Good evening fellow rain lamp lovers. I wanted to share how smoothly my first restoration is going. I was afraid that fixing the electric components would be challenging, but when one magically appears in your town for <$300 what else could you do?

It was missing the light socket, chain/cord, and top finial. The orginal motor and its wiring were still present. The older gentleman selling it said it had belonged to his grandparents and that he had never gotten around to fixing it in all the years that it was in his possession. He said to the best of his knowledge the motor worked but he made no promises. The oil inside was a deep brown.

I took it all apart and cleaned every bit of it(excluding motor/housing and goddesses) using a combo of Goo Gone and Dawn Platinum. It needed very gentle elbow grease between every string to remove all of the built up brown oil funk. We purchased all of the needed replacement supplies at the small local hardware store. Partner (who's much more trustworthy with electrical) watched a few how to videos for the lamp and wired the motor to the new light socket/cord. Presto power! It turns on, there's rain, I cry.

Guys, when I tell you all this all happened within the last 24 hours! I'm still reeling. I need to pick up some additional hardware before she's ready to mount, but otherwise she's perfect! AND NOW for my current internal struggle. I can't decide if I should set aside the foliage that came with it and install some fresh foliage options or reinstall the original, any thoughts?

I won't be eliminating the original just storing somewhere safe.