From the category archives:

Stories about contractors

A Piece of History Gets a New Life at The Mighty House

April 19, 2012

Mighty House Construction Co-Founders, Doug and Laura Elfline found themselves expecting twins in 2006, and quickly realized that their “postage stamp-sized” place in Georgetown was not going to fit the needs as the family was about to double in size.  So they bought a modest house in West Seattle that was originally built in 1980 [...]

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Gourmet locavores and reclaimed materials at The Willows Inn

April 16, 2012

The Willows Inn on Lummi Island has leapt into the national gourmet food limelight in the last 18 months, under the culinary guidance of Olympia born, 25-year old acclaimed chef Blaine Wetzel. A 2011 article in the New York Times, titled, “10 Restaurants Worth a Plane Ride”, placed the Willows Inn amongst the great gastronomic [...]

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The RE Store spreads the Word of Salvage to Japan

October 20, 2011

The RE Store in Seattle hosted a group of Builders, Developers, and Architects from Japan this week.  They came to the states to attend the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Remodeler’s Show in Chicago, and had a two day stop in Seattle to see a couple of projects, and visit a salvage company – [...]

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Peak Moment Interviews an Avid Customer of The RE Store

September 22, 2011

Peak Moment – an online television series featuring folks working to create a more sustainable, resilient and lower-energy future – has interviewed Jim Bristow, designer/builder with Bristow Enterprises, and an avid customer and friend of The RE Store.  This Ballard residence has been transformed, with every last detail thought through with sustainability in mind, and [...]

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Green Demolition – A Conversation with Noel Stout

August 12, 2011

Green Demolition, aka “Deconstruction”, is a form of building demolition that utilizes a combination of machine and hand-dismantling to recover materials for reuse.  The RE Store specializes in whole-building deconstruction, which is economically competitive with regular demolition and allows for the reuse up to 50 percent of most structures, recycling as much as possible of [...]

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The Tombstone Project: reclaimed lumber, wavy glass and wabi sabi

July 7, 2011

They just don’t build it like they used to, unless they work at Smith & Vallee Woodworks and Gallery. The talented and hardworking quartet has transformed an old barn into a state of the art shop, using lumber and windows salvaged out of the remodel to create their Tombstone Project cabinet and furniture collection. The [...]

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The Tombstone Project: Salvaged materials, barn restoration and green building

July 1, 2011

Smith & Vallee Gallery is launching one of their most unique design projects and furniture collections, “The Tombstone Project”, opening on the same evening as their new Woodshop Grand Opening, July 9th, from 5-8pm in Edison. These well-established Northwest artisans of green-built finish work have put their skills to work in creating their state-of-the-art woodshop, [...]

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Persistence and perspiration – the best RE volunteer since 1986

February 11, 2011

There are rare people in the world, who stay committed to a passion for decades, contributing their time, energy, expertise, tools and sweat. Stephen Frank is one of those people, having worked and volunteered since 1986 to reuse and reduce waste in Northwestern Washington. “For my entire life, I always have thought that you never throw [...]

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New construction, salvaged materials and fully-laden gardens

June 4, 2010

John Nelson thinks outside the box, as a builder with a big focus on reuse, green building and vegetable gardens (?!?).  John has built four houses in the last two years with his small construction company, Northwest Framing & Finish, LLC. His projects have all taken place in Bellingham. His most recent project is a [...]

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New and Better: Utilizing The RE Store for residential remodeling contracting

February 25, 2010

by Bob Penny Hawk Meadow Homecraft small contractor in Bellingham Something that has bothered me for many years is the infrequency with which local contractors utilize The RE Store to create win-win arrangements for their remodeling clients.  Hopefully what follows can inspire and promote this incredible local resource, and illustrate some of the various strategies [...]

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