Theresa Smith has honed her distinctively elegant salvage style through years of antiques shows — and it all comes together in her Glendale, mobile home.

A double-wide mobile home on two acres of land offers a home base for Theresa and Craig Smith, who travel nearly half the year for their antiques business and their Elizabethtown shop, Cottage Gardens.




Living Room

Inside this four-bedroom, 2,016-square-foot home, Theresa proves that "it isn't the structure you live in, it's what you do with it that makes it a home."




Sun Room

An actual front porch, with mail still in the mailbox, from a house in Louisville now graces Theresa's sun room.




Candelabra

Craig Smith makes and sells candelabra such as this one out of old lamp parts. Find the Smiths' work at their store, Cottage Gardens, in Elizabethtown, and at the Marburger Antique Show in Texas the first weekend in October.




Kitchen Table

Theresa chose garden furniture for the kitchen because "the glass top and airy lines don't stop the eye." The chandelier is one of 14 in the house.




Butter Pats

Antique antics find plenty of room for expression here. At last count, Theresa had 130 ironstone butter pats. "They have no purpose, I just like their looks," she says.




Signage

Theresa found a cache of old, heavy enamel letters and sold all but these three.




Red Room

Red walls in Theresa's studio are the one exception to her home's ivory rule. An old restaurant prep table serves as a desk. Metal security grates are now bulletin boards.




Kitchen Sink

A commercial sink provides a sleek counterpoint to all the peeling paint.




Kitchen

Space limited? Try layering upward. Theresa used architectural elements to punctuate walls and shelves. Removed from their original purpose, they form intriguing silhouettes in the kitchen. Theresa replaced standard-issue oak cabinets with vintage cupboards and even a Sellers cabinet (left). An old store counter (foreground) now serves as a work island.




Iron Vents Whites

Round iron vents such as this once hung beneath the eaves of Kentucky homes to let hot air escape.




Bedroom

In the bedroom, "I like to pair worn metal or wood with something fabulous," says Theresa. The canopy is from an old store display. Theresa sandblasted it, left it out to rust, then sealed it and wove scrim in its curlicues. Displayed below: her grandmother's pearls, beads, hats, and bags.



Mantle Art

In the bedroom, a framed display of carved heads and a statuette, candleholders from a restaurant, and Italian chairs surround a salvaged mantel.



Text: Kelly Smith

photo credit: Keith Scott Morton