A new vintage building materials store with a twist is opening today. Salvage Works, owned by finish carpenter and furniture maker Preston Browning, offers a wide array of reclaimed vintage architectural salvage, as well as something no other reclaimed house parts store offers: services to restore, modify or repair inventory or customer owned items. Additionally, the store keeps a running wish list, so if someone is looking for something particular, they can be contacted via email, with a photo, of the item that might be a good match. Located in the historic North Portland Kenton neighborhood, Salvage Works also offers handmade custom furniture, collectables and hosts shows by local furniture makers and artists as part of Kenton’s Third Thursday Art Walk.

Salvage Works carries reclaimed building materials and vintage collectables. Most of the products are salvaged from local deconstruction projects. Products include:

Lumber: Old growth and clear vertical grain (CVG), Doug Fir and standard framing lumber
Doors: Vintage single, 4 and 5 panel interior doors and exterior doors too
Windows
Flooring and molding
Kitchen and bath fixtures
Hardware
Lighting 
Collectables for home and garden
Hand-made furniture and custom projects for the home or business made from reclaimed materials
Services include repair, modification or restoration of inventory items or customer owned items.
Doors, either paint or stain grade
Windows, including re-glazing with period glass 
Hardware cleaning
Lumber milling
Antique repair and restoration

Perfect for the contractor, DIY homeowner and collector, Salvage Works offers competitive prices, a hand-picked, select inventory and an owner on the premises who knows the products inside and out. Customers receive attentive assistance and practical advice in reusing reclaimed building materials. 

GRAND OPENING PARTY Sat. 5/22 4-8 PM as part of the Kenton Street Fair. Food provided by Kevin Sandri of the Garden State Food Carts. Old-timey live music!

About Preston Browning: Furniture maker, finish carpenter, antique restorer, deconstructionist and avid collector and junker, Preston started his career as an apprentice with one of the nation’s premier antique restoration experts, Nick Greer. With him, he worked on antiques for the Smithsonian, the White House and the National Cathedral. In Portland, he worked for the Rebuilding Center on their first deconstruction crew. Later, he developed Refind Furniture, a department of the Rebuilding Center which makes furniture and accessories from reclaimed lumber and house parts. For three years, he designed and built custom furniture and accessories there. After hurricane Katrina, he worked with Mercy Corps  in the neighborhoods of New Orleans, training non-profits and contractors in the practices of deconstruction. Most recently, he worked with the City of Portland in the Green Building Program, with Lovett Deconstruction and has been building furniture and custom store fixtures. 

“Salvage Works is the culmination of years of work diverting beautiful, useful and handy items from the landfill. It also satisfies my life-long addiction to collecting, thrifting, and junking for cool, funky and weird old stuff.”