"Vintage Vagabond" Leads DIY Workshop and Crowd Learns to Transform Salvaged Hardware into Home Décor

You’ve heard it all too many times: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. On October 8th in Circa, Restoration Resources’ unique event venue, this popular saying was put into action by a variety of guests who came to Restoration Resources with their creativity and one common goal: to transform a pile of salvaged antique chandelier parts and hardware into their own unique home décor items. Attendees of this ArtWeek Boston exclusive event—Salvage DIY Artistry—casually spilled into the South End store’s 7,000 square foot showroom, some of them regular shoppers saying hello to owner Bill Raymer and store manager Walter Santory and some of them new to the store altogether, wandering about the showroom as though they had just stepped out of a time machine and into a world gone by.

After snacking on some refreshments and sipping on some wine and beer, it was time to get down to business. Enter Amy Chenette of Vintage Vagabond. Amy has a unique workshop located on the lower level of Restoration Resources where she breathes life into antique salvaged furniture and pieces. By taking visitors on a tour of her workshop, Amy showcased the many uses for antique salvage and got the group’s creative juices flowing. When the group returned upstairs, each attendee took a seat at Circa’s large antique dining table and gazed at a heap of salvaged hardware and parts.

There was laughter and chatter as attendees brainstormed and then pieced together their creations, which ranged from a fireplace candelabra, to a cheeseboard, a jewelry holder from a chandelier frame, a clock, a three-dimensional wall sculpture and more. Attendees came from all over the Greater Boston Area and some came from even further. Mother and daughter duo and owners of design company Impeccable Nest, Kim Carole and Emma Carole-Paradis, came all the way from New Hampshire. Sara and Jeremy Harold, a couple who was attending the workshop in celebration of their wedding anniversary, explained their long-term relationship with salvage and mentioned that they frequently make their own home décor items from salvaged elements. Trish and John, another couple, noted that the event would be “a fun event for a party”.

Many attendees brought themselves to the event after viewing the ArtWeek calendar, like Katie Hayes who brought along her daughter Kim O’Brien after hearing about ArtWeek from a friend. For Kevin Underwood, this event was a second ArtWeek experience. After having attended a metal casting event at the Stonybrook Fine Arts Center, Kevin noted that ArtWeek was “a good way to see neat places throughout the city”. Echoing Kevin’s sentiments, event attendee Jessica Landers commented on her discovery of Restoration Resources via ArtWeek: “I had no idea something like this existed in the city!”

ArtWeek is a celebration of the diverse opportunities our city presents for artistic experiences. It’s wonderful to watch a group of strangers bond over one common artistic endeavor and to discover places and activities that they hadn’t previously taken note of right in their own backyards.