2nd time around: Barn salvage becomes flooring, decor

Step into the great room of Jim and LanetteCarlson's rural Henry County, Ill., farm home and you immediately see the possibilities.

You grasp how wood and other itemssalvaged from old barns andbuildings can be repurposed into new-use building materials as well as decorative elements.

The floor ismade of oak, cutin random widths. Most of it wassalvaged from a barn that was taken down, then re-milled in the Carlsons' shop.

The ceiling is amix of barn salvage roof sheathing, structural beams and rusted corrugated steel in the dormers. Adding bursts of color are stained-glass windows from a church in Rock Island.

The room is a real-lifeadvertisement for their business, Carlsons' Barnwood Co., founded in 1995 as a supplement to their farming operation.

The Carlsons' business isone of nearly 140home-related companies you can visit next weekend, Feb. 7-9, during the 36th annual Quad-Cities Builders & Remodelers Association Home Show at theQCCA Expo Center in Rock Island. It's one-stop shopping.

You'll find vendors selling plumbing, drapes, landscaping, windows, doors, insulation, siding, hot tubs, fencing and landscaping, as well as remodeling, interior decorating andnew construction services.

Theshow's theme is "keeping it local," and thatfits right in with what the Carlsons do. They salvagematerials from a roughly 100-mile radius and re-mill thelumberin a shop on their property, employingseveral full- and part-time workers.

But from there theCarlsonscast long lines, selling to homes and businesses,particularly restaurants, all over the country, and even overseas. Pictures of high-end homes incorporating their products, particularly in Colorado and California, are posted on their website.

When the Carlsons started, they mainly sold raw barnwood and other artifacts that could be used as "decor." But in 2001, they began manufacturing reclaimed flooring, and that has become their biggest product, Lanette said.

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2nd time around: Barn salvage becomes flooring, decor