To get the handcrafted and personal care touch that was the normal way of building centuries ago today, do we need to peruse the building recycle centers, or look for the old house marked for demolition and rescue the beautiful mouldings, balusters, lighting fixtures, doors and windows? Or even still today, are there craftsmen lingering on the outskirts of the building manufacturing industry and available to hire for custom work?
I think this is answered in both aspects as positive. Sure, we can be on the lookout for any reusable building materials that can be re-purposed into either a new use, and antique materials often times with restoration can perform again as they were originally designed. Rescuing these building materials is as we know an environmentally healthy alternative to manufacturing new.
What about the hand craftsmen who are in the playing field that are typically discovered by word of mouth recommendations? These craftsmen most often learned their trade by being taught the old fashioned way of apprenticeship. With tradesmen on the outskirts of the building products arena who personally put the sweat and tools to the metal to create individual works of art, we can still today enjoy beautiful handcrafted products which may centuries from now become the sought after building materials to be re-purposed and reused into futuristic green buildings to come.

SolarGlass is certainly a distributor of modern manufactured products, but with our decision to sell materials which we feel are the best we have access to several handcrafted building products, which we are proud to offer as specialty product lines from both Marvin and TruStile. We also know that the building envelope does not start or end with windows and doors, so we have done a little modern day surfing to find more building materials made by true hand craftsmen who still do it the old fashioned way.
Here are just a few of many resources available to bring old world craftsmanship into our modern day living:

• Stained glass: watkinsstainedglass.com
• Windows: marvinsignature.com
• Lighting Fixtures: framburg.com
• Cabinets: schrock.com
• Doors: TruStile.com
• Wallpaper: koesselstudios.com
• Reclaimed Building Materials: resourceyard.com

So, when your home calls for that distinctive look, start your own surfing fun and see what today’s modern world can offer to give your home an enduring welcoming feel.