Download - Salvage & Such
by Toni M. Todd
Waste not, want not. They don’t make things
like they used to. One woman’s trash is another
woman’s treasure. Whichever cliché you prefer, they all ring true
for Delaney Keating and Joe Bob Merritt, founders of Salvage and Such.
“I’m somebody who likes finding and collecting. I thought I’d start storing some of these things and selling them,” said Keating. “A similar idea had occurred to my good friend, Joe Bob. When I mentioned it to him, he said, ‘Let’s just do it here.’”
“Here” is Merritt’s property on the 400 block of South Main Street in Gunnison, a 17-lot parcel that includes the rustic brick Blue Thunder Circle Art Lab. Two rusty railroad cars and a large teepee make the place hard to miss.
Plumbing fixtures, doors, tiles, sinks, tubs, windows, re-claimed wood, fence posts, bricks, furniture and more — these are the stock and trade for Salvage and Such.
“We don’t buy materials. We don’t have the budget for that,” said Keating. Much of the inventory comes from de-molitions, contractors and builders.
“There’s a lot of talk in communities all over about sustain-ability,” said Merritt. “I’m not so sure the aim should be to sustain anything. I’m interested in, ‘What can we salvage? What is there to save and what is worth saving?’”
Merritt disagrees with the notion that Americans have be-come too materialistic.
“People aren’t materialistic enough,” he said. “They don’t see matter as alive. They see it as dead. ... Salvage and Such is a business that remembers matter. It’s like a little orphanage for all the children of a forgotten mother.”
Besides raw wares at the salvage yard, a great place to see these remembered materials is The Downtown Woodshop at 222 N. Main St. Desks, cabinets and tables by local furniture maker Jeff Michakek, Merritt and others are tagged with the artist’s name and a list of all source materials.
“There are tables there with legs made from pieces of the La Veta Hotel banister,” said Keating.
It should be a material world
‘Matter matters’ at Salvage and Such
Delaney Keating and Joe Bob Merritt at Salvage and Such.
32 HOMES INSIDE & OUT | SPRING 2012
If inspired creativity and giving new life to what was once discarded seems a noble enterprise, so too is the added benefit of keeping as much stuff as possible out of the local landfill.
Salvage and Such collects raw ma-terials and markets them. For Blue Thunder artists and artisans, materi-als are provided free. Proceeds from the sale of what they create — via the retail efforts of The Downtown Wood-shop — go back to Blue Thunder, to Salvage and Such, and to the artists themselves. A small portion also goes to Habitat for Humanity.
“We want to work with organizations throughout the valley,” Keating said. “One connection we’re looking into is with Mountain Roots. We have materi-als for making cold boxes. We’d also like to partner with Six Points. They’ll get in a pedestal sink, for example, and they don’t sell stuff like that.”
The general approach to pricing for items sold at the yard is 50 percent below what you would pay for them at Home Depot, though that formula is somewhat fluid. “We do have lots of neat doors,” said Keating. “Make an offer.”
During the summer, Salvage and Such holds a sale one Saturday each month. Their weblog can be found at www.Salvageandsuch.com, and Keat-ing invites everyone to follow them on Facebook. “We’ll quickly post new items there,” she said.
Keating’s approach to the business and faith in its potential are pragmatic, while Merritt’s are more philosophical. “When you’re pulled by a vision,” he said, “things tend to unfold.”
• FOUNDATIONS • FLATWORK • RETAINING WALLS • BRIDGES •
• Wood Staining • Corn Cob Blasting• Chinking • Widow Washing
Cody Dyce PO Box 7025 Gunnison, CO 81230
cell 970-275-2852home 970-641-0416
email [email protected]
Appliances, Lawn & Garden, Exercise Equipment & More1000 N. Main St. #3970-641-2255
Locally Owned and Operated!
HOMES INSIDE & OUT | SPRING 2012 33
