apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This totally rocks. I didn't know about this place at all. There was the salvage place that used to be in Adams Morgan (17th St?) that's moved somewhere that had a lot of edited period stuff. But, this place takes donations - that's fantastic. Go re-use.

Caroline, you are an invaluable resource!

What excellent information! Thanks Caroline!

very cool. grew up in dc area and never heard of this. dc is rocking!

I've lived here for many years and had never heard of this. Fantastic! What a great resource, and a surprise to boot. Thank you!

Fantastic! I will be making a trip.

This is a great post! I can't wait to check this place out. Good job Caroline.

Love that they are a non-profit - this looks like a great resource.

This post makes me want to have my bathtub reglazed in gleaming teal blue...

There is also a Habitat for Humanity Re-Store on Rt. 1 in Alexandria, VA. Same concept, with donated new and used building items.

FINALLY! Information about a D.C. area place I didn't know about. I've lived here for over 20 years and have never heard of this place. Anyone who has a house in this city knows what a challenge it is to find doors, windows, sinks/tubs, mantels that will fit into the typical 100 year old home D.C. row house. Most home renovators end up having to get items custom built. What other cool stuff do you know Caroline V?

Um, this is awesome! This is exactly the sort of stuff I look forward to reading about with AT DC.

i've been meaning to get to this place but keep putting it off. thanks for this post.

Thanks! Now I have another reason to go home to see the folks.

Interesting resource, but I can't get past the poor writing of this post.

Great tip. Thanks!

Shawn - thanks for that info. Here's a link:
http://www.habitatnova.org/restore/

Amazing Find, Caroline.

Anyone know if there is anything like this in Atlanta?

I have a feeling we are going to see a flood of "Breakfast at Tiffany" sofas in the next wave of DC house tours..

Great information--I've never heard of this place--but there are some grammatical problems with the post. For instance, "A nice vintage one that I had to cut an inch off for my hall pantry and a new one still in a box (with all it’s hardware) for my bedroom closet" is not a complete sentence.

Community Forklift is a treasure chest of goodies! We snagged a vintage stove in near-perfect condition & an immaculate stainless steel, counter-depth fridge. We also refinished a great french door that we purchased from Community Forklift. Love. This. Place. And don't miss the gianormous Salvation Army down the road. They always have a great selection of vintage glasses, etc. Just beware, the overwhelming smell of mothballs may drive you back out the front door!

I wonder if anyone is going to get around to blogging about Eastern Market? A DC must!

I love Community Forklift! Great source for salvaged oak flooring if thats ur thing. Ppl r exta nice too.

Also check out Brass Knob Backdoors for cool LARGE finds (tubs, door, mantles, chairs, etc)
Or regular ol' Adams Morgan Brass Knob for SMALLER finds (knobs, lights, fans, molding, etc)

Don't let the grammar police get you down, Caroline. We are lucky you have shared such an awesome resource. Nice work!

Thanks for all the great comments! I love Brass Knob too but it's a little pricey - they do have some great stuff to drool over.

And that Salvation Army rocks! My best thrift store find ever came from there. Real cowboy boots that fit me perfectly for $5.00! It does smell a little funky.....

Caroline

Wow, this place looks awesome! Too bad I'm in NYC. Someday I'll have to go there. I wonder if there are any other places like this around the country because this is totally up my alley and when I move to a bigger space, I'd definately travel hours to get there.
Anyone know of any?

JamesM, why would we see a flood of "Breakfast at Tiffany" sofas in the next wave of DC house tours? What am I missing?

Alicia - check out this place Recycling the Past on the Jersey Shore. I think Dirty Jobs just did a story on them. I was there a few months ago and was blown away - Its a hike from DC and prob. a hike from NYC but worth it.

Caroline

I'm sorry, I just can't get past the grammar either.

Restore in Nova is a great resource for doors; for more of an "architectural salvage" feel there's also Housewerks in the Baltimore area--a little bit of a hike from DC but a groovy place. www.housewerksalvage.com

wow, this is some great timing - we have eight mismatched old wooden shutters (and twelve plasticy white ones that we dislike) that are sitting around and cluttering up our condo. we've been trying to figure out where to take them in/around dc. hooray for ATDC helping us out! this kind of information helps me look past the grammar issues :)

Ruthie from Community Forklift here.

Wow, THANKS for the shout out!! We have zero money for advertising - it's so nice to have help spreading the word. Big hugs to you, Caroline.

Just want to let answer some questions for ya'll:

1) How come you've never heard of us? Because we've only been around 2 years or so...and we're always looking for more help to get the word out! You can even earn store credit if you volunteer to staff our booth and hand out flyers at a block party or community festival :-) Go to www.CommunityForkift.com for more info.

2) Is there a store like this in my part of the country? Well, yes, there probably is. Building materials thrift stores are popping up every week - saving money while saving the world just makes so much sense! To find one near you, check out the following websites: www.BuildingReuse.org or www.Habitat.org/Env/Restores (I've noticed that some of the smaller Restores are not listed on the national Habitat site - if you don't find one close to you, call the Habitat for Humanity chapters in your county and surrounding counties to double check with them).

You should also check out www.LoadingDock.org - located in Baltimore, they're one of the oldest reuse centers in the country. They have a link on their webpage to a searchable map of the US, and they have oodles of independent stores like ours listed.

3) Not an answer to a question, just wanted to share a little additional info. Not only do we take donations of building materials - we take donations of entire houses! Instead of hiring a wrecker to demolish a house, folks can hire a "deconstruction" crew to take it apart carefully and preserve up to 80% for reuse or recycling. It can actually cost the same or less than a bulldozer, as you avoid landfill fees and you earn thousands of dollars in tax deductions for the donated materials. Oh, and it creates green collar jobs in the local community! Just thought you'd like to know ;-)

Thanks,
Ruthie

wonderful! love to see how ur post got people talking and even got a comment from someone at the actual establishment!

well done.

This sounds like an excellent resource for anyone working on a renovation in this town! I'll definitely drop by just to take a look the next time I'm out that way.

Great posts so far in this DC blogger search!

Good source but um... I think I could have done without the two tiolet pics? I dunno- maybe its just me!

Hey Caroline!

Thanks for the tips - I'll definitely check the Community Forklift site out the next time we're looking for stuff for the house. Thanks again!

Another place I'd never heard of. Cool!

I agree that the writing leaves something to be desired. But I love that Caroline chose to use her editorial audition to publicize Community Forklift.

My kind of place.. dirty! :)