A Saturday journey to a store featuring décor created from architectural and hardware salvage in Amherst, Ohio, was a lesson in repurposing old into new. The eco-friendly trend of using old hardware, crystal door knobs, salvaged wood planks and architectural elements to express style and creativity was on display. The owner said people come in to take pictures of her creations, hoping to recreate them. Others come to buy the originals.

Walking in, you see a concrete-floored space filled with benches, shelves, wire containers, lamps and signs, all made from salvaged materials. A focus in the main room is a bench created from two old doors, specs of blue paint from their previous life still clinging to the roughly worn wood. Nearby, bookshelves made with old wooden planks and rusted hardware are used to display for-sale books stripped of their jackets, bleached white and tied together with raffia.

Displayed on a door a few steps away are two shelves, each supported by two corbels salvaged from an 1820s ranch house. A nearby etagere requires a closer look. Two white doors (still with their door knobs) flank metal springs of an old twin bed. Two thin strips of white-painted wood crown the top. Four shelves display for-sale books, old metal baskets and a lamp made from pipes. The springs provide “hook” space for artwork or décor.

The wooden bases of old lamps are placed on a low table off to one side. Wiring was removed, and the bases were repainted blue, green and orange. Metal trays were attached to the tops, creating a platform for knick-knacks.

Wood scrap also was used as the base of a sconce made with metal pipes, a Mason jar and an old-style light bulb.

Repurposing is national. At a Miami flower show, a vintage cup and saucer was used as a vase for a flower arrangement.

A former sliding wall divider with 24 open panels originally covered with rice paper was repurposed as a backdrop for hanging art.

Across the room, white wood scraps, two hinges and latches came together to create a picture frame.