GRAND LEDGE – The 10-foot-tall antique cabinet Dave Rademacher salvaged from a tool and dye shop in Chicago and brought back to life is indicative of the pieces you’ll find at Good As Old Architectural Salvage.
Made of solid oak and containing over 300 drawers, it’s large and impractical, nothing like the cabinets sold in major furniture stores today, and right up Rademacher’s alley.
At his hobby business, which operates out of a workshop he’s established in a century-old former grocery store off West Jefferson Street, Rademacher likes to restore mid-century and earlier furniture and antique home or business hardware and signs. He sells them when he’s done, shipping them to buyers around the country.
Rademacher, who, along with his wife Brittany built up an impressive following on Instagram chronicling their efforts to restore two older homes in and near Grand Ledge, finds the antiques at estate sales, online auctions and word of mouth.
Pinpointing what draws him to certain items – whether it’s an art deco light fixture or sign, store counter, tub or sink – is difficult to explain, Rademacher said. But everything he restores is something he’d happily keep.
“I see a piece and I like it and I want to own it or do something with it,” he said. “It’s very eclectic and I don’t think I have a word or even a sentence that really describes what I’m into. I only buy stuff that I enjoy.”
Building a hobby business
Good As Old was established about five years ago, with antique pieces Rademacher had collected when the couple was living in and restoring one of the city’s largest homes. Nearly 150 years old, the West Jefferson Street house offered more than 6,000 square feet of living space and a nearby carriage house.
Before the Rademachers moved to an Italianate farmhouse located between Potterville and Grand Ledge in 2019, he held a sale of salvaged antique items he’d collected while working on the property. About 200 people showed, lining up to go through the pieces.
“I realized I actually enjoy this,” said Rademacher, who got his start remodeling older homes when he was younger. “I’m good at sourcing things and fixing things so it became a side hobby.”
He built the hobby business piece by piece, slowly restoring each one enough to give them new life while maintaining the aged character they’d earned over the decades. The craftsmanship of each item is something he appreciates and strives to highlight, Rademacher said.
“I don’t like to make pieces look like they’re brand new,” he said. “I love a piece to show its age, what it’s lived, what it’s been through. I don’t like shiny, bright, new things. I like a little rust and crust. It tells the story.”
Rademacher documents his work on Good As Old’s Instagram page, posting videos of the items he buys and the progression of their restoration. The page, with nearly 80,000 followers, is where he’s established relationships with both buyers and sellers of vintage items. The business also has a TikTok account with over 46,000 followers.
Sales happen through social media inquiries, he said.
“I don’t have any website,” Rademacher said. “I don’t post anything anywhere else.”
He normally only works on one item at a time and strives to break even when he sells them. Some items take a few hours to spruce up, others – including a large utility sink from an Ohio factory – take days to clean up.
Rademacher said he doesn’t believe the business will ever be big enough to work on full-time, but that isn’t his goal.
“My thought is if I have to rely on it solely for my income, maybe it wouldn’t be fun anymore.”
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A home for Good As Old
Rademacher started looking for a workshop for Good As Old a few years ago, after his family moved back into the city.
He found one over a year ago, a century-old former grocery store and butcher shop near a residential neighborhood with 4,000 square feet on the ground floor.
The brick building, which has been vacant for several years, needs some cleanup and restoration but Rademacher said it’s the perfect place for his hobby business.
“I had to have something that had the right vibe to it,” he said.
Rademacher is saving up to put a new roof on the building and says he’ll eventually renovate a second-floor apartment to rent and offset building expenses.
The property isn’t intended to entertain walk-in customers, though Rademacher said he would take appointments with potential buyers.
“I don’t intend on having business hours,” he said. “Right now, Sunday mornings are my dedicated time to go over to the shop and work on stuff.”
There are pieces Rademacher takes on that require finding just the right buyer, he said. Still, he’s often drawn to them.
“As it’s grown, I have a lot of pieces that seem to find me, as far as people who follow me and understand what I’m interested in and have things I would be interested in,” he said.
Learn more about Good As Old Architectural Salvage on Instagram at “good_as_old,” and on TikTok at “@goodasoldsalvage.”
Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: ‘Very eclectic:’ Grand Ledge man builds Instagram following with antique salvage business
Reporting by Rachel Greco, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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