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Southern Accents

Remember what that was like? Remember the awe and wonder you felt seeing so many wonderful things all in one place? The anticipation and decision making involved in choosing from so many options?

This is the essence of a visit to Southern Accents Architectural Antiques in Cullman, AL, for me and I would bet for anybody who fixes or builds furniture or does restoration. SA is a museum of architectural history and oddities that you can touch—and take home with you.

I am always amazed at what I see when I get to visit. I know I am going to see salvaged doors, mantles, shutters, leaded glass, claw-foot tubs, hinges, door knobs, and newel posts. All really wonderful handcrafted items with history and character. But there is always at least one thing that is totally random.

On a recent trip with a friend, I was not disappointed. She was there to find a claw-foot tub for a new home build. I was there because I never miss a chance to visit. I don’t know the number of items they have there, but it has to be hundreds of thousands, if you count all the hinges, antique keys, and drawer pulls. We browsed through rooms and rooms of salvaged materials and most of it I had seen the like of there or somewhere else.

But as I said, there is always at least one thing that is weirdly out of place—if you are in the market for a 5 foot tall concrete Chinese lion, they have one for sale.

I ran across this cool use of natural stones for cabinet hardware. The company, Montana Stones, uses natural stones, available in multiple colors, to make cabinet knobs, drawer pulls, robe knobs, and bottle stoppers. It is a neat idea that makes use of a natural material in an alternative way. The slightly polished stones are pretty, but it is a bit strange to me that the stones are polished at all. I would prefer a natural unpolished, unfinished look that maximizes the nature of these beautiful stones. Also, there is a bit of a dichotomy in the drawer pull construction in that the base is very manufactured and polished. Again, I would rather have seen a more rustic base for these pieces.

But they are very nicely made and would compliment a new kitchen installation or a more modern style of furniture.

All that remains is a bit of hardware and wrapping it up for shipping. It is beautiful! The oil has soaked in very nicely.

Kelly’s table is coming along and will shortly be finished–literally. Below is a picture of it unfinished and assembled. The band clamps are there to hold the two halves of the top together so I can mark the spots for the alignment pins and other hardware. That should be done tomorrow. Then what remains is a final sanding and a few coats of oil finish.

Photo by Jean Allsopp

Some projects are too good to pass up, even if they are huge and you have a regular job. I finished one recently for a 7ft by 4 ft dining table custom built for the 10th Anniversary Coastal Living Idea House in River Dunes, NC. It was a lot of fun to build but a handle to get finished on time.

I was given two pictures by the designer who said “can you take this part of this picture and use that part of this other picture and make a table?” Well, yes. The wood came from Southern Accents in Cullman, AL and was reclaimed red oak timbers from a barn. Rustic as the day is long!

The challenge came in getting the joints to line up well. The wood was simply beautiful–loved it. [See pictures of it here] I made it in 5 pieces that connected using minimal hardware. Shipping it was a challenge, but upon arrival everyone was happy. It looked good in the house which was photographed in August and will appear in the November issue of Coastal Living. They did add a slight stain to the top to make it better match the wood flooring and lessen some of the redness of the wood. I liked the original penetrating oil finish, but I loved how the table looked in place with the chairs and settees.

This was a great project and I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to showcase how beautiful reclaimed wood can be. I hope to have additional challenges to make something old new again.

Went to Southern Accents, Inc. in Cullman, AL today to browse the warehouses of architectural salvage materials. They have everything from old hardware, doors, leaded glass, knobs, to salvage wood. Amazing! It was a history lesson. One thing that struck me was some segregation era signs they had in a pile at the end of one counter. Some of them said “White Women Only” others said “Colored in the Rear” or something like that. It is bizzare that those times were not that long ago and remarkable how far we have come since. It makes me sad that people were hated for no reason other than the color of their skin. Pure ignorance and evil from the pit of hell.

It was a history lesson for me as well to see the doors, windows, mantels, door bells, hardware, and other items saved from the trash heap of time. SA is doing good work by saving these pieces of history and passing them on, and making a profit in true American fashion. They also make what was old new—SA has a complete wood shop that makes doors out of reclaimed wood. If you are ever in that neck of the woods, stop by. You will want to allow some extra time to browse through history.