Green Loft Renovation by Matt Gagnon

The New York Times writes about a woman, Ramona Liberoff, who asked Matt Gagnon, a Williamsburg-based designer, to renovate her home, by reusing and recycling much of her 1,700-square-foot home itself. His first instinct, when it came to demolishing Ms. Liberoff's bedroom, was to reuse its building materials. The wallboard was cut into four-inch-wide strips, stacked horizontally (nearly 200 high) and framed by some of the old two-by-fours to create an entryway partition that looks as if it is filled in with slivers of stone.

An exterior wall of the coat closet was similarly treated. Gagnon estimates that 60 percent of the wallboard was thus diverted from the Dumpster. Reclaiming materials, Gagnon said, not only keeps them out of landfills, but also potentially reduces the environmental impact caused by manufacturing and transporting any new materials that might be used instead.

With the bedroom gone, and the space left entirely open, Mr. Gagnon created movable screens by threading rubber cords through the ends of maple strips. The leftover maple was sent to Scrapile, a firm in Williamsburg that creates furniture from discarded wood.

:: NYTimes Article via Apartment Therapy