natural illumination from the moon is greater. It also stands that the ability to see more or see further would result in seeing more of the nighttime wildlife. The bit about doing chores and visiting people around midnight I did not know. That is very interesting. Perhaps it would be good to get back into that habit, it sounds productive.
@@canwenot573 You can find more information under the term "interrupted sleep". I think it is a subcategory of biphasic sleep, but biphasic sleep refers often to one long sleep at night and a nap at day.
A. Roger Ekirch is known for known for his pioneering research into pre-industrial sleeping patterns.
@@hansmeier9214 Wow, thanks for the follow up! Not only is there remarkably good content on this channel, but excellent comment sections filled with interesting discussions! I'll look into A. Roger Ekirch. My curiosity about pre-industrial sleeping habits is definitely piqued!
@@canwenot573 thanks, a lot of people think they have sleeping problems or insomnia, but there is a good chance that interrupted sleeping is a more natural way of sleeping for them than we think today.
Many poems were written and many children were "produced" at these nighttimes :)
Even with modern lighting the effects of a full moon still happen.
That oil chandelier is FANTASTIC, as depicted in the tinsmith shop. Would love to see one!
This is why old castles and mansions had big mirrors and lots of silver. Reflecting. Tina, Al's wife
At the Alafia River Rendezvous, each afternoon, around 4pm, when I closed my Shortbread Shoppe, I would proceed to get the oil lamps ready to be lit. We don't think of these things in modern life, but the children began to see the need to have the lamps and candles at the ready. Awesome video! Thank you!
So glad I found your channel. It's like being in my own little fantasy world. Thanks🙂
I love the lanterns in their Townsend & Sons Catalog
I loved this episode. The candlelight was really nice and cozy. You should do this type more often :)
"That's my advice on cleaning up wax: just don't do it!"
That had me laughing out loud
I know the feeling! I learned that the hard way too, lol.
If this were the 90s, we'd be watching you on PBS. I loved this one show called Dutch Oven Cooking, and the guy would cook outside on a campfire. I convinced my parents to buy me a dutch oven. I built a fire pit in my parents back yard, and started making recipes. I was 12 or 13. I'm starting to realize how privileged I was. Most people, especially middle class white people, don't get the opportunity to learn to cook as children. I burned so many recipes in the dutch oven, but I am such a good cook now.
Candlelight just always has such a warm, comforting vibe.
My wife and I love candles (we make our own beeswax and bayberry) and we often light oil candles with floating wicks. Olive oil tends to burn very clean but other oils seem to produce a lot more smoke and carbon.
i love how nice and cosy nutmeg tavern looks, it looks like a great place to spend a long cold winter night.
Trimming is the word you want, at around the 17:52 mark. Candles were constantly being trimmed to shorten the wick to prevent it from causing way too much smoke, etc, and this was done with little shears (scissors) or pincers (pliers). An experienced trimmer would know exactly which part of the wick would part the easiest (based on what kind of material the wick was made from, as well as the length of the wick that had blackened), and would only snuff the candle when it came time to end the light, or swap out the old candle for the new (after lighting the new one, of course).
Ive collected lamps and lanterns for years. Every now and then I'll fill one up and light it. I need to work on my candle and holder collection. Spill planes made a wooden spill to transfer a flame to a candle or to start a fire
Dan Patch I love candlelight & firelight. I find it much more preferable to lamplight.
I turned out all my lights and lit some (modern) candles. Really added to the ambiance of this vid hahahaha
Im too lol
I watched the whole episode it was relaxing just being in the tavern with you
We always eat by candlelight at dinner. It’s a nice tradition and makes dinner time special.
I live near a small city that I believe was the first to have electricity. Victorian engineers used explosives to turn a creek into a waterfall to create hydroelectricity. It's amazing how quickly electricity changed house designs and electric trams allowed even working people to live in pleasant detached houses instead of crowded terraces.
Fire extinguisher lol. I have one from the 20th century. It's a sealed softball size glass globe with water in it. It hung on the wall and you would throw it at the fire.
I figured a 18th century fire extinguisher probably looked a lot like a bucket.
That candle braiding fact blew my mind…..
I only just discovered your channel a few hours ago.. and I haven't stopped watching since! Far and away my favorite content on RUclips!! Thank you.
Now, wax clean up, I helped a church to clean candle wax from fabric of the pews, we placed wax paper over the wax, used a clothing iron set to dry, no stem. Iron the wax paper, the wax was wicked into the wax paper. Try it! Amazing results
As an author who writes stories in the historical setting you "illuminate", thank you. You cover details that readers hardly think about, but provide such immersion in character and scene. It's the little details the provide the fuel for the imagination to travel to eras' I write in.
What a great live stream!! I’m really sad I missed this one today, I usually try to watch them from my off grid stone cabin by candle and fireplace light :)
This video was interesting & fun!
It was almost like a "Where's Waldo" book looking for the candles be for you pointed them out!
What has become of your daughter. It was a treat to see her reenact with you ! We miss her participation!
The painting at 3:57 , the look on his face is from the hot wax dripping down his hand ;-) 7:05 I get the feeling two of the gentlemen on the left were hiding under the other guys skirt, trying to be sneaky about doing something. Great video, thank you! I've always loved the flicker of a fireplace or warm candle light. But just recently been playing with a medieval living room theme, using a nutmeg burner, #2 lamp and a couple mini Moroccan tea light lanterns. It does bring a warm old style ambiance. I remember some of the restaurants my parents took us too as kids would use candles on the tables, gave dinner a whole new feeling. Now I know why I look forward to power outages, always gave me a reason to break out the candle lights. :-)
I never knew about that use of horn! I learned a lot thanks to a couple who did various work with horn at an event at Stagville years ago. I got to hear so much while I sat nearby demonstrating spinning on a gorgeous wheel from the period (which is now in the hands of a friend who does reenactment and interpretation work in that state.)
This is how the sulfur "matches" worked- First you used flint and steel to throw a spark onto tinder and make an ember. Then you put the sulfur "match" on the ember and it would light. So it made it a little bit easier, I think.
My grandparents' cottage in the UK had no electricity. It was lit by gas. Even the refrigerator was gas powered. My grandma would wait until it was dark before lighting the living room light, which was quite depressing as a kid. The house only had a wood stove in the living room. In winter the house was freezing cold and often iced up on the inside. How she lived there as an old lady I don't know...she was tough as old boots.
My parents and I lived in a shed whilst their house was being built. My parents had a kerosene refrigerator.
Wax clean up, this trick will also get grease and oil out of clothing. Taught to me by my grandmother. Lay your piece out on an ironing board, give a generous dusting of talcum powder or baby powder, lay a piece of cotton fabric overtop, iron thoroughly. This will heat up the wax or grease and the talcum powder will soak it up. Toss it in the dryer to remove residue, repeat as needed. Courtesy of Zelma Mathis, I miss you Zelm ; )
My mother said that she remembered using rushlights when she was still a child ... this was in rural SD. Sadly I didn't think to press for more details before she passed on ... she was born in the 1920s
I enjoyed watching this illuminating livestream so much, that I near forgot to leave a comment! Back again for a second round of glowing insight into this fascinating piece of history. Thank you as always. Cheers!
I've walked in the dark before with no problems...I lived in a very rural area, and unless it was cloudy, there's enough to get by.
During a power failure some years ago, I read by the light of a single candle. Once your eyes get used to it , there's not much of a problem
My grandparents lived in very rural Clay county , Kentucky ..power failures were common. I've read science fiction by kerosene lamp more than once..I spent a lot of time there as a teenager.
The room I stayed in at their house had a " grate " - a small fireplace. My feet would be warm, but there would be frost on the pillow and my glasses in the morning.
Cool video! I suspect most people back then just went to bed at dark and.called it a day...
You said you did not know how sulfur matches worked. I assume you know that they were made by melting the sulfur and dipping the end of a small stick in it to build the head.
To use them, you use you flint and steel to spark char cloth. Once you have the ember on char cloth you touch the sulfur end of the match to it and gently blow. The sulfur lights and makes it easy to then light a candle. If you do this be careful, if you inhale the fumes from the burning sulfur it does some nasty stuff in your lungs.
Ive made and used them many times and it sure beats building a birds nest to blow the ember into a flame. lol
The ambiance of the additional candles and no artificial lights makes this episode even more convincing. Looks like a real tavern visit!!❤️ Love the look.
Here in Scotland people used to use fir candles, i.e. pieces of resinous wood taken from pine logs dug up out of peat bogs. It was so full of resin you could light it and it would burn like a candle. The metal holder for it was called a puir man/peer man (poor man) because the legend is someone would actually pay a poor man to hold the fir candle like a human candlestick holder.
This is one amazing channel. I love watching. Your decision to view historic period paintings, and do the show with strictly candle lit stage, prepares us, the viewer with real world understanding of the limitations of the 18th century.
I've always been interested in candles, lamps and lanterns, because we often didn't have electricity when I was young. I've made lamps with lots of old oils good for nothing else and candles from deer tallow and even bacon grease. Bee's wax candles are my favorite.
Thank goodness for the Coleman lantern! It really was a game changer when it came out. Check out the Coleman 316 Arc lantern for Colemans first lantern.
I am not sure if it was carbon dioxide or a lack of oxygen, but Thomas Hardy has a scene in his novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd' where the shepherd Gabriel Oak almost accidentally kills himself because he forgets to open the vents in the cabin he is in when he falls asleep with a fire going. The story was written in 1874 so a bit later then the discussion here but it was on old, abandoned shepherd's cabin so nothing high class. But still airtight. So it shows that asphyxiation was definitely a concern back then.
Great video! Thanks for all of them!
I kept getting scared that his sleeve would catch on fire from one candle on his left!!
A friend of my sister had a farm house with a hand pump for water and an outhouse for the restroom! Baths were in a large tub with water heated on the stove.
Whale oil was replaced by the more abundant fish oil from Menhaden fish (bunker).
A whaling ship could get as much of this oil in just a few weeks as in 2 years of whaling.
Soon the petroleum oils replaced everything.
Where'd you source this information? I've done some research into historical whaling, and have never come across any account of a whaling fleet switching over into fish oil. I'd love to learn more about this topic. Can you recommend any sources?
@@piatpotatopeon8305
www.southernfriedscience.com/six-reasons-why-menhaden-are-the-greatest-fish-we-ever-fished/
"By 1880, half a billion menhaden were being rendered into oil and fertilizer. There were almost three times as many menhaden ships as whaling ship. A menhaden boat could produce more oil in a week than a whaling ship could during it’s entire, multi-year voyage, and it could do so close to shore and out of harms way."
@@craigescapeddetroit5198 Thanks!
Wish I could find a jug of whale oil to at least try some in a whale oil lamp. I heard it burned brighter but probably smelled bad..
@@nunyabizness199 From what I've read, whale oil isn't nearly as bright as modern petroleum-based oils. That's part of why the industry decreased as the petroleum industry rose. It's supposed to be brighter than other animal fats or plant oils, but not the equal of stuff like kerosene or turpentine. There are two main types of whale oil: the kind gathered from processing body and muscle fats, and a higher grade substance only derived from the spermaceti of sperm whales. Sperm oil was supposed to be nearly scentless when burned. It could also be used to make high-quality candles. I've seen period advertisements featuring "Adamantine Candles" made from sperm oil. One of the marks of their quality was their hardness in a variety of temperatures. Tallow candles, and even beeswax to a lesser extent, get soft in hot climates, and can break more easily. There's also the small problem of it being currently illegal to buy whale products. Ever since the international moratorium in the 1960s, most countries have banned trafficking in whale products. There are a few loopholes that allow Japan to have whale meat locally, and exceptions have been made for specific traditional lifestyles, but, to my knowledge, there is no legal way to commercially acquire whale oil.
My mother in law got married in 1969 in north Georgia. Her family did not have an out house at all. They just went out as Jon said. Sometimes chamber pots were used.
Love it, would have made a great Halloween episode! This looks like a typical night for me in the winter. I have always had dozens upon dozens of candleholders scattered around my front room...love the Gothic look of tons of candles.
Thank y’all! I have some wood candle lamps I made for reenactment campouts. We love them and use them often in the house. My Grand kids dip candles for them every year.
Stanley Kubrick shot the indoor night scenes in his film, “Barry Lyndon” entirely by candlelight using some of the largest camera lenses ever used in a film.
Yeah, originally designed to take pictures on the dark side of the moon. Literally. That was their purpose.
Kubrick (edit: not Coppola) filmed all the interior scenes of _Barry Lyndon_ with only candlelight... he had to source his lenses from NASA in order to see anything.
*Kubrick
So glad I found your channel. It's like being in my own little fantasy world. Thanks🙂
I thought he designed his own for that movie?
Oh that's so beautiful with all the candles, looks very cozy!
This guy is awsome i wish he would put these videos on website you dont have to pay RUclips to watch offline,it would be great to have these videos very interesting and well made,i love this time period
Light from fire makes everything feel so cozy
I made candles for many years for people who used candles for display and use. I had a lot of fun making candles. Beeswax for candles was too expensive and not in demand.
I also restored and used oil sconces and oil burners for wicks. I used them for my own use as they were not in demand for others.
Many times while camping our fire was or only light, warmth, and form of cooking. Probably should have brought a lantern, but it worked. And it reminded me how important fire is.
If your eyes are fully adjusted to the dark, it doesn't take much light to ruin your night vision. The sword fighting picture makes perfect sense to me, at least from that perspective.
This episode is AWESOME. I love flame lighting.
Wax Cleanup
If on fabric: take a paper bag and lay it on the fabric and heat it with a high heat blow dryer or low heat iron. The wax will prefer the paper from the fabric. Then you will remove the residue by soaking in hot water (non- wool). If itd wool you cant soak in hot water or else it will full it out and ruin it. So, you need to use a fuller brush and brush the residue out. Takes a bit of work, but it will come out.
If on wood: take a butter knife and scrap off, then using a high heat blow dryer to melt the residue and then wipe with paper towel.
You can use a pumice soap to help abrase the surface and clean away the wax if on tile or hard surfaces after you removed the majority by eater heat or by scraping.
'Burn the candle at both ends' is from tallow dipped reeds. Those could be bent in the middle and burned at both ends to try to get better light.
I wondered where that came from. Thank you.👍
All I remember hearing in this whole long discussion was "bacon grease" and got to thinking about what it would be like if all of our lighting emitted a bacon smell all of the time and just got lost in the wonder of that thought.
"Maybe they didn't do alot after dark" hint: households with 11 kids came from somewhere.☺️
also they did have to work physically most of the day which causes its own tiredness.
Being a candle maker for years now really enjoyed this, I prefer candle light to electric light any day.
3:55 The moment you realize, you have forgotten to pay your electricity bill.
Oh im so glad you said that, I actually did! Yesterday I was telling myself remember to call and pay the electric tomorrow and here I am watching YT instead lol thank you!
I am a nutmeg sales person, any business to be had here 😂😂
can we all take a moment to appreciate that at 29:33 he said he loved the name “crossfade” unironically. This man is a national treasure and i will never stop singing his praises from the mountain.
I really like this episode, I’ve watched it at least three times.
Great vibes man. The lighting and look of the video plus learning and seeing how they used light back in the day made it all blend together perfectly. All these videos yall make has a good mood type of energy when you watch them
Period music is ok, IF it's at a low volume. I really enjoy the period music, used in the Townsend's videos
Thank you for your entertaining and educational videos. they help make these dark times a little brighter :)
The candle show s are very calming. Thank you.
Very pleasant and relaxing, guys! Learned a bit too. THANKS and have a great weekend.
I watched this and then turned all the lights off in my home and lit all my candles and yeah. It gives a surprising amount of light
My husband and I stopped using house lights at night and early in the morning a few months ago and now only use candle and oil lamps to light the house. It creates such a relaxing atmosphere every night before bed and makes it so nice to wake up to. We got rid of all our lamps except my daughters in her room. We are even looking to add oil lamp sconces in our living room.
I lived in a renovation that needed rewiring for over a year, we got sick of candle light after a while.
I can imagine when you don’t get to actually use a light how annoying it can be. We still turn them on when we need extra light. But we mostly do it to tone down the evening or ease our eyes into the lights in the morning.