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Archive for the ‘Salvage’ Category

Some Inspiration for Bird Lovers: Myrtle Avenue Bird Town in Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Posted by Sonia Zjawinski to Gardening and Pets and Places and Reuse and Salvage on 7 July 2010, with 1 comment so far.

A tree grows in Brooklyn, and so does its flock of birds. If you live in New York, or plan to visit before the end of the year, take a special trip to Fort Greene, where you’ll find the Myrtle Avenue Bird Town.

The  project, created by Jennifer Wong and Daniel Goers of Wongoers, includes a sanctuary of 50 birdhouses and feeders, designed by the couple and built by people in the community. The bird favela is meant to house and feed some of the boroughs native birds.

The avian accommodations, according to Wongoers, “express creative use of both natural, recycled, and found materials. Throughout the project experimental fabrication, detailed carpentry, and materials science were employed.”

The installation is located at the Northwest corner of Fort Greene Park (Myrtle Avenue & St. Edwards Street) as well as Person Park (Myrtle Avenue & Carlton Avenue). Just remember to look up!

I plan on checking these guys out in person in November — before heading over to Cake Man Raven’s for a slice of delicious red velvet cake — but if you can’t make it to New York to see these in person, check out Flickr user Atomische’s great snaps of each of the birdhouses in the collection. After the jump, some of my faves I’d love to reproduce… (more…)

Posted in Gardening, Pets, Places, Reuse, Salvage | 1 Comment »

DIY Headboard Turned Coat Rack

Posted by Chris Gardner to Furniture and Salvage on 2 July 2010, with 3 comments so far.

It seems the craft and style blogosphere is on an infinite quest to come up with as many alternative ways to create DIY headboards as possible. At least once a week, someone’s come up with a way to use magazines or post-its or bicycles as a focal point to set their snuggly space apart.

So, this hack, which takes an existing headboard and makes something from it, is both welcomed and refreshing. Kate of Centsational Girl came up with this unique approach for creating a coat rack.

“A little while ago, I bought a spindly old-fashioned twin headboard at the local thrift store with every intention of turning it into a bench.  I’d seen the idea traveling around on some blogs, and loved it.After some thought, I decided I had less use for a bench, and greater use for a coat rack in my guest space.  I had a bare wall, so why not fashion the headboard into a rack for scarves, sweaters, jackets, robes, or hats for my guests?…  Now, the twin headboard has been transformed into an architecturally decorative piece, providing both form and function.”

[DIY Headboard Turned Coat Rack]

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Posted in Furniture, Salvage | 3 Comments »

Upscale Salvaged Wood Furniture

Posted by claire to Decorating and Furniture and Reuse and Salvage on 4 June 2010, with no comments so far.


Above and below: Recycled wood Armoires by RenziVivian.

I love taking old things and finding exciting new ways to repurpose them in our home. While wandering through the internet the other day, I stumbled upon these great armoires by RenziVivian.

Using existing parts of discarded furniture, these pieces are cobbled together like a big wooden quilt. The style and vintage of the various elements have little to do with one another and when combined make a unique scrapbook of references to different times and trends. The pieces can apparently be used for computer desks, televisions, or clothing storage. I couldn’t locate a place to actually purchase these armoires, but I think a similar DIY project could happen in your own home.

While we are on the subject a reclaiming wood and making artful and functional objects for your home, I would love to direct your attention to Whit McLeod. When my husband and I first arrived in Humboldt county I noticed some of his work on display in a local gallery. I was immediately attracted to the impeccable craftsmanship and the idea that all the wood was salvaged from 70-gallon oak wine barrels. Living in wine country makes these used barrels easy to obtain and McLeod reuses the wood beautifully.


Whit McLeod Folding Chair from reclaimed wine barrels.

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Posted in Decorating, Furniture, Reuse, Salvage | No Comments »

Crate Digging: How to Make a Soda Crate Spice Rack

Posted by Garth to How-To and Kitchen and Reuse and Salvage and Storage and Uncategorized on 3 June 2010, with 14 comments so far.

The kitchen is one of the rooms in our house that we spend the most time in. Claire and I live in Humboldt County, California, which is blessed with incredible local food resources. College of the Redwoods, where I teach, has its own organic farm and CSA.  Our local food co-op is well-stocked with local cheeses like Humboldt Fog, local organic meats and local seafood.

The kitchen was the first room that we started tearing into when we started renovating our house, and unfortunately, it was one of the last to be finished. We wanted the kitchen to be a place where we actually wanted to hang out and spend our time. The kitchen as we originally found it was fairly well laid out, but filled with horrible cheap 80’s cabinets, dingy floral wallpaper and cheap appliances.

We installed a dishwasher, put up drywall over the wallpaper and painted the room a bright yellow and installed some funky lighting fixtures. It was a great start, but the stove—an inexpensive Sears model with an old pegboard over it— continued to taunt us.


The horror. After removing the pegboard.

What could we do to make the stove area fun and functional? A new stove would be a good start. We started combing Craigslist for vintage stoves, and finally found a great (but really dirty and greasy) one that we could afford. Claire put a huge amount of elbow grease (and gallons of vinegar) into cleaning it. You can read about her valiant efforts HERE.

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Posted in How-To, Kitchen, Reuse, Salvage, Storage, Uncategorized | 14 Comments »

Flickr: A Bathroom Makeover

Posted by Megan Jeyifo to Reuse and Salvage and Storage on 29 April 2010, with 1 comment so far.

Blogger Elsie Marley (real name Meg, like me!) added the photo above to ReadyMade’s Flickr pool this weekend. It was just the inspiration I needed to start thinking seriously about what to do with my own tiny bathroom. Her blog post on the project details the three year journey spawned in part by her brother dropping a hammer on their previous sink, leaving them no choice but to replace it quickly. I’m contemplating dropping something very heavy on my own pea-green sink and telling the landlord that it has just got to go.

What is not to love about this bathroom? While small, Meg has added practical storage that doesn’t sacrifice style. The mailbox on the side of the $100 antique cabinet was scooped from the trash years back and repurposed to hold books and magazines. The metal First Aid kit on the right wall was an eBay find and hides meds from little kiddies. A high school boyfriend was the source for the box on top of the toilet.

The most inspiring part about this photo? She spent a little over three hundred bucks for the whole thing. Thanks for sharing, Meg! I’m off to go (accidentally) destroy my sink.

Add your photos to ReadyMade’s Flickr Pool here.

[Photo: elsiemarley]

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Posted in Reuse, Salvage, Storage | 1 Comment »

A Tree Grows in Pacific Grove

Posted by Sonia Zjawinski to Gardening and Reuse and Salvage on 28 April 2010, with 1 comment so far.

Unfortunately, as a home owner there are times when you have to cut down a tree. Whether it’s disease, roots battling for space with underground plumbing, or the simple desire to bring more light into your home, that evergreen just has got to go. So, is there a way to honor that retired perennial, while still making room? I recently saw this solution in the front yard of a home here in Pacific Grove, CA and thought it was pure genius. (more…)

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Posted in Gardening, Reuse, Salvage | 1 Comment »

Fine Diving in Chicago

Posted by Megan Jeyifo to How-To and Reuse and Salvage on 18 March 2010, with 3 comments so far.

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I love Diana Durkes’ Fine Diving, penned right here in Chicago. Her site is chock-full of upcycled and repurposed gems made from castoffs found in alleyways and on the street. Diana uses tons of different applications to update or completely transform each item she comes across and Fine Diving features her how-tos and step-by-step transformations.

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This green mat was brilliantly made from a roll of found carpeting and sisal twine.

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A pair of chairs found in two separate areas of Chicago are united by black paint and vintage wool crewel. The tutorial for the two is great because it walks you through how to make the seat, not just recover the cushion.

fine diving chicago lab table

This table was in sad shape when Diana found it on a college campus. The after is so bright and fun. Doesn’t it make you want to break out the spray paint?

pillows fine diving chicago

A found cashmere sweater in an alley turned into a pretty, soft pillow? Lovely.

Diana inspires me to rethink what I see as trash… and to walk my dog through alleys more often. Visit Fine Diving here and be sure to check out the complete list of before and afters while you’re there.  Thanks, Diana!

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Posted in How-To, Reuse, Salvage | 3 Comments »

A Tour of Portland’s Rebuilding Center, The Louvre of Architectural Salvage Shops

Posted by Garth to Places and Salvage and Stores on 28 January 2010, with 8 comments so far.

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I can now officially say that I’ve been to homeowner heaven. A few weeks back, Claire and I visited some friends in Portland. One of the things we wanted to do when we were there was visit The Rebuilding Center, a gigantic repository of salvaged building materials.

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The Rebuilding Center was founded back in 1997 as a nonprofit that would help connect homeowners with salvaged building materials. In 2000, they moved to their present location on Mississippi Avenue, which is festooned with all manner of repurposed art. During the last thirteen years, they’ve won numerous awards, provided countless jobs and helped earn Portland its rightful reputation as a green mecca.

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I’ve been in architectural antique stores and salvage warehouses before, but I’ve never experienced anything quite like The Rebuilding Center. Do you remember that scene in The Matrix where Laurence Fishburne summons endless rows of guns? Replace those endless rows of cyberweapons with hundreds upon hundreds of salvaged sinks, fixtures, doors, windows, tiles and cabinets, and you might come close to imagining what The Building Center is like.

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I was like a pig in mud as I rooted through their offerings. I was joined by dozens of Portlandians hunting for bargains (not to mention an alternative to the shoddy, faceless offerings of big-box home improvement stores). Portland has more than its share of charming old craftsman houses, and luckily, some of their guts made it to The Rebuilding Center for a chance at a new life.

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For those among us who are handiness challenged, The Rebuilding Center has an entire gallery of artist-made repurposed furnishings called ReFind Furniture. Old mirrors, cabinets and moldings are given a new twist, and a new lease on life. ReFind is also a line of furniture made from old-growth douglas fir that has been reclaimed from the frames of demolished homes.  If you need to find a craftsperson to do some custom work, The Rebuilding Center can also give you the hook-up.

ReFind Furniture of The ReBuilding Center | Furniture

Speaking of demolition… if you live in the Portland area and need to demolish all or part of your home, The Rebuilding Center will deconstruct your home faster than you can say “French Literary Theory”. They can reuse up to 85% of the materials, and do it safely. Did I mention that it’s also tax deductible?

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In the end, we didn’t have a ton of space in our car to bring home claw-footed bathtubs and new cabinets, but we did score a bunch of old doorknobs that we’ll transform (okay let’s be honest…that Claire will transform) into a new coat rack. We also found some nice outlet covers and bits of hardware that we won’t have to buy from the hardware store.

Being in The Rebuilding Center was great for sparking my imagination, but mostly, it made me jealous of Portland residents. If you’re visiting Portland, you should definitely put it on your itinerary. As a bonus, The Rebuilding Center is practically across the street from The Flavour Spot, one of Portland’s awesome WAFFLE TRUCKS. You can shop ’til you drop, then refuel with one of The Flavour Spot’s excellent sausage and maple butter waffle sandwiches.

I miss you, Portland! I’d love to know about architectural antique stores and salvage warehouses where you live.

Posted in Places, Salvage, Stores | 8 Comments »