Warm Industrial

Architectural salvage shops are increasingly popular destinations for designers, collectors, and remodelers, and for the home decorator looking for unique furnishings, there’s no better place to start a search. In part, salvage stores hold such wide appeal because the items there carry the forgotten tales of the past, and invite collectors to imagine creative reuse ideas.

I’ve been having a bear of a time finding a set of side tables that fit next to my couch and don’t look terrible. I also love a good DIY project — especially one that can be finished over a weekend — so I was pretty excited to see this cool set of DIY side tables made from IKEA cutting boards and plumbing pipes.

The reclaimed wood wall has been popular for a while now, and I’ve been wanting to get the look in my garage. I love the earthy hues and honest feel of reclaimed wood, but after realizing the time it would take to scour Craigslist and salvage yards for enough material, I decided to forego that nightmare and instead pursue a DIY approach using a wood-charring method called Shou Sugi Ban.

When Maude Lefrancois found out she was pregnant, she decided to change her home office into the nursery — and her desk was the perfect height for a changing table. With a few nuts and bolts, a shelf, and vintage wood crates, she turned her sterile office desk into a warmer industrial changing station with more than enough storage. Maude drilled holes into the metal frame and attached four angled brackets with nuts and bolts.

What if I were to tell you that this simple wire shoe rack could become an edgy, cool light fixture? It’s probably not the first DIY that would come to mind, and you might have a hard time visualizing it. But Elle and her boyfriend looked at this shelf, saw something beautiful, and figured out how to make it happen. Didn’t I tell you that it was cool? The geometric shape is interesting, but it’s visually light, floating against the white backdrop of the ceiling.