CARTM, Creative Reuse in Manzanita
My family and I headed for the beach and stopped at CARTM for a bit of creative reuse inspiration. CARTM is a really interesting place. The land is owned by Manzanita and CARTM uses the land for it’s transfer station, recycle station, and for the Refindery, a reuse store. . They make the most of their money from their reuse store 146,847 closely followed by 144,468 in revenue from recyclables. That’s not too shabby for a bunch of “junk”.
Right when we got there we spied some other visitors. These Elk were so beautiful. It seemed like everyone wanted to seek refuge at the Refindery. 
We also spotted these rusty folks to the side of the building. We were glad the employees proved to be much happier looking. 
Right when we walked inside, Bella and I oohed and ahhed over the mosaic wall. I could imagine this being a fun community project with folks donating and placing their prized glass pieces to encrust the wall. I really want to do this in Salem! Who’s game?
Then to the right, we entered the upcyled gallery space. With painted bags….
Upcycled dividers….
Jewelry made from roving and electrical wire…
and canvass wrapped with vino seals. 
And then into the building we found many more creative ideas. Check out these mason jar lights:
Or this table made by magazines and belts. 
And the funky signs helped organize the store. This shows the Re-imagine Gallery sign. 
Records divided spaces. 
And this cool sign cleverly made with wire led us to the electronics section. 
We found this gem in the housewares section. 
And these tables were made by signs. 
More pallets and signs created this display. 
Bella spotted this heart by the fabric section. 
And remember those records? Contact paper is on the other side of the records. I can imagine these prints bring up amazing memories of home kitchens from the past. 
My little spotter also was impressed by this bucket display for containing nails. 
There were so many wonderful finds. 
This boat became a light fixture. 
And license plates became a new sign. 
Behold, the two headed duck basket, freakishly priced at only $1!
CARTM was such a fun stop. I’m surely going back for a visit. Check them out online at http://www.cartm.org and send a little love or visit them in person. 
Wow! What a great resource to find… and to me it seems in an odd place! LOL. My husband and I moved to Salem 8 years ago from Bloomington, IN. There, we had become quite spoiled by a reuse center run by the county, and given ample space in the main recycling station. Mary was the captain of the ship, and this woman could find a use for ANYTHING. My husband’s manufacturing business took scraps of carpet, hardboard and plexiglass there, and they found new life as any number of things in education and beyond. She did a great job of the social facilitation as well, having teachers write letters of thank you to those who were donating materials to both thank them but show others how the whole cycle worked. We went there and perused, often finding the most interesting things for odd projects. (His business scored with a few pallets of misprinted boxes from a local pharmaceutical company, just right sized for shipping small orders. I once took home an entire flat of unused tiny vials w/ stoppers. You just never knew what you’d find.)
We were surprised when we didn’t find something like that here. We figured we were behind the curve, not leading it, back there in the midwest. I miss that! We’ll have to check out this place!
I should pick your brain about DIY Studio ideas. What did you do with the tiny vials w/ stoppers?