Acton salvage yard is a emporium of deconstructed homes
Stacked barn board, Historic Lumber, Acton, Ont. 'Anybody could buy some barn board, set up a store and say ‘This is authentic barn board,’ Allan Bousfield says. ‘But the beauty of most of what we have here is that I’ve been doing this for so long I know the places most of it came from. So the story is accurate to the point of saying ‘It was a farm, it was dated 1855, we found the date in the house, this was the barn.’Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
Kitchen cabinets destined for a Muskoka cottage. John Bousfield’s sculptural creations are showcased on the main floor of the family home: “live edge” tables, big wardrobes dressed in milk paint, dining tables and hewn-beam mantles.Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
Kitchen island with hammered copper sink.Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
Bowtie joinery.Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
A live edge table in the shop’s showroom.Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
Drawers full of heritage treasure.Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
Salvaged door from the Wasaga Beach area. 'We were recycling long before it even became something that was even thought about,’ says Mr. Bousfield. 'At that time you were thought of as ‘you can’t afford real stuff?’ it was pretty bad, actually.’Dave LeBlanc
Salvaged fireplace surround.Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
Sign at entry.Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
Stacks of houses. Scanning piles of inventory outside, Mr. Bousfield lists: “These are stone remnants from windowsills, doorsills, and lintels,” he says, then points to the next pile over. “Brick houses, so, the deep red brick is from 1900; there’s brick on the top, it’s 1897—handmade brick—the buff brick is from the Woodstock area and it’s 1880; the brick on the bottom, which has an orange tinge to it, that’s around 1860s or 1850s.”Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
Table in progress. Alan Bousfield say his customers “come in with ideas all the time” about what to do with his heritage wood.Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail
A workshop at Historic Lumber.Dave LeBlanc/The Globe and Mail