Glenda Lubiner walked up to John McCarthy, manager of Adam & Eve Architectural Salvage, and waved a wooden finial at him. “Can I drill a hole in the bottom of this?” she asked.
Lubiner got an affirmative answer and her mission was accomplished. That finial was exactly what she was looking for to finish the end of the S-shaped banister she bought on a previous visit. She also found a decorative knob to fit into the depression at the end of the finial and a pair of ceramic shell-shaped objects that once hung on the back of a house in Palm Beach.
“They are so tacky I just have to have them,” she said, laughing as she held one of the ceramic pieces.
Shoppers like Lubiner, who drove from her home in Sunrise, Fla., to Adam & Eve in West Palm Beach, don’t mind driving for what they want. They know that salvage warehouses can be emporiums of ideas. But to get the most out of the trip, shoppers need the creativity of Lubiner, an art teacher who is used to seeing things not as they are but how they could be.
For example, Adam & Eve had a pair of cabinet doors with Chinese Chippendale fretwork ($25 each) that creative shoppers can visualize as the doors on an entertainment center or a pantry. All that’s needed is some basic carpentry skills to build simple shelves and attach the doors.
An interesting piece of wrought iron can be transformed into a headboard in a bedroom or a trellis in a garden. And what was once the top of a column on a building can become a table base. Most of the architectural salvage places leave these reincarnations to the shopper’s imagination, but the folks at Architectural Antiques in Miami-Dade have gone a step further. In the courtyard salvage area, owner Dennis Leaton has transformed the ornate grill from the safety deposit box area of a Chicago bank into a console with a glass top. He braced sections from marble entrance doors of a Massachusetts church with metal and topped them with glass to make a table. Architectural Antiques also stocks a variety of terra-cotta items that once adorned buildings in the Midwest and the Northeast. They range from tiny squares that sell for $19 to big friezes that sell for several thousand.
Manager Marlene Dankworth says some customers have closed off a doorway and hung one of these terra pieces in the niche. One drilled holes in the mouths of lion heads and hung them on a wall to use as a fountain. Someone else took a large terra-cotta urn with four griffins and converted it into a more elaborate fountain. Dankworth is always willing to offer her ideas. “Someone creative could take those four teak columns and make them into a four-poster bed,” she said. “This is the kind of thing a designer would do. A lot of our customers are interior designers and they come back and show us pictures of what they did with what they bought here.”
Another great place to get ideas on transforming architectural salvage is the 1977 book, “Irreplaceable Artifacts” (Clarkson Potter, $35).
Authors Evan and Leslie Blum have written a primer chock full of inspirational ideas that are illustrated with photographs and drawings.
Ready to save some salvage? Here are some suggestions from the book:
– A wrought-iron gatepost was made into a standing light fixture.
First, an elongated 60-watt showcase bulb was put on a walnut base that was screwed into the four corners of the gatepost. The bulb was covered with an opalescent glass cylinder and a removable walnut cap was added.
– Wrought-iron elevator doors from the Astor Apartments on New York City’s Upper West Side were reincarnated as a see-through doorway between a kitchen and dining room. To make them fit, a redwood strip was added to the inside vertical edge of each door.
– An Art Nouveau wrought-iron balcony from eastern France was made into a console with the addition of a polished black granite top. Because it weighs a few hundred pounds, it was attached to the wall to keep it from falling over.
– A highly decorative cast-iron capital, cleaned and lacquered to prevent rusting, was transformed into a planter.
Many of the people who found creative uses for the architectural elements fell in love with them while looking for something else, according to the Blums.
“Sometimes they didn’t know how they would use the artifact, but they rescued it or bought it anyway,” the Blums wrote. “Only later did they find the perfect spot in which to hang it or figure out how to make it into a table or a door or a headboard.”
TIPS FOR SHOPPING AT SALVAGE STORES
Thinking about shopping at salvage warehouses? Here are some tips:
Don’t assume everything you find in a salvage shop is old. Most stores offer a combination of new and old items. Ask questions before you buy.
– Bargaining is expected, but don’t be insulting. Typically, shop owners will cut prices 20 to 30 percent. A good way to bargain is to ask: “What is your best price?”
– Beware of unsubstantiated claims. Prices on some items are high because they are supposedly from a house built by architect Addison Mizner or from a European villa. If a claim is made, ask for proof in writing. It’s worth paying an expert to come with you before making a pricey purchase.
– Come prepared. Bring measurements with you if you are looking for a cabinet to fit a space. It’s also a good idea to bring a camera, measuring tape, pad and pencil.
– If you buy it, it’s yours. Many places have an “as is” policy with no returns and no refunds.
– Don’t depend on your credit card. Some places take only cash or personal check.
— Knight Ridder/Tribune
