Rufus, Lefty, Sweet Nugget - just a few names belonging to about 20 toilet bowls, tanks and lids lining the shelves at the RE Store in Ballard.
"We name them so we don't mix the parts up," said RE Store employee Andy Norvell, strolling past a random collection of window panes, door panels and gym lockers.
The box of hinges and stacks of bathroom tile in a nearby room indicate that one of the architectural salvage store's slogans, "Everything from the 1890s to the 1990s," is hardly an exaggeration.
And next week, the RE Store will have a 400-square-foot display at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show in the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.
The store's booth will display "creative ways to combine architectural elements with plants," said David Bennink, RE Store field-operations manager. One example, he said, is using gym lockers for potting flowers and shrubs.
But while the RE Store appears to be staking a niche in the gym-locker market, it does more than just sell storage space for sweaty exercise shorts.
The RE Store is a nonprofit, eco-friendly company that not only sells recycled materials, but demolishes and salvages construction sites.
Recently, the store began salvaging and reselling plants.
A few of many salvaged demolition sites, Bennink said, include the Greenwood Library, Madison Middle School in West Seattle, the historic Camlin Hotel downtown and, recently, Woodland Park Zoo's Primate House.
When the zoo's Primate House was torn down last year, the goal was to recycle as much material as possible, said Dan Phillips, project manager for the Woodland Park Zoological Society.
The RE Store's crew came in with "gorilla pry bars" and, with a few days of work, salvaged sandstone blocks, old-fashioned radiators and dozens of glass bricks.
Phillips said they want to divert at least 50 percent of the materials from landfills. By using the RE Store, they were able to save 72 percent, Phillips said.
"We may not have had that success without them," he said, adding that the RE Store did not charge for the service. "They're good for the community, good for us and good for the environment."
The idea started about 11 years ago, Bennink said, when Bellingham residents watched in dismay as their Mount Baker High School was torn down and all the materials were hauled to the landfill.
"That really highlighted a problem," Bennink said. "The community wanted to save some of the building materials, but they couldn't."
Soon after, Bellingham was home to the first RE Store, and about four years ago, a store was built in Ballard, at 1440 N.W. 52nd St.
Between the two, the company has salvaged more than 100 schools since, Bennink said.
Customers are appreciative.
"I have bought so many different things from here, I can't even name them all, " Ballard contractor John Curtis said.
After examining a shelf full of kitchen sinks, Curtis turned and gave the toilet bowls a second look. Most of what Curtis buys, he said, goes toward home repair and fixing up his 60-foot boat.
"Sometimes it's hard to find that special part," he said. "But if you can find it here. It saves you the trouble of custom-ordering it."
The RE Store can be a cost-effective alternative, Bennink said, adding that "there's something for everyone" there.
Light switches may sell for less than a dollar; however, a $2,500 chandelier is the first thing customers see after walking through the front door.
The second-story floor in Terry Gifford's home near Bellingham is made from a giant slab of Bellingham High School's old gym floor. A giant logo of the school's mascot - a bright-red hawk - draws a lot of attention, Gifford said.
Gifford's family is building a new home on 10 acres of property, but she, her husband and their six kids are living in a temporary home constructed largely of RE Store products.
"I love to go poke around at the RE Store," Gifford said. "Some days, you just find a treasure."
In her temporary home, she has put in cabinets, a kitchen unit and, of course, gym lockers to store clothes.
Gifford said she is going for an old-English-estate look in her new home, which means most of the building materials is custom-ordered.
However, she bought several old hinges to rebuild doors for the new home.
"Everything you buy from the store has a story behind it," Gifford said. "It really speaks of its use."
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