Incorporating Architectural Salvage in Home Designs or Renovations

Terrific-one-of-a kind architectural salvage is just waiting to be found in second-hand and antique stores.  Most towns have places where building materials, fixtures, and other reusable items are removed from old buildings and saved to be sold.  Check your local phone book to find stores.  Use these tips to reinvent your architectural finds in your home remodeling.

• Cabinetry:  Put them in bathroom, home office spaces or in storage room where you want to add character to the place.  Seal all peeling paint surfaces with a matte acrylic sealer. 

• Vintage Lighting:  There are plenty of great style options that are unique.  Hang an antique lantern as a porch light with one of a kind flair.  Rewiring is simple and inexpensive.  Rewiring and installing antique lamp or lantern can be a do-it-yourself project or you can hire a qualified electrician for the job. 

• Old Doors:  Doors are good items to repurpose.  They can be stripped of old paint or stain and simply apply polyurethane to let the old wood grain character come through and give them unique look.  You can repurpose old doors as do-it-yourself headboards.  If you want to install an antique door to an existing house, be prepare to trim the door to fit or replace the door jambs and surrounding trim. 

• Old Windows:  You can remove the glass and replace it with plywood sprayed with chalkboard paint for a message board.  Old windows can be use as a room divider which gives visual interest to interior walls while still let the light through.  Be creative. 

• Vintage Doorknobs:  You will find styles that are not made anymore giving your doorways, cabinets, or furniture pieces new and unique hardware.  Use them for coat hooks or pegs.   

• Old Sink:  Could be perfect for a workshop, a garden room, or outdoor kitchen. 

• Vintage floorboards:  Install salvage wood for flooring will give your home an instant warmth and age.  It is an eco-friendly choice.

• Bathtubs:  Old claw-foot tubs are great for period style bathroom renovation or addition.  You can get them resurfaced inexpensively.  Pair the salvage tub with new faucets in water-conserving, modern technology models for functional fixture with character.  

• Antique Brick:  Salvage brick tends to get mixed up in several different sizes.  Use them for fireplaces or patios.  For outdoor pavers, set them on sand rather than concrete to give them old fashioned and aged look; plus the sand helps level odd-size bricks.  

Very nearly everything in architectural salvage can be repurposed and can almost always be recycled through creative eye.  The possibilities are endless.  The appeal of something old and unique finds is that it has been somewhere; it has history; it has character and style; and it can live on.  Give your home a character with vintage finds; reuse, recycle, repurpose and renew.  They deserve a second chance.