Portland's Home Improvement and Remodeling Show features

Let the glossy home improvement catalogs gather dust - a debut exhibit at this weekend's Home Improvement and Remodeling Show demonstrates just how good a home can look when it uses all reclaimed materials.

Reclaimed by Design, a 1,500-square-foot space built completely from materials salvaged from the ReBuilding Center, aims to lure do- it-yourselfers to a more environmentally friendly way of remodeling.

We're hoping to show people it's worth it to recycle and be sustainable, said Michelle Rolens, a design consultant at Neil Kelly and part of the three-person design team that outfitted the rooms.

Rolens and fellow Neil Kelly consultants Randi Reed and Chelly Wentworth pooled their design sensibilities to outfit the five-room feature.

It was very collaborative and cooperative, which is really needed in a project like this, Wentworth said.

The trio began working on the project in January, letting inspiration come from whatever they unearthed. A set of discarded school lockers was the first thing they found on their first trip, Wentworth said, and a row of old theater seats came later the same day.

The lockers - with coats of pale lime-green paint - and the seats - refinished and reupholstered in retro circle-splashed fabric - became part of a mudroom design that also features a dog-washing station made from a claw-foot tub.

Production started a little over a month ago in an empty restaurant space across from the Oregon Convention Center. The project came together room by room, in a flurry of assembling and disassembling.

Using reclaimed materials is more of a challenge, Wentworth said, but there's also room for a lot of creativity. The kitchen especially, she said, is a prime example of many different elements and styles fusing in a way that works. A center island incorporates a geometric swath of butcher block into gleaming tile. Intended for rolling pastry, a marble slab tops a low cabinet that incorporates hardware harvested from a display board. A backsplash created pro- bono by mosaic artist Margaret Kuhn uses graceful abstract butterflies to emphasize the renewal theme.

It's really an instance where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, Wentworth said.

Found items have been made to work together: There's a tile planter in Mamie Eisenhower pink at tub side, tin wainscoting that's actually tin ceiling in the living room, and a window-seat level cabinet that works as a cat hidey-hole.

Sustainability is a theme throughout. The rooms were accessorized with furniture, frames and mirrors from the ReBuilding Center's ReFind Furniture Studios and colored with Metro's recycled latex paint.

The designers say they hope their work serves as a testament to the potential reclaimed materials have. Before photos displayed on foam board throughout the exhibit will help drive home the transformation possibilities.

You just don't have to buy new all the time, Reed said. You can use and reuse.

Four keys to using reclaimed materials, Wentworth said, are design flexibility, frequent trips to a recycled materials store, lowered standards and creative thinking.

See past the dust and the rust, she said. It's amazing what a coat of paint will do.

Home improvement goes green

The hot color at this year's Home Improvement and Remodeling Show is green - green building and energy, that is.

Energy-saving and sustainable methods surface across the show's exhibits: 93 percent-efficient flash water heaters are on display at a George Moreland Plumbing Supply booth, recycled rubber roofing looks exactly like cedar shake and tile at Euroslate, and the Lansing Linoleum Co.'s got a creative display of Marmoleum, a natural mix of linseed oil, limestone, rosin, wood flour and jute.

The Office of Sustainable Development, Neil Kelly experts, Metro and The ReBuilding Center have teamed to present the show's Sustainable Seminar Series, which features presentations on green remodeling, chemical-free lawn care, composting, the use of reclaimed materials and creative thinking in reclaimed design.

The Office of Sustainable Development also worked with show officials to recruit resources for contractors and homeowners interested in building green, and participants are indicated by a G/ Rated banner.

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