Alternate Ways to Light My C'mas Tree

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So, I’m stuck.

The electrician who wired my house in 1952 was either a complete idiot, or had a grasp of space-time mechanics beyond human comprehension. To wit: we have one outlet on the front wall of the living room into which everything on that side of the room must be plugged. In December, that means both the main light in the living room and the Christmas tree must share a switched outlet.

It’s a minor problem, until you factor in that I like (I really like) having the Christmas tree lit when I get home from work, while my wife couldn’t care less and only wants to be able to use the light switch to turn the light on and off in the living room, which totally screws up the timer.

So, can anyone conceive of an alternative to a light timer for the Christmas tree that would give my wife the freedom to use the light switch, and me the gift of having the tree on when I get home?

In lieu of that, does anyone know how to rewire 1950s-era electrical wiring so that only one of the sockets on the outlet is dedicated to the switch and the other is always-on?

2

The only thing I can think of is extension cords, enough to plug the tree in elsewhere. Is your light overhead, or do you have a lamp? If you have a lamp, maybe should could use the switch on it instead for a couple of weeks?

3

IANAElectritian but I do have some education in that area. Shouldn’t be too difficult to rewire the switch. My guess is it was wired as simple as possible, from the main to the switch to both outlets. Question is, are the two outlets even capable of being independently wired? Might be a good idea to replace the outlets with something modern, or even just put in an entirely new outlet box and not bother with rewiring the switch.