How It All Began...

It's hard to say what really comes first for us.

Is it Design or Build? Or is it Salvage or Restore? Depending on each custom project, it could start with any of these. Often, inspiration comes in the form of Salvage first. David, the "supreme scavenger" has designed around unique windows or doors before anything else takes shape. Other times, Design comes from "out of the air" (or dreams) it would seem. When we Restore an item, it may spark a new idea for Design. The process? Different every time.

Design.

Architecture was one of many potential majors David considered before he left home for college. Yet he ended up deciding on a business major. Like so many children, his first designs were likely informal "forts" he built with couch cushions or lawn chairs. He didn't stop there: in grade school, David designed maps of his neighborhood, of his parents' farm and acreage. His first building designs were a log cabin and blacksmith shop. He later designed a small tool shed to be built using timberframe construction. (Unfortunately, his log cabin build halted a quarter way through construction when he realized his pine logs would not withstand many years without rot.) His dream of a blacksmith shop and tool shed were never realized either. Then life got in the way. While all good, there was dating, marriage, kids and a career in corporate America. His dream of design was not realized until he began designing greenhouses and sheds for his own backyard. He built model kits as a kid, so building his own models brings him joy. And ultimately, there was nothing on the market that captured his imagination.

He had to build it himself.

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Build.

For David, our founder, it all began with wood. A deep appreciation for the feel, the smell, the life in the wood. With over 35 wooded acres on his parents' to explore as a boy, he learned to identify trees by their bark, their leaves, their growth rings, and the feel of sawn wood. His forest contained fallen wood, so the winters were filled with hours of sawing, chopping and splitting firewood for his family's house. He later milled lumber with his father, Bill, in rural Michigan. From the sawmill to workshop, David learned what wood could do: in practical ways and for ways of the soul. Together, David and his father worked to build anything out of wood, from basic carpentry, to wood turning on a lathe, to building chessboards, to simple boxes, to building large structures on the farm. Wood was a teacher and the tool. Ultimately, the walnut, the oak, the elm, the beech, the sycamore, and the hickory capture him to this day.

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Salvage.

David has been accused of being the supreme scavenger. This is not an insult to him! He struggles deciding whether he calls himself an artist or an inventor, but either way, he finds something to create with resources others find as waste. When he's not working, you can find him in a local architectural salvage store or antique shop—dumpster. (It's sad how so much is thrown away!) Always hunting, always finding. As a youth, David also spent summers being an antique “picker” for his mother, a local antique dealer. He bid and bought what other passed over and thought worthless. (Ask him about his "$5 Garage" purchase!)

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Restore.

Restoration does not merely mean repair something for its renewed use; it is about bringing back its history, its character and its life. The restored thing has a story to tell. For those older, newly restored items, we learn much about the craftspeople who came before us. We learn about them through the restoration process. For David, the chance to restore a wooden ‘64 Thompson runabout boat with his father solidified his desire to reclaim what can be quickly lost if not preserved, cherished, and held in high esteem. David is honored to include salvaged and restored

windows, doors, and even heritage old-growth wood/lumber in his creations. "Living antiques" would be a fair description of our final product.

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We believe in and are working toward improving...

• Environmental Sustainability: Waste is haste. Everyday, Americans not only throw out valuable resources, such as wood, lumber, windows, doors, hardware, screws and nails, but they throw away history. (Don't mention the old American barns being torn down daily; it breaks our hearts!) We are burying, burning our history, and history has to be a part of sustainability; we learn from the past, what works, what doesn't. Let's reclaim it together. As it's been said: The greenest structure is one that already exists.

• Community: Our eventual goal is to become a nonprofit organization. We would like to help the community by employing the community. Specifically, we would like to support youth in the POC (People of Color) community, by providing a living wage while learning design, carpentry, and business/entrepreneurial skills.

• Arts: Architecture at one time was the pinnacle of the arts. We'd love to pass on our passion for design to others in the community to perhaps inspire the next generation to pursue architecture.. Design is art. Like history, the future can be better understood now from those walking into it.

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