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Olde Good Things

Architectural and Altered Antiques

Customer Showcase: Buttermilk and Bourbon Restaurant

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Watertown, Massachusetts’s new flavor of the South gourmet dining experience, Buttermilk and Bourbon, is a classic example of how redeveloped neighborhoods can incorporate original architecture and design into a new industry.

Nationally known chef Jason Santos (culinary consultant on “Bar Rescue” and “Hell’s Kitchen”, owner and operator of Boston’s Citrus and Salt, Abby Lane, and Marblehead’s B & B Fish, and author of the Buttermilk and Bourbon cookbook) opened this dining spot in early August as a tribute to New Orleans and southern cuisine. The project is homed in Watertown’s Arsenal Yards, the reformed retail, dining, and shopping creation themed after the area’s history as a Civil War arsenal replete with forge shops and foundries.

Buttermilk and Bourbon’s American southern menu features staples like fried chicken and biscuits, beignets, and both raw and roasted oysters. Cocktails include the infamous New Orleans hurricanes, Voodoo Priestess, and a bourbon-based chocolate praline Old Fashioned. Live music is also on the menu.

While the food is a reinvention of southern classics, the space is a reimagining of the spooky, jazzy, and fun history of New Orleans. Featuring a Garden District themed dining area, “Voodoo Lounge” dining area, and dim, bluesy central bar, the open-concept design is reminiscent of The Big Easy’s lively and mysterious history.

Interior details by Assembly Designs arrange the mural-covered brick walls, luxurious chandeliers, red velvet banquettes, and blue velvet seating and accents for a sultry orchestration of  New Orleans playful grandeur. Although new construction, the restaurant retains classic details of New Orleans’s historic architecture, like the beautifully tall rounded windows.

Whimsical hanging lanterns are 1920’s English with original glass, a contribution from Olde Good Things. OGT also provided the crystal chandelier reclaimed from the Palace Theater — a historic venue hosting vaudeville and Broadway productions in Times Square, which lends to the overall charisma of atmosphere.

Indoor decadence flows to outdoor seating on a three-season patio, which brings the true flavor and melody of New Orleans, which flows from the jazz halls and balconies right into the streets.

For ideas on complementing the atmosphere of your bar or business, reimagining your home space with our architectural relics, or browsing our collection of historical reclaimed salvage and altered antiques, contact us today at Olde Good Things. We have an amazing selection of lanterns like the ones featured on Buttermilk and Bourbon, along with character lanterns from various ages in multiple whimsical or classic styles.

 

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Blue Sky Studios Channels a Historic Florida in This New Luxury Orlando Restaurant

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The Pinery is Orlando’s freshest upscale restaurant due to open in Fall. Hosted in the new nine-story high-rise Ivanhoe Village, The Pinery promises to offer “Florida-fresh cuisine” in a 4,200 square foot, 150-seat space of thematic history.

Named for the “Ivanhood” neighborhood’s 1885 pineapple farm origins on Lake Ivanhoe, the innovative restaurant is a project of design firm Blue Sky Studios, known for projects such as Hard Rock Park and Crowne Plaza Orlando. The history inspired all phases of design, from shocking new uses of old materials, integral repurposed materials, and pineapple-related color and texture.

Green glass mosaic tile, an antique screen from a former Orlando bank, and unfinished brass pipes add an elegant historical-industrial component to the space.

The Pinery features one of OGT’s copper shingle handmade oversized mirrors. View all the copper mirrors available online. It provides another example of how our reclaimed, repurposed architectural salvage brings history, glamor, and ambiance to contemporary settings.

The reclaimed oak industrial flooring dining table tops were fabricated in the OGT’s table shop. These table tops are available online. The tables were paired with photographic murals, framed maps, photos, antique postcards, and vintage artifacts were incorporated into the design style of integrity and authenticity.

Other polished features include a white quartz bar top, emerald wall tile, and hints of upcycled pecky cypress which harmonize to create the feel of Old Florida in a modern environment.

 

The Pinery is a solid example of how design firms can use green materials, upcycled and reclaimed elements, and antiques to create a vision that is both contemporary and sustainable with a clean and classic feel.

For more ideas and salvaged artifacts and antiques to incorporate into your home or business projects, contact one of our reclaimed architectural experts at Olde Good Things. We always welcome you to drop in and browse our store and warehouse locations in NYC, Los Angeles, or PA.

Customer Showcase: Antique Chandeliers and Religious Stained Glass

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Here you see photos of a London Pub, The Old Queens Head, designed with many decorative sustainable items from architectural antique sources all over the world.  Riz Shaikh, owner and seasoned head designer of the Colombo Group with an eye for detail, envisioned a speakeasy design with warm sepia tones.  He sourced decorative ceramic tiles, wooden paneling and wainscoting, fireplace mantels, elegant chandeliers, and church stained glass windows.

 

He chose Olde Good Things for multiple huge 4 ft wide chandeliers and decorative slag stained glass to create the warm ambiance seen in these photos.  These multi-arm slag glass and bronze chandeliers once graced the banquet room of the famous Toy Center at 200 Fifth Avenue, which now houses the famous Italian market Eataly.  The ceiling and partition walls, as well as the decorative amber-toned stained glass which decorates the back bar, were reclaimed from a Presbyterian Church, The Church on the Edge, in Northern New Jersey.  The dark tone wood paneling adds warmth to his design. As seasoned designers know, the original patina is the key to its authenticity.

Our architecturologists are constantly seeking great finds like these chandeliers to make amazing statements in our customers’ creations. Only a fraction of these astounding treasures can be seen online, so feel free to call or visit our New York City and Los Angeles stores. You can also peruse our six-story department store warehouse in Scranton Pennsylvania, often referred to as a ‘candy store’ or ‘treasure trove’ for those with an eye for building with original antique architectural pieces in wood, marble, glass, and bronze.

 

If you wish to be featured as the next Customer Showcase, click here.

Colonial Eatery Brings Repurposed Architectural Elements

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The Assembly Design Studio designers of Ledger, a local restaurant and bar on New England’s North Shore, envisioned a “rough restoration” of the historic Salem Savings Bank — a place where customers could relax in a contemporary dining space and absorb the colorful history of Salem.

Salem Savings was erected in 1818 and is the second oldest incorporated savings bank in America. Notable bank customers of bygone days include Salem-born Nathaniel Hawthorne, dark romantic author of The Scarlet Letter, and Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the first telephone.

History comes in many flavors at this modern eatery. Regional cuisine is on the menu, inspired by traditional Colonial New England cooking techniques and local fish, meat, and produce. Local fare, cocktails mixed behind a leathered white macaubus granite bar, and fresh seafood from the oyster bar are offered in an authentic vintage industrial atmosphere. The restaurant’s decor was formed from the existing raw materials of the historic building, accentuated with reclaimed materials and distinctive pieces of architectural salvage. In the entry, visitors will walk through a glass and metal vestibule which showcases the original plaster ceiling and a custom 82” chandelier. A bank teller window adds to the ambience as guests enter the dining area, where a repurposed communal white oak table provides seating for 22. A contemporary wall crafted from metal safety box doors lends an industrial edge to the dining area, while a bank vault houses the walk-in refrigerator.

Exposed iron beams and rough brick and wood architecture provided a raw palette for the designers of Ledger to work with. Custom charred wood planking was incorporated into the design, a material reminiscent of Salem’s powerful and dark history which includes the Witch Trials and Great Fire of 1914. Other authentic details include distressed leather barstools, tufted banquettes, tile from the 1930s, and historic bank ledgers used for artistic display.

Ledger’s sophisticated vintage holophane lighting hails from the 1920s era and was supplied by Olde Good Things. The soft ambience of the fixtures offers a stark contrast to the lofty reclaimed wood inset on the ceiling and exposed iron beams. Our industrial Holophane light fixtures are sourced from factories across the Northeast and are a reminder of the Golden Age of “scientific illumination”. OGT’s extensive selection of Holophane fixtures from the 20s and 30s is salvaged and restored in our shop.

Besides their widespread usage in industry, the luminaires are ideal for contemporary commercial usage to illuminate a space without glare or dark spots. They are very popular in auction houses and amongst reclamation connoisseurs for their economical and efficient dispersion of light, along with the historic magnetism of their design.

Most Popular Holophanes

Shop all Holophane online, here.

For questions about our Designer discount, view here.

Boston Showcase at the Broadway Restaurant

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Olde Good Things has always enjoyed working with interior designers, decorators and those people who have a vision for how they want a particular space to work. Some of our favorite spaces to work in are restaurants because the décor can completely transform a space, yet it should have a function. So, when Erica Diskin of Assembly Design Studio in Boston contacted us for items that would be used in a remodeled restaurant, we were more than happy to help.

Erica and her team were tasked with creating the décor for The Broadway, a bar and restaurant in south Boston. Formerly the Boston Beer Garden, restaurateur Joey Acari decided he and his team needed a change after having spent more than two decades inhabiting the space. Acari has also converted another of his restaurants, the Playwright, into The Punk & Poet to try and keep up with the everchanging demands of the neighborhood.

Featuring wood elements salvaged from Boston Beer Garden, subway tiles and steel accents throughout the interior, the décor of the Broadway is decidedly of an industrial influence. To help enhance this aesthetic, we worked with Erica to come up with items that would fit perfectly with this décor. Holophane lights were used over tables and booths, while industrial style wall sconces were placed throughout the restaurant. Chicken wire glass was used to create partitions to section off areas of the restaurant, while copper doors were used to ingeniously hide wall-mounted televisions when not in use.

Opened on November 15th, Broadway features wide booths, communal seating and two bars within the restaurant as well as a packed menu featuring wood-fired pizzas and a cocktail list who’s highlight is a nitro cold-brewed draft martini.

If you’re a designer looking for your next piece of inspiration, stop by any of our Olde Good Things stores in New York City or Los Angeles, our giant warehouses in Scranton, Pennsylvania or at our webstore ogtstore.com. We’re not only certain you’ll find the right piece for your next project, but we’ll also offer you 15% off your purchase. Call us or stop by, we’d be glad to help you.

Texas Showcase at the a’Bouzy Restaurant

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When restaurateur Shawn Virene proposed his first solo endeavor, a’Bouzy, he had a very particular vision in mind; a culinary haven where fine wines and great food have an equal place at the table.

a’Bouzy, named after the French village Bouzy located in the heart of the Champagne region, features an effervescent and coastal Mediterranean ambience echoing the namesake’s region throughout with an open layout, exposed brick and reclaimed wood.

Olde Good Things had the pleasure of working with Shawn and his team during the design process, in the hopes of bringing a mix of both modern and antique touches to round out his ideas for the space.

To help maximize seating capacity without sacrificing space, Olde Good Things recommended our custom-built industrial wood top swing seats in the bar and in the outdoor seating areas. These seats provide a classic industrial look with modern accents. As a counter to this modern seating solution, we suggested a set of 3 antique blown glass lattice pendant lights to help anchor the space. Throughout the dining room, Shawn and his team chose to use our Altered Antiques industrial wood flooring topped tables paired with Brooklyn cast iron legs to add a worn-in vintage feel.

At Olde Good Things, we enjoy working with restaurateurs and designers to help bring their ideas to life. We offer a wide variety of both custom-built and salvaged antique products to suit any need as well as providing special pricing for the restaurant industry. So, whether you’re looking to add elements of industrial, rustic, modern, or vintage, Olde Good Things has something for every design aesthetic.

Customer Showcase: BLANK SLATE

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Outside view of Blank SlateDesigning a restaurant requires attention to detail, creativity and sometimes, a little customization. Recently we were privileged to work with BLANK SLATE, a café, coffee bar and marketplace offering sandwiches, salads, small plates and more. Drawing from the old to create something new, the result is something truly unique.

Just a few months ago, Blank Slate was literally that, the perfect opportunity for owners, Ashley Jaffe and Zach Israel, to create the café and kitchen of their dreams. Located on 121 Madison Avenue, “We wanted to evoke an extension of someone’s living room… a place where people wanted to just cozy up with a cup of hot chocolate and stay.” says Jaffe.

Dedicated to their vision, the couple chiseled through 6-inches of plaster to unearth a beautiful brick wall, worked with designer Lauren Mabry of Hunter Mabry Design to create a comfortable yet efficient floor layout, and had the furniture custom made. “The key was placing the right pieces throughout the space,” explains Jaffe.

It was that search that brought Blank Slate to Olde Good Things. There, Jaffe shared her thoughts with Jim D, of 149 Madison Ave. “She looking for mirrors that seemed as if they were floating in their frame,” he shared. Wanting to guests feel most comfortable, Jaffe didn’t just want any mirror. “I wanted antiqued glass,” she specified.

Working on a tight timeline, samples of hand-silvered glass were sent from the warehouse in Scranton for Jaffe’s review. Searching for the right amount of distress, the second round hit the mark and the team designed patonated steel frames to create a floating effect.

Our hand silvered glass above the cafe tables inside of Blank Slate

Jaffe was pleased and the designers made another suggestion. “I sent my marble tabletops to Olde Good Things and they were framed in darkened steel as well,” says Jaffe. That same metal formed legs for two high-top communal tables handmade out of old growth oak. Harvested from very old oak trees that fell after heavy rains and extreme winds, the resulting wood is dense and extremely durable. Available in multiple finishes, Jaffe picked a smooth top with a driftwood finish.

Our high-top oak tables inside of Blank Slate

The entire process for Blank Slate took about six weeks.  The result? …Timeless.

To design, and build with Olde Good Things, contact us HERE. Photos taken by Sasha Israel Photography. Blank Slate website found HERE. Website for Hunter Mabry Design found HERE. To find about our hand-silvered antique glass, click HERE.

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