Turn waste into wonderful for your home

• Repurposed materials run the gamut from simple DIY home décor projects.
• Reclaimed materials are sometimes less expensive than their newer counterparts.
• Reclaimed materials can offer a reduced environmental footprint.

Imagine walking on your kitchen's stone floor each day, knowing that the surface below your feet was worn down over hundreds of years by carts, horses and pedestrians half a world away. Or imagine that the vanity where you get ready for work each morning was crafted from oaking staves once used to flavor wine.

Such is the hidden wonder and appeal of reclaimed materials.

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Repurposed materials run the gamut from simple DIY home décor projects, such as bulletin boards made from accumulated wine corks or mail organizers fashioned from old window shutters, to professionally installed products like barn siding transformed into a door or a vintage trough finding new life as a bathroom sink.

Used materials often bring with them a one-of-a-kind story and an element of rarity. Reclaimed wood, for example, often comes from treasured old-growth species that can't be found in wood products today. Saw marks, nail holes and other nostalgic signs of a former life can make the item even more interesting.

What's more, reclaimed materials are sometimes less expensive than their newer counterparts and can offer a reduced environmental footprint.

Sourcing these elements is fairly straightforward via your builder or the Internet. Sometimes it takes a bit of digging—scout Craigslist, Freecycle, Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, architectural salvage yards and yard sales for starters.

"It's always an opportunistic thing," says Josh Wynne, owner of Josh Wynne Construction in Sarasota, Fla., who often uses reclaimed materials in his custom homes.

Some items he finds on his travels, like the 400-year-old doors from Egypt he repurposed for interior use or the old shutters from Burma he transformed into pantry doors.

Other times, it's about turning waste into wonderful. Wynne once stumbled upon a sawmill that was discarding rough-milled pieces of wood from more than 10 different tree species; he glued the scrap pieces together and cut out kitchen cabinets, resulting in a one-of-a-kind striped look.

Architect Gay Hardwick sought out numerous reclaimed materials for her own recently completed house in Kensington, Md. One source was a partially demolished elementary school she found on Craigslist. Hardwick purchased remnants of a 200-year-old stone wall circling the school to build her home's chimney, fireplace and retaining wall, bringing the beauty of the old stone inside.

Hardwick also repurposed the school's gym floor, originally headed for the dump, for flooring in her living room, hallway, and other areas, for a savings she estimates at $11,000.

Interior doors were salvaged from old houses in Virginia and Pennsylvania; hardware was also reclaimed. The super deep bathtub in her kids' bathroom—original value $6,000—was bought at an architectural salvage store for a mere $75.

Hardwick attributes her finds to both hard work and luck. "Don't do it unless you like going to architectural salvage places or flea markets. You have to enjoy that type of thing," she says. "Otherwise, it's a chore and you won't be as confident."

But the payoff can be worth the effort. "[With new homes,] you don't get that emotional response you get when you walk into a 150-year-old craftsman bungalow," Wynne says. "Reclaimed products, even in a new project, bring that story, that life."

This article was excerpted from USA TODAY HOME magazine, available now on newsstands or throughUSA TODAY's online store. The premium publication features articles on home improvement, décor and entertaining.