White Wednesday - Salvage and Repurpose

 Back in May, Bender Oak, Greg, and I moved.  It's an okay house, and has it's plus points, but the main reason we got it was because we could keep Bender, and still keep a tiny part of our paychecks (SouthEast VA is not that pet-friendly for "Real" size Dogs).



It's got some funny rules, and since this is the first time I've rented from someone other than Family or Friends, I'm overly concerned with not doing anything to mess up the house.  There's also some weird rules, and since we don't own the place, we've been a little sketch on doing big things.

Like hanging pictures.  The house is from 1918, with some of the original "walling" (?).  So, if I were to start hanging up some of Greg's artwork, I'd have to take a drill and drill through what I think is cinderblock.  Essentially destroy the walls.  They are super thick.  With little things like that, we've been apprehensive toward making this "our home" or getting completely comfortable.  I don't feel like paying for a wall when we move out, lol.  Sometimes, this totally makes it difficult for me to take new and exciting pictures.  Sigh.

* Yes, I know some people will comment about spackle and painting over, but apparently thats what years of previous tenants did.  There are chunks of missing wall in some rooms.

But there are things we are allowed to do.  One of them was going through the Work Shed so we can store stuff in it for the Bus.  The Work Shed was built a very long time ago, probably only a short time after building the house.  Someone back then was smart enough to  repurpose materials left over from the house to build the Workshed.



The cool thing was, they left all the construction Junk in there.  The Bad thing?  We were the ones to clean it out.  We didn't clean everything out, but we did collect what would not have been useful, and rescued what was very cool, and very useful.

This is what the windows in my office look like:

 

And Guess What we Found in the Shed?

 

To think, these are original Window-pull-lifty-thingies from a house constructed in 1918....And, If anyone would like to give me the name of what this cool finding is, I would totally appreciate it, lol.  Is Pulley the right word?

I think they are cool, but I have no idea what I would do with them.  They are so shabby looking, but they also remind me of something I saw in Cottages down by the Beach.  I want to say...the word "mooring" comes to mind.  Huh, now that I think of it, these would be really neato in some Beach Cottage Windows, or maybe they could be repurposed into some sort of Window or Display finding!

We found a worn and weathered door in the shed, but it was beyond cool and rustic, it was broken and messed up.  I don't think it was from 1918, but I do think it was from the 40's or 50's....It's sad we couldn't keep it, but I did get these cool things:

 

Door Hinges, old ones, totally set apart a project from something you'd see in a Chain-Store Boutique.  Everytime I pick up something from a store that carries a "Cottage" or "Shabby Chic" style line, you look at the hardware, or really feel the quality of it, and it does not compare.  Especially with Curio Cabinets or Show/Display Cases, which is what I think these would be awesome for.  Or maybe Shutters! 

My absolute Favorite Find?  Rusty Ol' Nails!  I know a lot of people have a few of these, but I've never collected some.  We were able to pick/pull a small handful of them out of some of the wood we threw out, and only because the wood was worn out (because the handiwork and nails were incredible, even after all these years).

 I have 92 year old nails.  Isn't that something?  I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but I have 92 year old, Ancient, Rusty, Nails. 92!

 

  

Now all I have to do is figure out what is going to happen with this Salvaged and Rustic Hardware.... Figure out if I can use them in my next project (Which is going to be a while, I have too many projects at the moment, and I'm starting to freak out!), or see if someone on Etsy wants them....Hrmmm...

 

Thanks for reading guys!

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