Salvaged Railing Displays Linens
“Sometimes when I’m not looking for anything in particular I find something wonderful,” she says. “Many Tudor-style houses from the 1930s are being torn down to make way for larger homes.”
Miers wrote in a recent article that the piece she bought reminds her of the porch of her great-grandparents’ house on Versailles Avenue in old Highland Park
Miers writes that she took the railing home and lightly sanded off the rust, leaned the piece of iron against a wall in her guest bathroom, and used it as a rack to display monogrammed towels.
The metal railing is a lovely way to display linens while creating a nostalgic focal point, Miers said in the article.
Collector Steven Cronin says when the wrecking ball is ready to swing it’s easy to try to save anything that might be of value.
That would a mistake according to Matt White, owner of Recycling The Past, an architectural salvage company based in a 140-year-old Victorian building in the heart of an Ocean County municipality.
For seven years the businessman has earned his living by saving hardware, decorative items, and plumbing fixtures that would otherwise end up in the rubble pile and selling them to a growing cadre of customers.
“You have to be very selective,” he said.
Inside the offices a family of cats makes its home among displays of old glass doorknobs, hinges, and numerous decorative tiles.
White came by these treasures in a variety of ways.
“I was in New York the other day and I saw this old door in the trash,” he said.
Needless to say White was late to his appointment that day.
White started his business by collecting only items he liked.
“I figured I might get stuck with it so I might as well buy things I enjoyed looking at,” he said.
But White has become more receptive to buying more things he might not like but that customers clamor for.
These include wire sculptures and furniture that are a favorite among customers.
