I have lots of projects at my own home that with this slower than normal season, I am finding the time to complete.  One of them is a new front walkway, I am looking forward to finishing this project so that I can share some before and after pictures with you.

Being a designer myself, I find that decision making for my own home is much more difficult than for others.  I have considered every option for this walkway but have (I think) narrowed down my choices a bit with a new decision – or maybe I should say commitment.  I have decided, for my myriad of persistent home improvement projects, that I will, where-ever possible, use recycled, reclaimed, or re-purposed materials.

So with my walkway project, I want to share with you what I have found so far….and maybe you can help me by letting us all know of any other sources you might have.

The foundation of my house is stone, specifically a very crumbly looking stone with a lot quartz, yellow/tan coloring and mica.  The ubiquitous New England Blue Stone just doesn’t seem right to me…unless it has some yellow-tan streaking (which is rare).  And then there is my recycled commitment…so I have turned to paving with bricks.  Here is what I have found…and awaiting a quote.

From Historical Bricks I think these Frank Lloyd Wright Pavers that feature a tan color would be perfect. Here is my drawback though…while Historical Bricks ships nationwide, it seems wasteful to move these bricks (even though they are really special 100+ year old beauties) from Iowa.   While I wait for a quote, I would love to know of any Northeast US brick reclaimers. Anyone?

I have already built a new landing off my front door with ipe that I sourced from an internet lumber company (who I can’t remember), but I have decided to make the lower set of stairs out of ipe as well, so I have been on the hunt for reclaimed materials for this as well.
Olde Good Things has lots of reclaimed Ipe decking salvaged from the Coney Island Pier. My existing is not quite so weathered and I am a little concerned about matching, but I think with time it will work out.

What I am learning from this effort is that recycled garden making materials (specifically stone) are not so easy to come by. I am hoping that with time, re-use will become more common. Have you recycled materials for your garden project? Where did you get them, how did it turn out? Send pictures I would love to feature your recycled garden projects here at Studio ‘g’.