Waxahachie Architectural Salvage: ‘Blood, sweat, tears and a lot of prayers

Antique picking, finding antiques from flea markets, garage sales, stores or on the side of the road, and architectural salvaging, taking pieces of an old building and repurposing them, are not glamourous jobs. In fact, owners of Waxahachie Architectural Salvage, Kim and Ricky Proffer and Amy Munn, explained how these jobs are quite the opposite.

“Blood, sweat, tears and a lot of prayers,” Kim said. “This is a hard business. It’s not for the faint of heart. If we didn’t love it, we couldn’t do it.”

They have looked through dirt and animal feces, faced bee-inhabited homes, traveled hours to salvage someone’s home, endured injuries and worked long hours repurposing or customizing pieces. Kim showed a picture of them all covered head to toe in dirt after a salvage expedition. “I’ve never been as dirty as I’ve been,” Munn said about crawling through attics, basements and fields to salvage homes and buildings.

Several homes they’ve walked through are inhabited by bees, where the honeycomb is visible, Kim said. They learned to only salvage those homes on cold days.

While they go picking on their own, Kim said a lot of the pieces find them. Those who are trying to downsize or have had family members pass away will reach out to Waxahachie Architectural Salvage and ask them to come take a look.

When looking for pieces, they each are drawn to something different. For Kim, it’s cabinets, cubbies and pieces with drawers or crates. Amy loves lighting – lamps, stained glass, lighting fixtures. For Ricky, it’s anything big.

“The bigger it is the better,” Ricky said.

But, overall, they look for pieces that can either be turned into something new or rehabbed to highlight its original beauty.

“After we go through everything, we bring it all back and clean it up,” Ricky said.

Kim and Munn are the creatives behind the unique custom pieces in the store. Often, when they find a piece, they’re immediately thinking if it can become a planter, a lamp, a clothing rack or something else. They find pieces that may have a good base, while the top is unsalvageable, so they’ll take the base, pair it with some wood and create a table.

Ricky said he sometimes struggles to see the creative vision Kim and Munn will paint for him, but he is the one who often brings it to life. Customers will come in with their own vision, wanting an old door for a kitchen counter, and Ricky will go out to their home and make it happen. Munn also works on custom pieces but mainly rehabs and repurposes pieces, meaning she cleans them up, fills in holes and fixes sections needed to make them beautiful again.

Even if they’ve made the same type of repairs multiple times, there is always a new, underlying problem they have never faced before, Kim said. Munn explained how she’ll take on a project, thinking she can have it done in a couple hours, but it always takes twice as long as expected.

So, why do the Proffers and Munn do what they do?

Because they love preserving history, and they love their customers, they said. “If we didn’t do it, it would all end up in a landfill,” Ricky said. “Now, somebody that is wanting to restore an old home in Waxahachie or another surrounding town, or even out of state, can come in and get those pieces that we pulled out of all these homes and saved.”

“When we sell that door to someone to put in their home, we can tell them the story behind it and tell them where it came from,” Munn said.

Each custom piece they create from parts of old buildings cannot be found anywhere else, and it is created to last – something that could be passed down to kids and grandkids.

“This is a one of a kind,” Kim said. “This building no longer exists. It was knocked down, but this will last for generations.”

They try to get to know everyone who walks through their doors, and they meet with customers multiple times when creating custom pieces.

“It’s all about relationships, and the memories that are made,” Kim said.

Customers can write down items they’re looking for in a wish list located at the front of the store, and the Proffers and Munn will keep an eye out and call them when they find it.

For more information, visit https://www.waxahachiesalvage.com. Waxahachie Architectural Salvage is located at 106 S. Monroe St. Originally published January 11, 2023 - https://www.waxahachiesun.com/business/waxahachie-architectural-salvage-blood-sweat-tears-and-a-lot-of-prayers/article_5440e69a-9227-11ed-a7f9-6f72a703cf5c.html