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.

Wood with a story Smoky Mountain Vintage Lumber reclaims wood from falling or hazardous barns or barns that are no longer useful. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

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.

It's also a retro lumber yard for anyone who wants to buy wood that has a history that can stretch back to the 1850s. They can barely keep up with the demand for tight-grained Doug fir, cedar and ...

Dee has purchased most of his old wood supply from Rustic Roots Wood Co. in Solon, but is tearing down an old barn through an arrangement with a farmer. “How it usually works is, the guy who ...

The barn lumber is somewhat unique in that its dimensions are actual dimensions, meaning the reclaimed two-by-fours are in fact 2 inches by 4 inches (versus current standards of 1 ½ inches by 3 ½ ...

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 ...

So far, they’ve harvested wood from five different barns and plan to acquire more this spring. One reclaimed barn dated to the 1770s, built by John Watson in Canaan, Conn., and another in ...

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.