As Americans become increasingly aware of the need to reduce, reuse, and recycle, along comes a book that is all about how to incorporate those ideas into the biggest investment in life-building a home. The New Old House showcases the design possibilities associated with using recycled and reclaimed materials in new home construction, and incorporating these materials into modern homes using traditional applications and techniques. Author Ed Knapp offers tips on using materials in a wide range of applications, and an amazing array of modern design examples and ideas are represented in styles ranging from rustic to elegant. The New Old House will show any new home builder how to add beauty and character to their lives with the best of these creative techniques. Ed Knapp is the owner/operator of Vintage Beams, an import/export company specializing in reclaiming vintage building materials and incorporating them into new building design. He has offices in Georgia and China, as well as Sylva, North Carolina, where he lives. New Old House: Designing with Reclaimed Materials is a blueprint for blending the past and present in home and business design, emphasizing the use of vintage materials. The examples within provide tips on utilizing these elements to add character to a new home, and offer a natural and creative way to incorporate the patina of age-old materials into any design style. A century-old dilapidated barn on the side of the road in Pennsylvania may appear to be an eyesore to some, but beneath its weathered exterior hides a wealth of timbered beams and craftsmanship that have survived the test of time. A world away in Kunming, China, intricately carved doors from teh Ching dynasty are salvaged from buildings slated for demolition. These architectural elements both await rebirth as part of a new support structure called the "new old house."New Old Hous: Designing with Reclaimed Materials is a blueprint for blending the past and present in home and business design, emphasizing the use of vintage materials. The examples withing provide tips on utilizing these elements to add character to a new home, and offer a natural and creative way to incorporate the patina of age-old materials into any design-style. Ed Knapp is the owner/operator of Vintage Beams, an import/export company specializing in reclaiming vintage building materials and incorporating them into new building design. He has been a supplier of fine recycled and antique lumber, including custom truss package fabrication, decorative corbel ends, floorings and paneling materials, for more than ten years. Knapp has offices in Georgia and China, as well as Sylva, North Carolina, where he works out of a renovated barn. Grover Cleveland was between presidential terms whent he barn on my grandparents' farm was built outside of Buffalo, New York, in 1882. The deed for the farm itself appears in public records as far back as the early 1700s, when it was owned by the Holland Land Company, one fo the earliest Dutch settlement organizations in what we now refer to as the New World. The barn had a stable with stanchions for milk cows, two-horse stalls, and a hayloft over the stable. This part of the building was warm even during the coldest western New York winters, whenthe snow that Buffalo is so famous for piled up in drifts between the house and the other outbuildings. The rest of the huge windowless interior was used for hay and feed storage as well as a place to keep the farm equipment, and was usually bitter cold in the dead of winter. Years after it was built, this weathered, utilitarian, beautiful outbuilding became a very special place for grandchildren (including me) to swing on a rope from one of the high, massive hand-hewn beams, and drop safely into the fresh hay piled below it. Used Book in Good Condition