Enjoy Architecturals Antiques and Vintage
Woods While You Can
By, Brad Kittel
I started Discovery years ago thinking that we would be
supplying the restoration people as a prime market. As it turns out, the
bigger market is for the people who are doing new construction, either working
on new homes or commercial ventures. We found that more people are
returning to the classic styles and elements that we specialize in at our store.
We are thrilled to see the trend growing and that more people are recycling the
many building materials by using them for critical design elements in their
homes. From antique beams, flooring, lighting, stained glass, and much
more. Realizing that this trend is not inexpensive, it is nice to see that
the upper echelon is making the investments into this trend and thereby making
it possible for this trend to continue.
Likewise, restaurants are also adopting the architectural
antiques movement and we have been fortunate enough to supply a number of them
in San Antonio, Houston, and Austin. From Barry's Pizza Parlors, The
Catfish Parlors, Gringos Restaurants, and other specialty restaurants have found
that the variety of materials, from bead board to tin ceiling and antique doors,
the customers are eating up the decor as well as the food. They enjoy the
distraction and variety of visual stimulation while waiting for and eating their
dinners. There is no downside to adding the materials to a restaurant
other than the cost, which is not significant compared to the benefit of
distracting customers from their wait or other issues that might come up in the
process of serving their food.
While the opportunity to take full advantage of our materials is
easier with new construction, the remodeling opportunities are actually wide
open and can be done without being expensive. From adding antique beaded
wood for a wainscot in the baths and kitchens to simply changing out all of the
yucky newer doors for antique doors, and even adding beams to ceilings in
kitchens and other main areas. Tin ceiling is another decorative element
that goes well in small quantities, from the single piece here or there, to a
great ceiling with some bead board around the edge and some Long Leaf Pine to
border it. Again, the costs are small compared to the look you can get
when it is complete. A few pieces of stained glass will add huge splashes
of color that will be appreciated by everyone who enters the room.
Furthermore the pieces will continue to go up in value and be a good investment
because they continue to go up in value as time goes by.
Adding nice doorknobs and doors can be a little more expensive
upgrade, but once again, it is also a good investment because of the increase in
value on them as well. Of coarse there are certain doors that will get
more attention than others in your home, such as the front door to the house,
the guest bath, and the master suite are all great doors to add classic
doorknobs too. The first impressions from your entrance to your home are
often the greatest, since people who never enter the home often draw conclusions
from the entrance. A bland entry suggests a bland interior, and to some,
an owner with no style or taste, since they ignored one of the most important
elements in their home. Antique doors with style and character cost
less than new doors of comparable quality and are relatively easy to add in a
remodel as well as new construction. Another factor is that they are
generally unique and the odds of someone down the same street having the same
one are infinitesimal, unlike mass manufactured doors that anyone can find and
copy if they happen to like yours. Unique is special, whether it is the
doorknob, the door, or both, it is one place you can have fun and not go wildly
over budget doing it.
Finally,
wood flooring such as Long Leaf Pine, is naturally beautiful and will last a
lifetime. We are fortunate to still have access to this commercially
extinct wood, thanks to salvage or mining of it from the last of the old
structure that are being torn down these days. In another 15 years it will
be mostly gone and we will look back at real wood from ancient trees as a
treasure long lost and sadly wasted when it was thrown into landfills.
FEMA, for example, will not allow salvaging of materials off from the sites they
pay to clean up after the hurricanes, sending tons of antique beams and lumber
to their final death rather than letting them be salvaged. They are
filling the dumps with goods rather than just trash. Large corporate farms
are refusing to allow the salvage of old farmhouses and barns that are on
homesteads they buy out to add to their massive farming operations.
Lawyers have stopped the salvage of houses and barns on large tracts of land
slated for development as well because of fears of liability from workers
getting hurt while salvaging from the property. Likewise EPA rules on
demolition and waste are eliminating the salvage of wood from buildings because
it increases the percentage of contaminants in proportion to the whole waste
that is being dumped in the landfill which increase the cost to dump. If
the percentage of lead based paint or other contaminants is above a certain
percentage, it forces contractors to pay for hazardous waste disposal at higher
rates, even though it is still the same amount of hazardous waste that would
have been disposed of before extracting the salvage.
As a result of these and other factors, there is a shrinking
supply of vintage lumber available for salvage in an environment of growing
demand and appreciation. As a consequence, like all other building
materials, prices are going up and thereby, the value of these elements added to
your home will also raise the value of your investment over time and make it
more sellable when the day finally arrives that you decide to sell it and move
on. As I said in a pre-Y2K article, the appreciation for our historical
past will grow as we get further into the new millennium and people will hunger
for pieces of the past that remind us of a nostalgic time we seem to believe may
have been simpler and happier than where we are now. Creating environments
that are relaxing and full of wood and antiquities seems to soothe us and thus
the popularity of the materials that make that possible is growing
exponentially. With all of the top home design magazines displaying this
look on their pages, the public is involved and loving it, so it doesn't look
like the trend will move away from this look in the near future. What are
you planning to do on your new projects?
