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Kurt Petrauskas is a modern-day treasure hunter. The salvage warehouse — Earthwise — which he has owned since the early '90s serves as a showroom of his found booty: Doric columns, brass doorknobs, pink sinks, claw-foot tubs, picket fencing.

To Petrauskas, each recycled object carries a story or secret to make the imagination soar and create a nostalgic centerpiece in an environmentally conscious or just-plain-funky home. A lemon- and-mint-colored "Spark" 1920s stove, $1,200, conjures apple pie and Fourth of July; a carefully framed 1913 Seattle Business College diploma, $65, wells up nostalgic pomp and circumstance; while a creepy 1940s velvet painting of a teary-eyed mongrel, $45, makes you wonder who would ever have thought that was a good idea!

Give yourself time to traverse through Earthwise's SoDo building, somewhat of a dilapidated relic in itself. Come here to find a particular piece of antique hardware or just enhance the charm of your home; the possibilities are endless. A mosaic four-sided stone letter "A" from a Flying A gasoline station, $350, makes great conversational lawn art for the Andersens or the Abbotts. Celebrate summer with the bang of an old screen door, $30, or let wrought iron garden gates — $50 for a small arched gate to $350 for a large section — hide a secret garden. An old green barber chair is $135 — the bewigged "Salvage Queen" is not included, but the Earthwise black T-shirt she wears can be yours for $10. A 1980s bachelor-style entertainment center ($1,000 or best-offer) must have once graced the home of Don Johnson, while a stunning mahogany bar salvaged from a Bellevue tavern, is worth every cent of its $22,000 price tag.

Out back, a small yard corrals an assortment of building supplies — old wood, glass blocks, more doors and sheets of chipped glass — even more fodder for stimulating the craftsperson in you dying to get out. Happy hunting!

By Ali Basye
Special to NWsource