Treasures in the dust...

We had a wine tasting. Don't judge us.

This past weekend I met a very dear gal pal for a short retreat in Portland, ME. It was fabulous! We chatted late into the night, ate badly (eating fru-fru cheese, fruit, chocolate and wine for lunch/dinner seemed like a great idea!), ran the stairwells and halls of the Eastland Park Hotel at 11pm as penance for the copious amounts of delightful calories consumed, and spent hours discussing wishful renovations to my house and realistic ideas for the home she and her husband are currently designing/building. We also spent several hours in my new favorite place - Portland Architectural Salvage.

It is the holy place for anyone with big ideas about upcycling products - making the old into something new. With 12,000 square feet of display space on four floors, it literally takes HOURS to see everything! I skipped an entire floor because I wanted to focus on the items on the other three floors (I'm not in the market for tubs and such anyway) and I'm sure I still missed lots of things!

Hard to see but there are two drawers here. The shiny thing is
a glass block reclaimed from a glass factory.

I walked away with three items that I love. Two are the same - they are wooden drawers from an old chicken egg incubator. I wasn't sure what they were at first but ventured some guesses including incubator drawer but I wasn't sure. They were clearly of an agricultural nature judging from the wire bottoms and unfinished wood. The salvage store owner wasn't sure what they were either but having had three immediate alternative use ideas for them, I haggled a lower price and brought them home. Upon closer inspection at home, I discovered bits of egg shell adhered to the inside of the drawer and found images of similar drawers from 1950's incubators on the internet and therefore confirmed my assumption.

Champion Milk Cooler and Aerator circa 1892!

The third item is an old fashioned milk cooler and aerator. I grew up on a small dairy farm but didn't recognize it as something that we had used. It was, after all, patented in 1892. It is the perfect shape and height to make it into the base for a table so I bought it.

My thinking is that I'd like to start making unique upcycled items and possibly sell them. But... After some research about the milk cooler and realizing that it's a very hard item to come by... I'm pretty sure it's here to stay.

I have begun looking for salvage stores closer to home and am thinking that this weekend might find me at one in New Bedford. Apparently my husband knew there was one there but was avoiding telling me... I think he's afraid that our basement (aka my workshop) will begin to look like a salvage yard.

My greatest struggle in finding really cool things to upcycle will certainly be... letting them go. I'll do my best though!