Santa Fe Shabby Chic!

Here is my latest project (I know its been a long while). Got this little beatup desk at an auction, made some repairs and decided to give it a distressed shabby chic look. Hope you like it! It will be for sale at our antique space in Engelberg Antiks (downtown Salem, OR) for $65. Love to hear your comments and thoughts on it... Thanks!

Reclaimed Studio... Great Blog... Check It Out!

I am a follower of a blog called Reclaimed Studio you can find it here Reclaimed Studio. This woman is based in Texas and she does some of the most amazing work I have seen on reclaiming old pieces of furniture. She truly is an inspiration to people like me who only wish they had that kind of talent. I have posted a few of her before and afters but she has many more on her blogs and lots of other topics and design inspirations. You truly should look at her blog she has many pictures to browse and its alot of fun to see all her projects.

Stacked Book Lamp - DIY Project

Here is another post from the DIY section at HGTV, direct link can be found here Stacked Book Lamp . I really like this lamp, especially since it would be relatively easy to make. You probably could do it out of almost any old lamp parts. I already have a shade that I salvaged from another lamp and will hopefully get around to making the rest soon. If you like a specific author you could make your lamp completely out of their books, e,g "Stephen KING". Looks like a fun but realistic project!

Latest Project

Nothing real fancy, but I picked this lingerie chest up at an auction for cheap. It was pretty beat up and missing knobs and was sporting two different colors. With one night of hard work, I got it all fixed up and had it sold by the following day... not too shabby!

Architectural Salvage Home... Wow!

Awhile back I posted a link on facebook to this great apartment in St. Louis. You have to check it out... it so amazing how this guy has decorated with recycled industrial salvage... this would be a dream home for me! I especially love the giant green statue behind the sofa! You can read the full article here Apartment Therapy .

Bench Ideas!

One of my favorite projects was when I took a twin size headboard and footboard and made it into a bench. You can see pics of the one I built on my blog, but here are some other neat benches that I have found online. I hope these inspire your creative side and you can make one of your own... and if you do I would love to see pictures of them!

Check Out Rustiques On Facebook Too!

If you happen to just stumble across this blog and you are not already a fan of my facebook page I invite you to check it out here Rustiques Facebook Page. Its a little different than my blog... on facebook I share the items I buy and resale. I come across many antiques, garden cement, industrial pieces and furniture. Furniture tends to be my bread and butter for daily living but I also do well with antiques. I will include a few sample photos of what I have on there right now and I update with new finds practically daily! Thanks for looking!

Cement Lion Fountain - $75

Antique Buffet - $150

Pair of Modern Bar Stool - $40

Carved Wood Lion - $300

DIY Project: Industrial Rustic Bookshelf

Here is another DIY project that you can do fairly cheap. You can see more pics and even watch a instructional video on HGTV's website... here is the direct link HGTV Vintage Inspired Bookshelf . I am hoping to build one of these in the near future but I am hoping I will come across some galvanized pipe for really cheap or free first. I think I already have some lumber that would work great but I really like my projects to cost almost nothing! I am not that skilled of a craftsman so when I screw up I don't want to have cost myself a bunch of money, thats why free or cheap is my policy!

Got Pallets? Get Creative!

I am often looking for new ways to make things out of inexpensive materials. I came up with the idea of making some furniture pieces out of old pallets, usually people are just giving them away so I thought they would be ideal for the project. Apparently I am not the first person who has come up with this idea of getting artistic with pallets. Look at the neat creations I found online and these are just a few... hopefully I will have my own to add soon!

Vertical Pallet Garden

Pallet Coffee Table

Pallet Garden Shed or Small House

More to come soon...

Pot Rack Ideas

When all else fails, those looking for space saving ideas can always look up above for storage solutions. That's especially true for small kitchens. When those cupboard doors start bulging open from being overstuffed, a pot rack hanging above the stove can be your salvation. You'll find a slew of pot racks on the market, but you can also easily make one. The prevailing idea with all the projects below is simple: Anything that can have weighted hooks hanging on it can work. Once you decide which to use, all you need are "S" hooks to hang your pots with.
Check these out:

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/wallflower/detail?entry_id=56365#ixzz1OiG75vTE

A couple recent projects.... Benches!!!

Here are a couple little benches I built recently... the last one is something I am going to try to build on a regular basis and offer it in several colors. I appreciate any feedback that anyone has on my builds or what they would like to see me build in the future. I have lots of idea but unfortunately not enough time to make them all. But I guess that is just how it goes.

Garage Work Station or Kitchen Island for $3

Well, thought I would make a quick post on one of my own creations before hitting the sack tonight. I built this today out of different pieces I have picked up for free or very cheap. The drawers were actually two ends of a desk that I bought at an auction for $3.00, and yes that was my total monetary investment in this project. I put them together with some wood glue and screws, trimmed the top to fit and added some wheels that I recycled from a free piece of furniture and thats all there is to it! It rolls around nicely and will be used for a little work bench/station in my garage but with a little clean up would also make a great kitchen island.... not too shabby for $3 bucks!

P.S. Sorry about the quality of the picture, wasn't planning on posting this and had taken with my cell phone.

A great article on making a reclaimed lumber coffee table!

http://www.hgtv.com/living-rooms/reclaimed-lumber-coffee-table/index.html

Sorry so long without posting!

I am going to start updating my blog regularly. I will be updating it with links to interesting antique articles, DIY tips and other information on repurposing and reclaiming items. I will also try to get some new items on here that I make myself. Thanks for following and tell your friends!

Kitchen or Garden Work Station

I bought this awesome door at the auction! I just had to use it in one of my designs. I really like how this turned out... its a good size to use in an entryway or as a shelf unit in a kitchen or outdoors as a garden work station. Its pretty much done but I have left it so you could add some hooks or stencil some graphics on it. Would love to hear people's feedback on this. Thanks!