Allison & Tom’s Unusual, Vintage & Salvaged Home

Name: Allison Schmidt
Location: Culver City, California

Tom and I met in art school, fell in love, bought our home and have been remodeling it ever since. We decided to add a second story and turn a basic 1952 bungalow into our version of a craftsman home.

And we decided we could do it ourselves. We wanted to try to use as many recycled and vintage pieces as possible so we began seeking out swap meets and salvage yards.

Building upon his education in sculpture, Tom read every book on home building and has managed to create nearly everything in our home, from custom wood shelves, to penny floors, and most of the lighting. We have done our best to save money by using unusual materials, such as bricks for flooring, old garden fencing for stair railings and discarded fence boards as countertops.

Our house went from 1000 sq ft to 2000 sq ft. It’s not huge, but keeping a backyard was important to us and to our pets. We love that almost everything in our home holds a memory. It is all something we found or created.

Thanks, Allison Schmidt!

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