Designer Turns Old Bowling Lanes Into Classic Furniture

Joanne Camas — Thu, 16 Jun 2016 22:13:36 +0000

CounterEvolution’s gorgeous furniture gives new life to old wood. It’s a labor of love for founder and designer Jim Malone, who stumbled on wood from a closed bowling alley when he was furnishing his log cabin home on 12 wooden acres in New York State eight years ago. He turned it into a unique kitchen counter, and ta-da–a fledgling business was born.

He called the log cabin Little Big North, and while outfitting it he meshed design elements both rural and contemporary that would live on in CounterEvolution’s two main furniture lines: Modern Rustic and Industrial Green.
Of course once he fell in love with old wood with a history, Malone couldn’t turn back. He found happy corporate customers in Starbucks and Shake Shack–his tables and counters are now in most of the burger chain’s U.S. stores–and he supplies furniture to give homes a unique look. Eco-friendly never looked so good.

He still uses reclaimed wood from shuttered bowling alleys and steel from old industrial buildings that are being torn down, continuing to live up to CounterEvolution’s mission statement:

To design, build, and sell quality products that realize the highest potential of reclaimed materials with the ultimate goal of bringing functional art, thoughtfully designed and meticulously crafted, into your home or business.

You can order the one-of-a-kind pieces online and choose from around 25 stains to complement the other furniture in your home or office, from various shades of brown to pale-blue Clearwater, pink Cadillac, or Greenwash. Not sure which color to go with? No worries: CounterEvolution suggests you place your order and let the company send you samples of your top three choices so that you can decide at your leisure. It’s often easier to select a shade when you see a sample in your home, next to your current furniture and colors.

If you are used to picking up furniture from a huge Scandinavian warehouse store to assembly yourself (with plenty of frustrated cursing), you might suffer a case of sticker shock when you check out CounterEvolution’s creative work. But, you’re buying quality furniture with a solid past and a sturdy future.

People on a more modest budget can plonk down their bucks for a Strike wall clock (above) from the Buffalo Green line of products, which is handmade from either solid heart pine or a maple/pine splice of reclaimed bowling lane wood. No two clocks are the same, so you’ll have a truly original, functional piece of art on your wall–a centerpiece timepiece, if you will.

Other more moderately priced items in the Buffalo Green range include hearty chopping boards, a tealight holder, and one of our favorites: the Barmaid Craft Beer Flight Paddle (below). The designers are quick to point out a major selling point:

“It is, of course, handcrafted and branded from reclaimed bowling lane, vintage heart pine, but it’s also virtually spill-proof for even the least seasoned armchair mixologist.” Hey, we’ll drink to that.

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Designer Turns Old Bowling Lanes Into Classic Furniture