Thomas Porter gives wood with a past life new purpose. As owner of Porter Barn Wood, he sells wood salvaged from 100- to 300-year-old barns for furniture, doors, signs, floors, mantels and walls.

Home & Garden Barn wood re-used inside, outside and accessorized, too Published: Jun. 07, 2009, 10:05 a.m.

C.H. and Marj Hagstrom's old barn near Sterling, Neb., lives on in the form of reclaimed wood. Mark Ludlow of Ludlow Lumber in Omaha pulled the barn down for its lumber in August.

However, dismantling a barn is no quick, easy task. “Reclaimed lumber is dirty and heavy,” she says. “The wood is taken from the barn one board at a time. Those boards have nails that must be removed.

Agrarian chic is all the rage right now, so you’re probably not going to stumble upon reclaimed barn wood at every salvage shop. Instead, hire Midwestern Barns to scour the region for some gorgeously ...

Holland, 62, is the one-man-show behind Levanna Restoration Lumber, a business he started in 2002 that reclaims and repurposes wood from historic barns in the area.

The wood is from a barn taken down last year in the Mount Vernon area, Morgan said. Old barns “are like works of art, handmade sculptures,” he said.

Greg White and his daughter Tracey Nelson in their Watauga workshop where they build small decorative barns from reclaimed lumber, photographed November 28, 2012. The wood-planked barns reflect ...