From a Column to a Mantel: Black Dog Salvage

I have such a soft spot for old houses. The creakier the better. Bring on the pocket doors and narrow, winding hallways. Unfortunately, so many of our nation’s historic residences and buildings end up neglected and overall in not so great shape.

That’s where Robert Kulp, Mike Whiteside, and their Salvage Dawgs team come in. If you haven’t seen the show, stop reading and program your DVR. It’s not one you’re going to want to miss.

Mike and Robert bid on old buildings and residences set to be demolished, then go in and salvage what historic pieces they can. They go after anything from mantels to stained glass, doorways to chandeliers, and just about everything in between. One of my personal favorites is the Beechcraft airplane.

We were in Roanoke, Virginia recently and had to stop by Black Dog Salvage. Their marketplace is huge. You can spend hours getting lost in their light fixtures alone. This stunning chandelier is one of the highlights. It’s made of hand-pressed glass grape clusters and leaves and, believe it or not, is even more remarkable in person.

They really have a little bit of everything in the showroom, including pieces they’ve rebuilt from salvaged materials. Check out some of their custom builds here.

My favorite? The bar above and this old elevator car, brought back to life with salvaged red oak and pine:

The amount and scale of the architectural salvage in the showroom is awe-inspiring. There are stained glass panels all over that have been salvaged from churches, and doors that were saved from the old barracks at the Virginia Military Institute. The VMI story is such a great one. You can read more about it and its episode here.