"It's all about using key pieces here and there to achieve an eclectic look. Rarely does anyone decorate all in one period or style," says Patrick Ottesen, owner of Foundation Architectural Reclamation in Kansas City, Missouri, writes Rhiannon Ross in Discover Mid America magazine.
 
"The growing appeal of architectural salvage can be attributed to its expert craftsmanship, connections to the past, and aesthetically appealing details such as a fine patina, intricate trim work or hand carvings," Ottesen says. "People can either go to Home Depot to get some new oak or they can go to an architectural salvage place and get some old oak," he says. "Someone might look at bundles of antique flooring and say its just rubbish, but by using Tung oil finish and polyurethane, we can create something beautiful."
 
"There's an interesting fusion now between preservation and architectural salvage," Ottesen says. "We used to be the enemy. But now, architectural salvage is the key to putting preservationists' dreams back together."
 
Formerly an architectural student before opening Foundation, his own architectural salvage business, five years ago, Ottesen hails from Chicago. Interior designer Nate Berkus, of The Nate Berkus Show and Oprah Winfrey's designer, was one of his customers when he worked at Architectural Artifacts, Inc. in Chicago.
 
In his trendy space, located within the red-bricked walls of a former manufacturing plant in Kansas City's West Bottoms - an industrial area that's been reclaimed and transformed by area artists - Ottesen suspends wainscoting, doors and stained glass windows from the ceiling.
 
"In the last four to five years, we've seen a move toward more remodeling when previously we've seen demolition," says Sid Conner, owner of Conner's Architectural Antiques in Lincoln, Nebraska. "We deal with people doing restoration on houses and more than 50 percent of our customers want to take their houses back to their original states. They're replacing doors or maybe they're opening up a staircase that's been closed. Or, people wish to match the hardware in restoration."
 
Conner and his wife opened their architectural salvage business in 1974 after they purchased an 1899 Victorian home.
 
"It was in need of many items for restoration that we found very difficult to find. As a result, a business just naturally grew out of those searches and the networking with others. Some would ask that in our quest if we found such and such to let them know, as they were also trying to restore or refurbish a home," Conner says.
 
"In kitchens, people are placing decorative eaves brackets below a kitchen bar or using tin ceiling as a backsplash in the kitchen or as a backdrop in cabinets. And we're selling fireplace mantels to newer homes," he says. "We've also seen an uptake in architectural hardware, especially Victorian hinges, doorknobs, lock sets, back plates in cast brass or cast bronze. People also are interested in ornate, cast bronze mechanical doorbells from the Victorian era and even window sash locks."
 
Both Sid Conner and Patrick Ottesen extol the green virtue of reuse of salvage, and the uniqueness which using salvage offers their customers.
 
[Taken from an article by Rhiannon Ross called 'Architectural salvage adds personality to home décor' on Sid Conner and Patrick Ottesen in the March 2011 edition of Discover Mid America.
 
Update:
Foundation Architectural Reclamation has since closed. Find other architectural salvage yards in Missouri, USA in the Salvo directory.