New England Demolition and Salvage

In an unfortunate case of "new is better" renovation, our home's previous owners replaced the original (solid wood! 5 panel!) doors in the kitchen and downstairs bath with the 1961 "upgrade": soulless hollow core doors.

Initially, we had hoped to find the original doors lurking about in the garage or basement...and we did...in a manner of speaking. They had been chopped up and repurposed as shelving in the basement. *sigh*

So, with our modern day bathroom renovation wrapping up, we set off for New England Demolition and Salvage in New Bedford to hunt for a real door.

After searching through the whopping inventory of salvaged doors (luckily, the doors are loosely sorted by style, and most have been tagged by width), we found a pretty little 5 panel number, in decent shape with the mortise lock intact, and very similar to the other original doors in our house. It cost us $50, which I think is a pretty good value.

We then rounded out the purchase with salvaged black porcelain door knobs ($15) and crummy back plates ($5 for the pair) that we'll just paint white to match the door.

None of it is in perfect condition, but the prices sure beat the reproductions at the House of Antique Hardware and Rejuvenation...and of course, there's something to be said for the character of salvaged homegoods!