Reinbarnation: Reclamation with Integrity
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 01.28.08
Searching through the offerings at Twig, a new shop selling sustainable clothing, accessories, and gadgetry in Chapel Hill, NC, this author came across some beautiful mirrors created from re-claimed barn wood by Roger Dinger of Reinbarnation. We are big fans of reclamation and reuse (see these beautiful kitchen islands, for example), but we did wonder about the dangers of reclaiming old barns and losing our architectural heritage in the process. On checking out the artist’s website, however, we were pleased to see that Roger not only creates beautiful frames, furniture and accessories from the wood, thus giving it another chance at life, but he also goes out of his way to preserve what he can of the building’s history:
The past life of each barn is honored prior to deconstruction. The building and grounds are explored, photographs are taken, and the owner’s knowledge of the barn’s past is recorded.
Roger personally deconstructs the barns one board at a time, removes and saves the rusty old nails, brushes off the dust, and transports the reclaimed lumber to his shop near Siler City, NC. There the wood is sorted and stacked in dry storage bins until it is chosen to become a piece of furniture or art.
For more thoughts on decking your home out in eco-style, see our guide on How to Green Your Furniture::Reinbarnation::via site visit::
Good article, about a great use of recycling old barn wood.
Just to note though, there is at least one other organization doing the same thing with old barns (from PA) here in Charlotte, NC - www.barnwoodclassics.com
I much prefer "Barn Again!" as a way of "reclaiming an old barn.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/barnagain_about.xml
A local acquaintance, Kurt Schrader, reclaimed his barn that way. He restored the windmill, too. He runs a great community organic farm.
See picture on page 18 below.
http://www.museumonmainstreet.org/admin/barn_admin/barn_local/Docent_Guide.pdf