Awesome, I love to hear others using salvaged items in unique ways, that is a challenge!

Beautiful job, Kelli! I love all the colors and textures you used. I have a friend who bought old pool tables and used the slate for his new kitchen counters. They turned out so nice!

I love the recycled materials you used. Really cool style, the room looks so much brighter as well. Exactly what is that on the walls, is that tile? If it is, that is so unique!

I love what you did! I remember, back in the 1980's, we knew a man who was building his dream home. One of the things he did was reuse wood from railroad car decking for his floors. Another thing he did was use old slate blackboards for his entrance hall flooring. And my Dad was the city engineer for 11 yrs in our small town back in the 1970's and 80's. Whenever he heard of a tree being removed or a house being torn down he would or whatever, he would cull what he could from it. Wood, he took to the lumber yard to have it cut. Then he took some to have it tongue and grooved. Eventually, in the 1980's he built his home from this wood. He has cedar of lebanon ceilings, red oak floors, white oak paneling on the walls, walnut paneling in the bedrooms, cedar paneling in the bathroom and closets. Some of his doors were saved from old houses, door hardware, a leaded glass window, the cement blocks for his foundation, bricks for his brick wall where his wood stove is (yes, he would chip off the old mortar, bring them home and stack until he used them for his house), light fixtures. He even had a heavy duty pair of pull down attic stairs (not like the dinky ones of today) where he used an old pully to raise and lower them and that's what they used to access the loft. Of course, when they turned 70 yrs old, I made him replace that with a regular stair case with banisters because I was afraid they would fall going up and down with no handle. And I knew if he didn't build the stairs then, he would get too old to do it. But I love the idea of salvage and reuse.

I have a customer right now who bought some old walnut interior doors and wants me to turn them into cabinet doors and end panels for cabinets in her off-the -grid cabin.

Cool but I like a dark floor better.

Super cool River Valley! and Ngoc, I too like darker floors but the homeowners wanted something graphic on the floor! It's not about what I want, it's about pulling it together for the client.

i love it...

Merry Christmas

Exceptional transformation! Beautifully done. What is the material used for the backsplash?

clever design, love the black uppers and how they tie into the ceiling and other black accents. Beautiful warm wood and vibrant yellow to keep it lively and inviting. Industrial vibe. wonderful.

Awesome idea to use old bleachers for cabinets! My mother-in-law worked at her local high school for over 30 years and when they tore out bleachers she salvaged the wood and she, my father-in-law, and my husband used that wood to build a small deck outside our former house. She used to get a lot of cast-offs from the school, such as a perfectly sized metal and laminate top for a desk (which I am right now using!) built on small file cabinets.

This inspires me to think of a better way to re-do my kitchen than buying expensive new cabinets. I was standing looking around the kitchen just this morning thinking that it would cost a fortune to replace the ones I have, which are liveable and sturdy enough but not the best quality and finished in oak, which I'm tired of. It's a large kitchen with lots of cupboard and drawer space, which I love, but I guess the downside to the nice size of the room is that it will determine the cost of the re-do someday. Not to mention the counters, which are white laminate (what were they thinking?!) and showing stains and wear. I'm an art teacher (although I have NO experience with building cabinetry or do-it-yourself type projects) and have been wondering how my artistic creativity could both save money and make something beautiful and unique in my kitchen -- I'll have to learn how to do some renovating. Thanks for this great inspiration!

Really fresh and different Kelli, i love it.
AND the funny thing is that someone just last week offered me 4 old chalkboards that he salvaged ages ago but never got around to recycling.
So i guess they'll be heading for my lockup along with other stuff that makes people shake their heads and say "whatever do you want with that old junk ?"

Also i'm somewhat floundering for the direction that i want my future house to take ; paring down of very eclectic tastes needs to be done and your projects have really helped, thank you.

Wow, very unique and creative. Nice work.

You know, at first I was like "what?", but I actually like it on second look.

Love this! Very vibrant and perfect decor. I would buy this house just for the kitchen.

I've got a bunch of this in my shop, we built some desks for a design company out of them. Cool use as cabinets though!

Fun! What a great, creative idea!

Really great idea! Did you just come up with that on your own or had you seen it somewhere else before? Referencing to the cabinets and the chalkboard counter top.

Really cool!

I love it! I was just at a basketball game recently and thought how nice the wood bleachers were. This is a great idea.

Absolutely great use of salvaged pieces. The counters look great. The whole room looks nice. You are very creative. Thanks for the inspiration! Have a terrific holiday. :)

I love the fun energy that this kitchen gives

Love your creativity. Don't see it that often. Love it!

WE LOVE REPURPOSING. Particularly of quality materials such as these.
BRAVO!
Regards & Enjoy
Karen & Joseph
for Decorative Philosophy

Brilliant! The repurposed bleachers are inspired as is the yellow table! Well played!

I see old school chalkboards all the time at the local ReStore and I would love to use them for our countertops. Did you have to seal them after installation?

Good question, I'm wondering too. :)

Nice

Love the old chalkboard counters! Where to begin looking for the cast off blackboards?

Like this-looks so good!! Seems anything I do repurposed-always seem to have that has been look when done!! So uber congrats from a DIY clutz to a houzzer pro on this lovely unique kitchen!!

PS maybe clutz s/b spelled Klutz? Dunno but y'all get the idea...

Thank you for the nice compliments. As a designer for television I have to develop out of the box ideas using products/materials unconventionally and at times making something out of nothing to put into my designs.
Yes, we sealed the countertops, used a product used for stone countertops but do not remember the exact product - I would recommend this this slate is a very porous dry stone.
Whom to contact for blackboards? Try craigslist or salvage yards, where I found these, there were about 60 huge slabs to choose from.
I love the challenge of creating new innovative designs with repurposed products and out of the box projects.
I love hearing others creative uses for items and would really like to see pictures - so please share!

Oh, forgot to mention, I came up with everything in the design: the bleachers used for cabinets, slate countertops, floor tiles, plumbing pipes used for hanging pots, the yellow coffee station, etc. it is a challenge but I love it!
Below is the 3D plan I created on my computer for the project before we started. A few things changed but not much.

the black ceiling does it for me as well as so many of the unique touches, well done!

Awesome job!!

Kelli Kaufer-? are your black boards actual slate like from really old schools. or?? Either way they look good

Chalk or black boards are slate. They are or have been removed as they are no longer being used in schools. They will soon be very hard to find!

Wow! What a great job!

This just became one of my top 3 favorite kitchens on Houzz. Love that it isn't another white kitchen made for show. I feel like some mind boggling messes, lots of laughs and delicious food are at home here.

The backsplash is so cool! Never seen anything like it almost looks like a puzzle