apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've been trying to figure out how to make something in that blue/green/white combo as an art piece to hang over my guest bed. I'm not even sure where to get 'reclaimed wood', and how to make it look white & bluewashed like the above. Any ideas?

great question funny, i have always wondered that myself..."where does one get a good amount of "reclaimed wood"....as for for faking it...find old wood and paint sand repeat

Check out some of the furniture here:
http://www.dryadsdancing.com/products/index.php?cPath=29

You choose the color range. And they have done all of this for you:
We use the beautiful reclaimed wood with the authentic paint to create the patched together surfaces. We plane the wood down so it is smooth and then add a coat or two of heavy matte lacquer. The welded steel frame makes the furniture very strong and durable. We hand sand the steel to soften the edges and then patina to an antique bronze. Since we do all the metal fabrication in house we can make custom pieces. Choose from one of the five color pallettes.
----------

It kind of defeats the purpose of reclaimed wood to take new wood and make it look old. Much like copy cat designs and faux antiquing/distressing, there's the original...and there are the fakes.

You can have wonderful modern designs in reclaimed wood:
http://www.bnind.com/FINAL_ICONIC_PANELS/Reclaimed.html

Plenty of sources to choose from, like furniture:
http://www.environmentfurniture.com/collection.html

Art:
http://www.ejindustrialarts.com/

Flooring:
http://www.strawsticksandbricks.com/index.php?cPath=21_6&main_page=index

http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/L8/mountain-lumber-reclaimed-oak-lg.jpg

If you're wanting to see who started it all, check here:
http://www.pietheineek.nl/en/collection/scrapwood

The prices reflect the origin...if you go to the source, you may find it very high priced.

Great sources for used wood: built-ins, basement & garage shelving, old bookcases, broken painted cabinets.

These provide width and usually thickness. If you are a wood hoarder, you'll always have much more reclaimed wood than you use since most is the wrong thickness.

If you ever become an estate sale junkie, look in garages and basements for extra wood planks or broken pieces of furniture. Most dealers will let you walk with this stuff for pennies.

A mallet, pliers for nails, and saw will allow you to fit nearly any piece into a subcompact car if you disassemble it first.

The top photo of the wall just looks like something from a shanty-town to me, and I find it a bit distasteful - what next, rusty wriggly tin roofs to be ironic?

Sorry if that's a little harsh, it's just really not something I could ever appreciate.

That fourth photo makes me feel dirty.

The only way to make it look nice is to pair it with clean furniture, and only do one wall. The other photos look great!

Oh! I'm intrigued! And inspired! Now I need to get my hands on some old wood to create art pieces. Thanks for sharing this collection of images!