We love these industrial lockers as pantry storage! Check out similar lockers we have in stock here!

And this vintage icebox transformed into a rad liquor cabinet!

Jacob turned this lovely glass sink into an outdoor bird bath!

How gorgeous is this live edge entry bench?? Check out some of the beautiful spalted maple live edge we’ve got in stock here and here!

These theater seats make awesome entryway seating!

Thank you for your commitment to the salvage lifestyle, Jacob!

Have a 2U success story of your own? We’d love to hear from you! Send us an email at customerprojects@seconduse.com with pictures and a brief description of your project for a chance to be featured on our blog/instagram and $5 store credit!

Before:

Rachel’s grey brick home mid- paint job, with the old doors still installed.

Here’s a look at the old doors Rachel took out:

And the ones she got from Second Use, stained and ready to be installed!

After:

Rachel updated the exterior of her brick home with a fresh, modern coat of white paint, which pairs beautifully with her salvaged glowing fir doors from Second Use! Rachel replaced both the front and garage doors.

Beautiful work, Rachel! Thanks for sharing!

Have a 2U success story of your own? We’d love to hear from you! Send us an email at customerprojects@seconduse.com with pictures and a brief description of your project for a chance to be featured on our blog/instagram and $5 store credit!

1. Item #655777: The Second Use Chainsaw Massacre

At only $20, this guy is ready to be smothered with fake blood and placed in a creepy (but safe and out of children’s reach) spot. Trick-or-treaters beware!

2. Item #656675: Justice is Served

What’s heavier, a human skull or a bucket of candy? We’ll let this scale decide.

3. Item #652185: Witch’s Brew

This massive cauldron is as authentic as it is heavy (which is to say, VERY). When you’re done using it to scare neighbors, it’ll make a great planter, baby bath, etc.

4+5. Items #634983 + #656287: Headless Horsemen (or Zombies, or Ghosts…)

Nothing says “Halloween decor” like a fake body dressed to impress (or frighten). Bury halfway in your yard, separate into pieces, use later in the year as Santa’s elves, the possibilities are endless.

*Wishing you the spookiest and most mischievous of Halloweens*

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Before:

Walker’s tiled fireplace was looking a little stuck in the past. Our resident wood expert Nils helped him find the perfect slab of live edge to turn this spot into a cozy entertainment corner!

After:

What a fireplace facelift! Inspired? Check out our selection of lumber here, or stop in at our Seattle or Tacoma locations to peruse our stock yourself!

Have a 2U success story of your own? We’d love to hear from you! Send us an email at customerprojects@seconduse.com with pictures and a brief description of your project for a chance to be featured on our blog/instagram and $5 store credit!

THE CHALLENGE: Integrate at least one vintage beer bottle into a work of art or design piece.

ENTRY: Vintage beer bottles sourced from the old FX McRory’s in Pioneer Square are available at Second Use in a range of sizes. The small entry fee of $5 covers your first (3) bottles. Additional bottles can be purchased for just $2/each.

DEADLINE: Submissions must be delivered to Second Use by Monday, September 11th.

JUDGING: Submissions will be judged by the public at our Annual Fall Fest on Saturday, September 16th from 12-6 at the Second Use Store. 8 prizes will be awarded!

PRIZE LEVELS:

• Best In Show
  • 1st Place: $150 Store Credit + Second Use Swag Bag
  • 2nd Place: $100 Store Credit + Second Use Swag Bag
  • 3rd Place: $50 Store Credit + Second Use Swag Bag

• Honorable Mentions
  • Most Creative: $25 Store Credit + Second Use Swag Bag
  • Most Outrageous: $25 Store Credit + Second Use Swag Bag
  • Most Practical: $25 Store Credit + Second Use Swag Bag
  • Most Ambitious: $25 Store Credit + Second Use Swag Bag
  • Best Craftsmanship: $25 Store Credit + Second Use Swag Bag

CONTACT: Questions? Email maryanne@seconduse.com or give us a ring at 206-763-6929

Work will be exhibited and voted on by the public at our Fall Festival on September 20th at our store. Winners will be announced at 5PM.

More information about the Art + Design Competition, including the lowdown on prizes, rules, submission forms, and deadlines are available on the Second Use Fall Fest website.

Salvage is a few things today in 2014. To start, it is a culture. Resourceful people use things through its lifecycle, cleaning, fixing, and caring for it all the way to the end. Salvage is also a response to the consumerist tendencies of the public and market since industrialization and the development of mass-manufacturing. It is also just one response or facet to the sustainability movement which has taken hold in the building and design communities locally and, across the world.

There are many reasons why one might choose to salvage but time definitely is not one of them. It is often much easier or faster to go out and buy a new “one”, whatever that “one” might be. If you do choose to fix that thing you’re learning or practicing skills. You have the opportunity to learn from someone or teach someone that skill. When you fix or build something you gain satisfaction knowing you built that thing and hopefully you saved something from being collected at your local landfill, buried in the earth or crushed into a cube, loaded onto a ship, transported to half way around the world, added to their dump piles, set on fire, toxic smoke rising into the sky, ashes tossed around or inhaled by people and animals. By salvaging you have just avoided that entire scenario.

When you look at a map and locate a salvage yard you can often identify the reuse community around or in close proximity to it. If you cannot, you will be able to find it soon enough. Many who don’t know of this phenomenon yet will learn from someone at sometime soon because it catches like wildfire. One salvage yard crops up starting a revolution, others come by its magical powers and discover this long buried love for finding that treasure or deal. Soon these people are opening their own salvage companies and not really competing, but collaborating because let’s face it, today there is more than enough “junk” to go around!

SAVING MONEY BUT SPENDING TIME

No matter where you choose to shop salvage you’re likely saving money and with good reason. That light fixture you’re buying as it sits at the time of your purchase has a little less life in it than it did brand new. Maybe it needs to be rewired, perhaps it is missing one or all of its bobeches… above all and for everyone’s sanity, I hope it hasn’t been painted.

I personally don’t have much money. I pay bills, student loans, buy food, but I have this uncontrollable urge to create and build things and I enjoy working with constraints.

Using salvage and choosing when to “splurge” on new or special items allows me to create, to explore, practice, and hone skills, to beautify my world in more than one way. I feel great about repurposing “trash” or “junk” into something funtional and beautiful. I love the accomplished feeling I get when I complete something and tell people about it… even better when I sell it! I just hope this inspires someone to start that project, find something old, learn something new, and create something wonderful then tell someone about it.