Colorful cast-offs
By Christa TerryEvery now and then I’ll come across a tale of some enterprising individual who built something grand from scraps, and I’m more than a little envious of their accomplishment. In Costa Rica, near where my mother has a vacation home, there’s a lovely house a construction worker built with the leavings from various work sites. You’d never know it wasn’t crafted from specially chosen materials. Seriously, it’s gorgeous.
Likewise, I would never guess that this floor, which was laid down by the people behind Diary of a Vermont Eco Builder, was crafted using leftover pieces of Marmoleum. As you know, I’m not a huge fan of lino , but the pattern is fab and the Marmoleum adds a real splash of color to what may be an otherwise plain kitchen. I say could because it looks like the countertop is also made of Marmoleum…a lovely reddish-orange Marmoleum. Mmmm…
The reason I’m not redoing my floors and walls with cast offs is that I don’t have a supplier. The Vermontians used leftovers from their own construction projects so it wasn’t really an issue. What I’d really like is to find someone who’s looking to unload a bunch of flagstones or round bits of concrete with flat tops or anything else I could use to create a little garden path. Any ideas? I’m scouring Craigslist as I write this!
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May 28th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Have you seen the June issue of Dwell? The cover house is an architect’s house in San Francisco. It was built around the turn of the last century, and the front of the house is fairly traditional. But the back of the house – which is what’s on the cover – is covered in multi-colored scrap metal. Kind of reminds me of this floor…and it is totally cool.
May 28th, 2008 at 11:24 am
You can try landscaping companies in your area, or any garden supply warehouses, and see if there are any “damaged” or out of season stuff, cast-offs, odd lots, etc. My dad told me that Habitat for Humanity has a few stores where they sell items they can’t use (the profit of which goes right back in to HFH). He was working on his house in PA, but there may be a store near you.
May 28th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Yep, Habitat Restore centers are awesome http://www.habitat.org/env/restores.aspx
May 30th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
no assistance on the finding bits, just an anecdote about the neighborhood I live in!
My neighborhood, for a long time (and still, to some extent) was made up of handymen, contractors, builders, etc…and a lot of them built the houses in the next neighborhood over, which is full of big fancy mansions. And they took the leftovers and rejected bits home, and put them in their own houses.
So the whole neighborhood is full of elaborate stained glass, random expensive-wood built-in shelving, etc. It’s kinda cool!
August 17th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Lovely post. Please add my email address to your list and email me the updates if possible. I always like to read your blog and comment on it.
January 11th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I wish I had the patience and the time to do something like this.
January 14th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
kit pollard: I’ll have to see if I can find a back issue. I bet it’s fascinating!
Leah/ml: Habitat for Humanity, really. Who knew! It’s wonderful to be able to shop and know I’m supporting a good cause.
Laura V: That sounds awesome!
Jim S.: I think it’s the patience more than anything that stops me from doing it. I have the time, but waiting to do a project as the bits come in seems like it would be a tad frustrating.
March 26th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I have to second Jim S. when I say that I love the idea but could never do it myself because I just can’t wait thst long to put a new floor or whatever into my house.