In these days of “reduce, reuse, and recycle,” reclaiming materials from your own home’s renovation provides a wealth of unique elements to incorporate in your remodeling project, with the added benefit of keeping them out of a landfill.
Antique hardware and old-growth wood (stronger wood from virgin forests, unlike wood now harvested from lumber forests) are valuable and worth incorporating into your home remodel or offering up to vintage resellers. In the hands of a skilled carpenter, the possibilities for refashioning reclaimed wood into decorative or functional free-standing pieces or repurposing as a built-in are exciting to consider:
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- A show-stopping dining table or accent table
- Featured countertop
- Vintage hardwood flooring
- Paneling on an accent wall or kitchen island
- Curb appeal for a mailbox, window box planter, or house number display
- As a headboard or side table in the bedroom
- Floating shelves
- Cabinetry and bookshelves
- Bench seating or stool
- Twist on a vintage or beam-style mantlepiece
- Stairway railings or newel post
- Framing for artwork
- Repurposed as a range hood
- To wrap an architectural element such as an exposed beam
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Rosalie Remodeling’s Nate Rosalie enjoys the creative challenge unleashed by a fascinating piece of salvaged wood, and he’s always on the lookout for unique materials to rescue and revive from each vintage renovation project.
