Ways to Make Architectural (Salvaged) Antiques Work in Your Home/Garden



Guest post contributed by antiques dealer myfamilysilver

With a fertile imagination, you can unearth some wonderful treasures in an architectural salvage yard that you can take home and craft into interesting, one-of-a-kind antique creations to use both inside and out. For a fraction of the cost of cookie-cutter decorations, you can reuse and recycle past treasures and turn them into new and exciting ingredients to give your home a distinctive flair.

Adapt


Making the most out of architectural salvage requires thinking outside the box, and you will want to hone your ability to see how seemingly unrelated objects can be adapted to work together. Old doors, pedestals and wrought iron remnants can be crafted into fascinating coffee tables and patio bars. Salvaged glass blocks and windows can be combined with old French doors to create conservatory-style garden rooms that can be attached to the house or designed as a free-standing greenhouse.

Inside Art from Exterior Designs


Gingerbread trim from Victorian style houses can get the attention it deserves when you use it as a foundation to create artistic designs in unexpected places. Fine filigree antique outdoor lights look stunning as overhead entryway chandeliers, and vintage carriage style lanterns on either side of a fireplace in big den and family room add a sense of timelessness.

Reinventing the Wheel


When approaching architectural salvage decoration, you have the freedom to take an object to a whole new level of utility. Look beyond the previous history of an item and see the potential for giving it a new career serving a similar, but different, function. An old ship's wheel can be used as a decorative piece, or covered with glass to make a table top or worked into a wall design or entrance gate.

Combine


Install clear glass shelves in salvaged wooden boxes to make wonderful curio cabinets you can hang on the wall or add an old shutter hinged to the front with a mirror attached to make it into a bathroom medicine chest. Old railroad timbers can be mounted onto wrought iron or concrete fence posts to make sturdy tables and sideboards.

Salvaged stone blocks can be used to trim up flower beds, edge sidewalks and border ponds.


As Is


Many items that you find in a salvage yard can be put to use without alterations or modifications and any wear and tear they may have accumulated just gives them more character. Be bold and discover interesting locations where you can install columns, antique light fixtures and old mantle pieces in unusual ways. Salvaged items like bells, candlesticks and planters can be worked right into your existing decor to add a nostalgic flavor.