Old Bowling Lanes Adapted into Beautiful Reclaimed Furniture
Bowling lanes are built to last – but their creators probably never have this kind of creative reuse in mind. Demolition on the way, someone clever thought to recycle these rather stylish sport floors into home furniture objects that may be right up your alley. Beams and other wooden structural supports are also fair game.
Created of a thick boards stacked vertically and packed closely, these area bit like classic car decking – made to hold up under serious weight, wear and tear over years of daily use. In short: do not worry too much about spilling on this ultra-tough coffee table.
Reclaimed and recreated by William Stranger before they could hit the landfill, these wood furniture objects almost seem like custom-crafted works of art when placed in their new context – the functional arrows and wood arrangements made for bowling become more like abstract patterns in the second lives of these objects.
About William Stranger’s Sustainable Furniture
“Our primary source of material is local urban salvage. Trees that are blown over or cut down due to disease or construction are milled on site or at the arborist’s yard. The wood is then stickered and air dried. The final step prior to milling and fabrication may be a month or two in a local dehumidification kiln. This process allows the use of unique wood that would otherwise be wasted and keeps trees out of the landfill. Other sustainable materials include F.S.C. certified lumber, scrap wood and steel left over from the fabrication process, reclaimed wood from demolished buildings and construction sites. Furniture is finished with a zero v.o.c. plant based oil.”
“We make furniture in small batches using as much handwork as possible. In this way we ensure not only the quality and durability of the work but also the high material yield. The large skylight in our shop allows us to work by natural light in the summer. We also recycle off-cuts into accessories such as cutting boards and vases. Sawdust is saved for use as mulch in a local organic garden. Scrap is donated to schools and other artists. In the office we use 100% recycled paper, we reuse scrap paper, and recycle wastepaper and packaging.”
