hometown tourist: salvage works / solabee / boys' fort

We took the kiddo up north to Stumptown last weekend to visit OMSI, and when he'd tired of watching paper cups fly and making little foam balls hover in mid-air, we packed him back into the car and shuffled him off to my little dreamland of the day.

When you see Paul Bunyan, you know you're getting close. 

Yes, my idea of a good time was visiting Salvage Works, which now shares its space with Boys' Fort Furniture  and Solabee Flowers and Botanicals (they do weddings!). You can see your intrepid blogger reflected in the window below . . . and now I'm gonna link this post to Amy over at While Wearing Heels, whose photo challenge of the month was to photograph your reflection. Bam! Two with one blow.

You can probably guess as to the nature of Salvage Works. They sell architectural salvage, house parts, and assorted oddities. And they dress it up so that the place looks and smells (and costs) boutique. Boys' Fort and Solabee help with that, though it's at times difficult to determine where one venture ends and the next begins, they're all so integrated. 

For example, we have here a gorgeous cabinet with drawers full of hardware and . . . succulents.

A wall built with reclaimed timber sports a vertical wall planter made of old coffee cans; more barnwood planters fill the desk.

Because all three businesses operate so symbiotically in the front area of the store, I think it'd be better for you if I just show you some vintage + green eye-candy and give you a scavenger hunt list.

To Find:

*antique green house/plant stand full of plants

*stump used as a low stool/table

*whiskey barrel

*vertical wall planter made of reclaimed wood

To Find:

*vintage mail slot

*1970s lamp

*oleo margarine trough . . . er, bucket

*old trophy

*painting of Vincent, called Vincent, by a local artist

*really old trunk

*tupperware canisters

To Find:

*an arrow made of reclaimed wood

*an old stool

*a stained concrete floor

To Find:

in this wall installation

*grape crate from the Coachella Valley

*Anglo roast beef crate

*a shout out to San Francisco

*a Scotch Whisky crate

*yardsticks

To Find:

*a yardstick photo frame

*turquoise dishware

*fake fruit

*old yearbook photos

To Find:

*doorknobs

*drawer pulls

*face plates

*a well-loved glass display cabinet

As usual, I missed taking snaps of some of my favorite things inside, like the labelled cabinet full of drawer hardware, a leaning pile of huge reclaimed timbers,  and a rolling stool made with a stump and some casters. Some day I'll get the hang of this blogging thing, readers, and you can say you knew me back when I sometimes still resorted to phone camera pictures and sometimes neglected to document the good parts.

Oh heck, let's do a little scavenger hunt outside, too, shall we?

To Find:

*really BIG chain

*creepy head watching your every move

*fabulous cabinet full of tools (?)

*stack full of singleton drawers and wooden crates

To Find:

*a "staff only" sign I totally missed

*a "detour" sign that someone else hit . . . possibly with a truck

*dart board

*coal buckets

To Find:

*oil can

*$1 license plates

*sign that either reads "she said" or "shed sale" (I'll never know, and it's killing me, Smalls)

*more wooden crates

To Find:

*old red orchard ladder

*army green lockers

*two cast iron bathtubs

*vintage bikes

*spoked metal wheel 

To Find:

*a good reminder

*old shovels

*assorted grates

*the word "schmick's"

They also have a decent-sized reclaimed lumber yard which the weather (and lack of flat bed truck) kept us from exploring, but we mean to take a closer look should we visit again.

So let me tell you the best thing about this place: the really sweet ladies running it for the day. I can't imagine better spokespeople for their businesses. 

The woman from Solabee was headed out on a quick delivery, but paused at the door as we were entering to see if she could answer any questions or offer any help on her way out. She swore she'd be back in a snap before pointing the guys toward a pile of vintage Fisher-Price for the kiddo to paw while I wandered around.

I think Terry was the name of the knowledgable, helpful, and friendly woman at the Salvage Works counter, who directed me to all and sundry and helped the mister pick out a surprise t-shirt for me. When I came back through with a fistful of purchases (two little succulents, two old coat hooks, and a letterpress card with Paul Bunyan on it) she told me all about the fabulous Hidden Portland project Carye Bye (the card's artist) runs. Carye also runs a bathtub museum. (You can file that little bit o' knowledge in your "Weird Portland" drawer.)

Summary: Put it on your bucket list of places to visit in Portland if you're interested in really lovely modern botanicals, vintage finds repurposed and reused, or the raw materials to DIY. It's not as big a heaping heap of supplies as you'll find at my perennial favorite stomp (Bring), but more a carefully curated collection of treasures big and small, and a really enjoyable place to spend some time exploring and imagining possibilities.

Thanks for reading!

p.s. you can make these photos bigger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that, clever you.

Linking up to:

Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl

Junkin Joe Vintage and Thrifty Finds

bring ( trash - to - treasure hunt )

The kiddo and I took a little field trip today to BRING; they're calling it the Planet Improvement Center these days, a play on "Home Improvement Center", but we always just call it Bring. I think it used to be an acronym for Builders' Resource . . . I -- N -- G. I'm not sure. The website doesn't say. (UPDATE: a reader named Brett sent in a comment letting me know "BRING stands for: Begin Recycling In Neighborhood Groups. It harkens back to the days when we collected glass around town." Thanks, Brett!)

But it's a pretty cool place. Picture old lumber from deconstructed buildings, bins of shiny brass doorknobs, tile leftover from construction jobs, old furniture and tools and light fixtures, bits piled up from office building remodels. And tons of stuff you'd never imagine until you get there. Like this. This almost came home with me.

Ooh baby. Vintage turquoise gas range. But check out the scale.

It's only like 18 inches high. Best the mister and I can figure, it must have come out of an old RV or something. I can imagine gutting it and making the perfect play stove for the kiddo. But I left it behind . . . and can't stop thinking about it . . . but I don't have enough room for a play stove. I really need like, twice the house I've got; my ideas can't all fit in this one.

I also spied these wood bi-fold doors, just begging to be made into a privacy screen / room divider. Maybe painted some bright color?

Of course, these old chrome stools are kinda awesome as-is. Vintage cool.

I might go back for one of these. Surely I can find space for one of these.

And then, there were things like this large display case. It's one of a pair at Bring that came out of the Eugene Nike Store. They're doing a remodel in anticipation of the upcoming Olympic Trials, so . . . nifty display cases up for grabs.

AND these free shipping crates that I almost loaded up (telling myself that if someday I'm a prop mistress for an Indiana Jones movie, they'd be perfect . . . and if not, I could always use that industrial hardware for something cool).

Anyway, aside from some bits and pieces for finishing up a project (more on that later), I came away with these. These boring shutters. These boring old shutters that are not an adorable, miniature turquoise stove.

Well, I came away with two of them, anyway, to solve the problem of one of our two bedroom windows. We've been living with lime green curtains. They shall not be photographed. But I'll post the shutters when they're done.

What gets my imagination going out at Bring, really, is that it's not just piles of stuff with potential, it's the building and courtyard that really show what you can do with all this stuff.

Like this gate made completely of recycled bits of old bicycles and buildings. (Not sure where the rhino in the background came from, but I love him.)

Or this siding made out of old records (an old bridge railing in the foreground fills in as a fence for the little path that wanders through the garden).

Or this area of the courtyard that resembles a temple.

I think you'll agree, though, that this tile mosaic structure and wall really push the envelope.

Recycled toilet tank lids. That's pretty awesome.

Check it out sometime! Or, if you live out-of-area, lots of cities have re-building centers or Habitat for Humanity Re-Stores. It's a pretty limitless pool of possibility.


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

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