A Good Man...

You know you’ve married a great man when he takes you on dates to Earthwise and the Restore, actually makes stuff out of potential you find there. A man like this has no reason to desperately resort to bad milk chocolate and roses on Valentine's Day.

Earthwise and the Restore: these two places are like monasteries. They are sacred, religious places in Seattle because of their eco-responsibility. I, however, like a pilgrim, journey there to be revived and inspired; to rest on one of the pews for sale...wishing I had more than 425 square feet so this could be part of my dining room...

(Fir bench, Earthwise, 2010)

In these cloisters search our souls; we find broken and discarded leftovers of the world, the hidden beauties, the one-of-a-kind design. Each piece has a powerful story to tell, and with a little imagination can become new again.

We have pulled butcher-block kitchen islands, blown glass lamps, tables, and art out of what we've found there.

This is a lamp in my window cut from a forgotten jar:

This is a coffee table The Non-Scotsman restored from a discarded factory cart left in the basement of a building by the Alaska Way Viaduct: we have seen them sold for 10x what we paid)...

(Factory Cart coffee table, 2009)

(Beautiful details)

This discarded mailbox is happily hanging in our entry-way:

These are two tall tabletops in Epulo Bistro that we built out of massive discarded doors (I apologize that this photo is difficult to see):

(Epulo Bistro, 2009)