old growth gets new life

There is this awesome second-hand store in town that sells everything under the sun for your home - its kind of like a Home Depot for hipsters and fans of Portlandia.  Its called the Re-Store, and when, say, Seattle demolishes a 100 year old school, many of the school's items - like old bookshelves and genuine slate chalkboards - end up at the Re-Store.

My favorite place is the store's back lot, where there is scads of old lumber lying around.  Lots have nails in them, some have lead paint, many are misshapen and good only for firewood.  But in a timber-rich area like the Pacific Northwest, much of it is old growth fir and cedar just begging for another life.  I love using this stuff for projects - the grain is much tighter than the fast-growing trees of today, the smell of old timber when you cut into it is like none other, and its cheap cheap cheap!

You've seen many of these things before in previous blogposts, but I aggregated my reincarnated timber projects below for easy viewing.  Stay tuned - a new coffee table is next.  So fun!

the drill-bit I've been using to make holes for birdhouses fits a tea-light perfectly - so I found interesting old pieces of wood and made a bevy of candle holders

this is the first of another one or two deck seats I'll make, something easy to drag around and sit where you want to

ah, the birdhouses.  love them.  no one is living in them yet, tho...

our old/new cedar fence cost about $4 to build

these old boards required cutting, glueing, and screwing - and behold, a new stovetop backslash is born!

inspired by the backsplash and leftover wood pieces, I built this side table for our room

AJ needed a new yoga center, so the Re-Store obliged and supplied the materials