Carlo Sampietro is an environmentally concerned artisan who repurposes what he literally finds in the street into industrial chic furniture.  A plastic traffic barrel, for instance, becomes a Cloche Chair (with a light-up base) when Carlo Sampietro reinvents “thrown away stuff” from New York City Streets and conjures up his “street is in the house” line of furniture and accessories.  He also incorporates old Police barriers, mailboxes, and even used newspaper and magazine holders into vintage chic tables, aquariums, and even dishwashers!

A 1960s taxi cab topper is ingeniously repurposed into mood lighting.

Who would have known that an emergency barrier can be repurposed into the most stylish workhorse table?

Here’s another great take on the emergency barrier repurposed table idea, and I’m loving the patriotic feel.  What a way to spark dinner conversation!

Yes, that is indeed a dishwasher upcycled from an old magazine rack!

Repurposing vintage furniture in order to go “green” has been, until recently, something that was done by artists, environmentalists and DIYers who are advocates for using sustainable materials and recyclables to reduce waste and preserve pieces from our history and culture for future use.

Now, furniture designers who want to create one-of-a-kind pieces are embracing the Repurposing Movement too. Keith Merry, furniture designer and owner of Garden Park Antiques in Nashville, is a master at his craft.

This beautiful coffee table is made from a 19^th Century Pulley Wheel, which was part of a mechanism that brought power to an piece of industrial machinery. Keith had the vision, added vintage “feet” and repurposed glass for a table top — and look at the magnificent result!

Look what can be done with a vintage wooden Pattern Mold from a Foundry! Now its an exquisite mirror, which will reflect light and beautiful images in someone’s wonderful space for an infinite number of years to come

Keith took vintage film reel canisters and creatively repurposed them into chic industrial stools (with the help of your friendly local welder).  If only I had not sold my collection of antique Hollywood film reels before I moved to Hawaii, I would have such great seating in my home now!

The pallet trend is here to stay (but be sure to read my post about testing for toxic pallets before you bring one into your home!), but Keith takes it to a new level by repurposing vintage pallets into storied coffee tables that have a great patina and sense of time.

Keith found this 1920′s old growth pine industrial assembly table from a factory and knew it still had generations of use to offer. Adding the glass top upcycles the piece to fit in any decor, from a loft to your farmhouse kitchen – and even to your den office space or man-cave!

As we embrace this new decade, Keith feels that more and more furniture designers will be adding repurposed pieces that they re-design or upcycle for modern purposes, but with a unique gift included. The gift is that each repurposed creation offers its owner the opportunity to own a piece of history.

When you combine found vintage industrial elements with a bit of light, you get gorgeous repurposed lighting that adds character to any room.  Conant Metal and Light is a group of artisans who take on the task of making exquisite and functional lighting from every conceivable kind of vintage object.  They do more than just create beauty, but they also INSPIRE US.

This design embodies elegance and simplicity. Imagine making it from repurposed copper, brass or even aluminum tubing…drilling holes with your power drill, using vintage chains, and parts from lamp kits to make amazing lighting for your happy home from objects that can be upcycled over and over.

This is a repurposed vintage fan that breathes new life as a lamp.

This is a lovely lamp crafted from an antique ball jar and pulley. Vintage Ball jars can be found at many resale shops, on ebay, and who knows, maybe right in your mom’s pantry!  Pulleys of this kind were used to raise and lower windows in Victorian and Craftsman style homes built around 1900. You can still find this hardware at architectural salvage stores and online.

This vintage Mason Jar is blue, but they also come in green, purple and clear. These vintage jars can be found at antique malls, vintage shops and even on Ebay where the seller often provides a little history with each one they sell.

This desk lamp base is made from an vintage apple corer drive wheel , and the shade is made from spun aluminum. You could easily find recycled tin, or other metals, or even reground glass to put your own stamp on your creation

These simple flask lamps (or you could repurpose laboratory beakers) a lamp kit, led bulb, or vintage reproduction bulb if you prefer, to use less energy and any lamp shade (hopefully repurposed as well) would make a stunning impact on almost any décor, while being eco-friendly and inexpensive too.

While I am gathering supplies for my next repurposing project and scoping out photo shoot locations (does anyone know of a retro coin-laundry place around Detroit?), I have a mini-photo series to share with you, not so aptly entitled “a study of vintage proportions.”

What a difference a bulb makes!

Now I only have to figure out how to electrify the enormous vintage lightbulb.

As the ultimate statement in architectural repurposing, Adam Kalkin has transformed shipping containers into luxurious and irreverent adobes.  Unlike other architects who maintain the industrial, raw feel of the interior of shipping containers, Kalkin mixes them with Victornia archiecture and high end design — creating an eclectic mix that sings vintage industrial chic to me.  Could you imagine living in one of these repurposed shipping container homes (of course, never minding the fact that they could cost anywhere from $50,000 to $2 million)?  The “dream” home I’m always building in my head has new blueprints to consider now.  Via my husband via the tech blog Gizmodo he reads…

Happy weekend to you!  May it be filled with daydreaming about repurposed, creative places to live!

My lovely friend Suzanne, the Italian Girl in Georiga (who has marvelous photography in her Etsy shop), surprised me this weekend with snail mail!  There’s something quite nostalgic and magical about receiving a letter in the mail, don’t you think?

Inside her beautiful photography card was a useful article on vintage industrial lighting she clipped for me from Country Home.

For those curious about the fair pricing of vintage industrial lamps and cages, the article is a great guide — and who knows, you may even stumble upon a rare piece next time you are at an antique fair!

The appeal of vintage industrial chic is timeless — and Randy from Kramer Design Studio really takes metalwork repurposing to a new level of style.  From upcycling weathered steel railings into fabulous headboards, and utilizing chain links (that weigh 15 pounds each!) to create the most unique tables, to giving clock faces new lives as coffee tables, Randy is a great source of metalwork inspiration!

Monday always prompts me to re-organize my desk to prepare for a fresh week.  This weekend, I picked up an obsolete slide holder — and thought it would be lovely for a stylish desktop organization tool for the shop.

I’m also always looking to maximize my wall real estate, and this DIY project from GreenUpgrader adds a hint of shine and vintage industrial style to your office.  It is made of upcycled metal cans, great for stashing away notes, paperclips, letters, and stamps– although I think it would be interesting to use old metal cans that still have the vintage labels!

For a more rustic feel, this desk organizer from Farmhouse Wares is made of recycled garden wood…and I love the fact that you can open and close it for instant de-cluttering.

How do you organize your desks and workspaces?  What creative ways do you de-clutter your desks?  I’d love to hear about your desktop inspirations!

Remember how fun Japanese tansus are?  This staircase of fantastic visual delight takes all of it to a whole new level.  Created by “Because We Can,” a whimsically creative design studio in Oakland, this staircase is one I would want in my home — even if I don’t have a second story!  Imagine all of the display and vintage vignette possibilities!

Photo Credit: jillianisaphotographer

Happy weekend my friends!  I’ll be back again full force on Monday — hopefully after some lucky vintage treasure hunting this weekend

Voila Gallery in Los Angeles is a vintage treasure trove of amazing curiosities…including fantastic vintage industrial furniture pieces repurposed from old airplane parts!  Leah visited Voila at SF20 last week and shared their fantastic booth pictures (first set).  I love the vintage spotlights and how they created wall lighting options in the plane panels.  The second set are some of my favorites from their website — I swear I will be more productive in that vintage industrial desk upcycled from a plane! I swear!!