Creativity, thriftiness drove entrants in Inspiring Salvage Contest
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Lindsay O'Leary's kitchen, featuring a slab counter made from a re-used bowling lane. -
Isaac Bower of Polish Hill makes counters with old chalkboards. -
Detail show hand-carved edge of counter Isaac Bower made with old chalkboards. -
Melissa and Stephen Neely of Point Breeze reused old freezer doors as hanging barn doors. -
Melissa and Stephen Neely of Point Breeze reused old freezer doors as picnic table tops. -
Brenda Carter of Squirrel Hill repurposed a piece of engraved slate from a fireplace as a top for an old wrought-iron table base. -
Vincent Trevellini of San Francisco returned to his native Pittsburgh and created a table and bench using his grandmother's table, a church confessional and pew, mahogany door jambs, oak handrails, and doors and planks made of oak, poplar, maple and cherry. -
Mara O'Neill of Fox Chapel repurposed old card catalog cabinets as a wine rack and holder of USB cables, phone cords and other electronic accessories.
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Regular visitors to Construction Junction are used to the signs taped to the architectural odds and ends that fill this cavernous warehouse in Point Breeze.
"Like this? We have a whole bunch more!" read a sign taped to a section of old bowling lane that Lindsay O'Leary and her friend, David Fockler, noticed last year.
She had been looking for something unique -- and cheap -- to use for the counter tops in the kitchen of her North Side apartment. For just $150, she got a slab of rock maple 8 feet long and 3 feet wide that became a table top and focal point of her quirky, retro-cool kitchen.
Her creativity made her one of three winners of the first Inspiring Salvage Contest sponsored by the Post-Gazette and Construction Junction. Ms. O'Leary, Isaac Bower of Polish Hill and Melissa Neely of Point Breeze won free tickets to today's Steel City Big Pour, a craft beer tasting fundraiser for the nonprofit retailer of recycled and surplus building materials. Here are their stories and those of three runners-up:
"First, the facts: I rent. I am not rich. I am a nester with remodeling tendencies," says the 34-year-old manager of public relations and marketing at the Mattress Factory in her contest entry.
She and her handyman friend spent about two years collecting items to redo the kitchen of her 300-square-foot efficiency apartment. She is proudest of her rock maple counter top made from an old bowling lane, which also serves as her workbench (she's a glass blower). Other favorites are a 1950s Magic Chef gas stove and Depression-era farmhouse sink with integrated drainboard. They cost her just $23 and $5, respectively, at Construction Junction because they needed some cleaning and repairs and the stove was missing its grates. Ms. O'Leary has bought several sets trying to find the right size and is getting close.
"After I transform that old rung ladder I scored at CJ's last month into a pot rack for my cast-iron pans, the kitchen will be finished!" she wrote.
Total cost: $2,000.
A sculptor and owner of three old houses in Polish Hill, Mr. Bower often uses salvage materials to renovate them. For his own house and a 1,700-square-foot rental unit next door, he turned old chalkboards from a Wilkinsburg school into counter tops in the kitchens and bathrooms.
Paying less than $50 apiece for eight large sections, he edged them in wood for his own house and sealed them with a matte-finish, food-grade stone sealant. He wanted a more modern look in the rental unit. For a thicker edge, he cut the slate into thin strips and doubled the 3/8-inch-thick edges. Then he hand-carved the edges for a "wabi-sabi effect" and to hide the seams.
First Published September 10, 2011 12:00 am
