Vintage treasure hunting at Eco Building Bargains, Springfield, Mass.

The past few weeks have been pamdemonium around here — there has been mega-action on my office remodel, updates to come. As part of that project, I’ve been to the ReStore over in Springfield three times. Actually, it’s not a ReStore, it’s Eco Building Bargains. Same concept exactly and in fact, *my* center really notches things up because they have a well-connected team that travels all over the state deconstructing homes and bringing the salable parts back to the store for reuse. This means: They have great stuff.

During my recent visits, I was mainly scoping for vintage kitchen cabinetry or other materials to create built-in storage for my office; I am completely tortured over this question right now. But the place is a 60-mile drive from my house, so once I land, I spend hours each time looking at every little itty bitty everything, to get my ideas churning about just about anything.

I am pretty certain that everyone there thinks that I am really truly crazy. That fact notwithstanding, it is my job to inspect and ponder and puzzle and noodle and then report back to you on vintage treasures like these. Three hours at the ReStore? Thank goodness that there are now bathrooms in their new location. May I suggest a barista and a book store? Like in Charlotte.

For your Monday morning eye candy — and torture, because these are so wonderful: A big stash of vintage steel apartment doors that I spotted all tucked away among about 500 other vintage doors of every shape and size.

These doors are steel. Moreover, they each feature amazing raised trim pieces also made of some sort of metal. Yes: Each of these raised design is applied metal ornamentation. If I were a dealer, I would buy the doors, strip the trim, and sell the trim — it would make for some fabulous wall designs.

Alas, my existing vintage hoard already has my house bursting at the seams. Harsh words have been spoken. Divorce is at hand if I don’t lighten up. As a result, I am learning to snap-snap-snap and walk on by. These beauties will go to someone else who will appreciate them. I know so, because who else would buy them?

…Above: Push the black button….

… And the doorbell rang! A nice, hollow, but decisive cling-clong. Be still my heart, I was IN LOVE. I oh so desperately wanted this door for the cling-clong! Boo hoo.

I counted 13 of these doors in all.

There were three below, but like I said, I was scouring every fracking inch of the place and spotted 10 more up in the rafters. Must have come from an apartment building. The doors were $65 each.

I also resisted — barely — buying one of these vintage church chairs. Seriously, I pulled the best one and set it up by the register. But about 10 minutes later, I went over and told the cashier that I had decided against it and that she could set the chair free. That was a close call; DH would not have been happy about that one.

The vintage lockers were $120 (for the set of four). Don’t we all want a set of these? But I resisted.

Republic Steel — the company that made — and still makes — these lockers today is the same Republic that made steel kitchen cabinets back in the day.

There was a goodly amount of this blue bathroom tile — Diamond Brand.

Made in Japan, it said on the back of the tiles.

This sink was the prettiest shade of coral. My camera could not capture the shade, it was just gorgeous.

My color of the year, Cobalt, in a hex sink. Lovely. However, I *think* dark sinks like this will show every darn spot, *beware*.

Vintage white sinks are always appropriate. And look at the beautiful faucets on these guys.

They had many window shutters, lots of the classic small louvers…

… and also this style, which I’ve never taken notice of before. None in the size that John is looking for, for his tiki basement, though.

What did I buy? I did not find any kitchen cabinetry that could be retrofitted into my office/studio. But I did buy a compact office table on wheels — super high quality by Herman Miller, $30. I will hook the Ergotron to it, and then be able to move my workstation to a corner or side of the room (cords permitting) when I want to focus on my art projects. I will likely repaint the plastic top, or do something funky with it. I also bought some vintage trim — Victorian, not midcentury. My office-studio remodel has decided it wants to be My Hippy Space. Stay tuned.