At the Deakin household we didn’t have much money, but we sure had a lot of fun. I spent my formative years in British Columbia. With 10 kids in the town of Nelson, 5 boys and 5 girls, 2 starting line ups for a Hockey Game with Mom and Dad as Coach/Goalies for either side we had a blast. The only thing that I regret was when brother Patrick and I worked all summer to buy a deep freeze for the house. Ovenjoy bread (think Wonderbread) was selling for twenty loaves for a dollar and Mom stopped baking bread. I don’t think she regretted it, though. 

Salvaged wood was in my blood from an early age. Dad worked for Kootenay Forest Products, and always brought home scraps and odds and ends until we had enough to build a little extra on the house or fashion a picnic-style dinner table out of the planks. He also brought home hitchhikers to share dinner at all times, especially holidays.

If I ever went missing, they would go look for me down at Old John’s Cabin above the orchard, or in the abandoned Victorian farmhouses at the end of the field. I loved crawling around any derelict buildings, always dreaming I would find a treasure. Only later did I realize that the treasure was always the building itself

Every barn, every building, and at times every board has a story—if you speak the language. From the buildings of my youth, through the Vancouver Mudflats, the Pleasure Faires of the early ’70s, and the huge timbers for our stage on Grouse Mountain to the grand edifices of the essence of Heritage Salvage. I love the meat and potatoes of the restaurants we build, the bars we fashion, the Wineries and breweries and all the tables we have spread around for breaking bread and talking story. 

In 1976 while I was working with Mr. Alan Clapp, he burst onto the world’s stage by organizing the alternative Habitat Forum in abandoned aircraft hangers on Jericho Beach. The venue also featured “the world’s longest bar” made from recycled wood of course, and ran in conjunction with the official UN Conference on Human Settlements taking place in Vancouver. It was a smashing success, attended by the likes of Pierre and Margaret Trudeau and their young children including Justin. Margaret Mead, Mother Teresa and dignitaries from around the world attended.