Reclaimed Wood: a Plethora of Opportunities

TerraMai Peroba reclaimed wood installation

Reclaimed wood is a rich resource for designers, offering abundant opportunities to do good while creating gorgeous interiors. With many suppliers to choose from, the possibilities are exciting.

TerraMai reclaims its wood from around the world and the entire line is FSC certified. It is also the first reclaimed wood company to participate in a carbon offset program and the first to develop veneers and substrates made from reclaimed wood, thus finding new applications for reclaimed wood thus helping to preserve the world’s remaining forests.

Two of the best suppliers are E.T. Moore established in 1969 and Turning House Millworks, which acquires buildings and reclaims every reusable resource—not just wood, but also bricks, copper, hardware, steel and any other materials for which there is an existing market. Both are reliable providers of vintage wood reclaimed from a variety of sources including old buildings and factories, textile mills, barns, waterways, railroads, fallen and dead trees, wharfs and docks, and wine barrels.

 
TerraMai Peroba reclaimed wood installation

Artists/designers Margaret Taylor and Simone Wilson of tiny Chamblee, Georgia spend much of their time scouring the rural south looking for salvageable materials for their distinctive products. Turning scrap lumber into hand-crafted pieces of furniture, the duo breathes new life into old woods – often from vintage barns, homes and public buildings. Each piece of functional art is a unique patchwork of reclaimed woods. The items are available through Sawbridge Studios.

Reclaimed wood is showing up in high profile projects. Founding Farmers, a recently opened restaurant in Washington, DC with an unusual premise – it’s owned by a collective of more than 40,000 American family farms – is receiving as many kudos for its green décor as it is for its organic menu. The wood flooring was reclaimed from a Georgia textile mill – seems like Georgia is the go-to place. Read more about this LEED registered (hoping for Gold) project and its sustainable features in this recent article in The Washington Post.

Images courtesy of TerraMai.