Upcycling your style

BY SARAH NELSON KATZENBERGER

Sometimes it’s the thrill of the hunt.

For others, it’s the sense of accomplishment in bringing old worn out material back to life.

Upcycling is an ever-growing and increasingly impressive concept using items like old furniture or wood products or gardening tools or garage sale treasures — even electronics — and giving them a new life or repurposing them into something entirely different — like a tabletop from an old door or a dresser drawer coat rack or a lamp from a vintage tube radio. Seriously. It’s a real thing.

Aimee Haukos started her upcycling business in 2015 when she found herself home with kids who were nearing school age and she wanted something to do with her time. “I’m kind of a busy person,” Haukos explains. “I’m always doing something.”

With a knack for finding great deals and a vision for making things new again, Haukos started collecting items that seemed to have reached the end of their life and started the work to give them the ultimate makeover.

It’s so much fun — I absolutely love it. It’s kind of a hobby that supports itself.

- Aimee Haukos

Owner, Beautiful Salvage

Haukos said in the beginning she would repurpose anything she could get her hands on — old dressers, abandoned tools, barnwood. She hit garage sales and estate sales, the Re-Store.

“If I thought I might find something interesting, I was there,” Haukos said. What started out as a hobby has evolved into a full-time job for Haukos in her home-based repurposing venture, Beautiful Salvage.

After moving around a handful of times, Beautiful Salvage now operates right from Haukos’ home on Bluff Avenue in Brainerd. Until the pandemic hit, Haukos was hosting in home boutiques — three her first year. The boutique would fill the first level of the Haukos home with eager customers searching for the right piece of repurposed furniture or unique décor. Haukos said many pieces start out as her own décor and when she’s ready to update and refresh, she sells them.

This is a lamp constructed out of a vintage radio. The speaker and old wires were removed. We thought leaving the old amplifier tubes on the circuit board would create a fun effect. A new lamp kit was installed and an Edison-style bulb was put in the socket to complement the amplifier tubes. The radio was painted in a linen white and coated with a dark wax to create more of a vintage feel.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BEAUTIFUL SALVAGE

Haukos has built her following through a Facebook group, and with the pandemic, has moved her sales mostly online complete with contactless pick-up. “It’s way more work but it has paid off,” Haukos said.

Haukos said the key to her success has been finding a piece, seeing a vision for it and making it her goal to double the investment she has put into it. She said she really loves bringing new life to large pieces but has had a lot of success with small décor, lke the lamp she managed to fashion from an old radio or the floating wall shelves made from old kitchen drawers.

“It’s so much fun — I absolutely love it,” Haukos said. “It’s kind of a hobby that supports itself.”

For Renee Lelwica, her love for old meets new has grown into a multiple-location Salvage Sisters, Repurposed storefront. The store’s flagship location is in Waite Park with a satellite location that opened in 2020 in the FitQuest building in Baxter.

Lelwica said the business model of Salvage Sisters allows vendors to rent space to sell their own repurposed items from small upcycled home décor to moderately sized furniture. For Lelwica, who has a background in furniture sales, the love for remaking old things really took off after her husband fashioned a barnwood end table for her.

“It was so perfect,” she said. “And then all of our kids wanted one.”

Lelwica said being creative in the hunt can open a world of opportunity when it comes to finding the right items to repurpose. “Garage sales, estate sales, side of road, dumpsters,” she said. “There are quality items hiding everywhere.”

This is a table made from a deconstructed table. The top was removed and a frame was placed for a salvaged window to sit. This window came off from a barn that was taken down. The window is hinged on the table to make it easier for cleaning. Everything was painted white and sealed.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BEAUTIFUL SALVAGE

With the increasing popularity of upcycling and DIY projects in general, makerspaces have started to pop up pretty much everywhere including the Brainerd lakes area. Makerspaces offer collaborative work areas that allow hardcore and novice DIYers access to shared tools and technology.

“It’s kind of like a co-op for trades,” explained Chris Smith.

In 2020, Smith opened Minnesota Makerspace in downtown Brainerd. An Aitkin native, Smith has a background in graphic design and a heart of community growth. Smith came across the idea for a makerspace and caught the vision for what it could provide his own community. “I took that original concept and ran with my own idea of it,” Smith said.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BEAUTIFUL SALVAGE

Minnesota Makerspace has a laser-engraver, CNC machine, 3D printers, CAD software and an impressive collection of power tools. Smith said the pandemic forced him to adapt his business plan temporarily and is currently focused on business-to-business production with space starting to open to everyday use. The main attraction is the sanding machine for people like Aimee Haukos who have a vision for bringing some life back to old furniture.

Smith said the ultimate goal is to make Makerspace nonprofit which would remove cost and education barriers for those interested in creating — for business or for fun. Monthly membership will provide access to tools and technology as well as DIY classes for newbies and an opportunity for entrepreneurs to let their business ideas come to life.

“The idea is to enter with an idea and leave with a completed project,” Smith said. “That’s what we hope to provide.”