Shared Passion

My need to repurpose is not limited to fabric and fashion. I am very fortunate to be married to someone who feels as passionately as I do about repurposing. My husband can see new life in old objects that I can't see. He gets very excited about historical and rare building materials. He is very practical and honest, too. If he thinks something structurally won't work, he lets me know and I give up on the idea or find a new purpose. He sees solutions to remodeling projects without the need to go to the chain hardware stores. He often helps me figure out the logistics of some of my decorating/building ideas. If I see a use for something but I don't know how to construct it, he steps in and comes up with a solution or an even better use for it.

A very good example of his resourcefulness is when he remodeled our computer/TV room. When we bought the house this room was totally unfinished, there was just insulation hanging there, no drywall etc. My husband made shelves and paneling out of board from our barn. There were partitions inside of our 100+ year old barn. These walls weren't necessary to the structure of the barn and we really had no need for all the little rooms. So, he tore apart the inside of the barn to make shelves, wall paneling and a desk for the computer. I admit I thought he was crazy, but our computer room is awesome! We painted the paneling and shelves and stained the timber for the desk and some of the bigger pieces of timber - the top of the shelves. He made a ceiling, out of many, many little pieces of wood, so it would look like the bottom of the above floor. I am very proud of this room. We have some old doors, we have to hang yet, but this is my favorite room in the house.

Another major project, that we tackled, is the sidewalk and patio. Again when we moved in to this house (a fixer upper), there was no front sidewalk leading from the driveway to the house. We didn't look very hospitable. We talked about the standard cement sidewalk, but.....my dad told us that they were going to tear up the old Pennsylvania slate sidewalk in front of his house. PA slate is very rare today, especially the big slabs that made up this sidewalk. My husband decided we could use this to make our sidewalk, and I got the great idea to make a patio as well. There was more than enough of this rock. Well, my dad lives some two hundred miles away, so we rented a big truck and went and got this slate. Some of the pieces weighed over 500 lbs. apiece! It was hard work, but well worth it. We have a welcoming sidewalk and cozy patio that reminds me of my family and my childhood home.