Read about how I rewired this Western Electric rotary phone to make and receive phone calls as our landline!

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I’ve always loved old or vintage items and I’m pretty choosy about what comes into our house. This black 1950s Western Electric rotary phone was one thing that belonged to me! I love the idea of having to pause and sit down in order to have a conversation. Needing to be patient and selective to dial a number. The 1950s was an era when they made things to last…or at least longer than 10 years.

When I found this beauty, I knew that it needed to be part of my home. But the fact that I could possibly make it work with our modern technology intrigued me and there was nothing stopping me to make this thing ring again!

3 days and about 5 handfuls of peanut butter m&m’s later and I did it!

I think I’m going to start rating the difficulty of my projects by how many m&m’s I need to complete the job. 🙂

Re-wiring

First I found a phone cord, you can find what I used here.

I cut off 1 end and stripped the red, yellow, and green wires, down to the bare wires.

I dissembled the phone to get to the guts and all the wires. Luckily there were only a couple of screws in the back. In the 1950s they wanted to make it easy for a phone repair person to fix a phone. Thoughtful!

Day 1

Where to put each wire!? I am not a certified electrician, but I have messed around with wires before so, I figured like most projects I get myself into, I can do it!

After searching countless youtube videos and nothing describing this operation-I was on my own! So in I go to loosen the screws, move wires around, tighten the screws and document each move, so I know what I’ve already tried and what didn’t work.

Day 2

I’d get frustrated, then toss in a couple of m&m’s (stress eating didn’t help) and start on something I could actually complete… laundry or dinner. Yes, laundry! I mean a person’s got to be really frustrated in order to want to do laundry!

I’d come back and start all over again. This went on for a whole three days.

Day 3

Sunday, we came home from church and the phone was still sitting apart, wires exposed, screwdrivers in a mess on my counter. This project HAD to be wrapped today!

Note: I only ended up using the red, yellow and green wires and not the black wire from the phone cord.

Just when I had exhausted all of my options, I gave it all one more try. I could hardly believe my ears, it rang!! BUT would it make phone calls?

I sat down to dial all 10 numbers with the rotary and sure enough! I plugged it in and sat in on our side table in the living room! It was meant to be!

Watch how I rewired our 1950s Western Electric Phone, here!

https://youtu.be/A6PhXSagpO8

See how we decorate with old things in our modern farmhouse here.

Do you love old things? How do you incorporate old things into your home?

Cheers!