SAVANNA — Turning ideas into a business sometimes takes a person who thinks outside the box — or someone who can turn a box into something else.

Kent Vock can do both.

Vock is the talent behind a business that can take the outdated and outcast and give them a new lease on life. Where some just see an old drawer he sees a bookshelf. An old tire becomes a place to park your toy cars. A collection of corn shuckers is earmarked for a piece of farm-inspired decor. And an old TV set? Well, just stay tuned and see what he does with it.

His flair for the creativity is a perfect fit with his years of experience in construction and home improvement, a combination of inspiration and skill that he’s putting to good use at The Reclamation Station in downtown Savanna, along Main Street. There, customers will find not only Vock’s repurposed projects, but antiques and collectibles, home decor and more.

The handmade stock in his storefront comes from his other gig, Stoney Creek Designs, which he started after an illness sidelined his carpentry business a few years ago. Like the inspired inventory he creates, the business’s name is repurposed, too: It comes from his nickname, “Stoney.”

Stoney Creek Designs was an outgrowth of the time he found on his hands when a COPD diagnosis forced him to step back from construction. Not one to just idle away the hours, Vock looked for something to do with the time on his hands.

“I worked on home improvements and lots of things,” Vock said. “I tend to get bored every now and then and have to go do something else for a while. When I get bored, I need to learn things.”

Then the wheels started turning in the motorcycle enthusiast’s head. Why not put his skills to use in his own business?

“I know with my personality, if I wasn’t doing something, I’d most likely be sitting in a tavern,” he said.

Vock grew up in Sterling but settled in Savanna eight years ago. While he’s spent much of his life as a carpenter, that was just one stop on a restless journey. His skills may have carried him through decades of work, but there was more to life than just tools and toil. So, this past May, he opened The Reclamation Station, an outlet for his creative curiosity where he not only sells pieces he makes, but hopefully inspires others to realize that when they see something that looks past its prime, there’s more than meets the eye.

For Vock, his business not only saves him from restlessness and boredom, it saves things from ending up in a dumpster.

“I’ve always been saving materials, keeping things and redoing some things into something different,” Vock said. “I’ve always been into saving them and keeping old stuff going.” It’s a mission that’s been served well by his years in construction, which helped teach him the value in recycling and repurposing.

“I used to have people who didn’t like their front door just because they didn’t like the window in it [and] they’d spend the money to get the exact one they want,” Vock said, and that opens the door for him to be able to take the old one and resell it.

Today, his philosophy of finding a second life for things is on display at his store, where he also carries an eclectic mix of antiques and knick-knacks, like uranium glass that he displays under lights so it glows green.

He tinkers with old record cabinets, imagining them as Bluetooth-ready entertainment centers. A vintage entertainment center with a working 8-track player awaits a new owner who could either repair its record turntable or find another use for it altogether. If items are missing key parts, that’s no problem – for example, a sewing machine cabinet stripped of its workings still holds promise.

“There’s a sewing machine cabinet with all of the parts missing, but it’s a neat little cabinet,” Vock said. “Who knows, the right person is going to come along and go, ‘Man, I can make that into this.’”

Even his shop displays are exercises in recycling. Items are hung on old closet doors, old pallets are incorporated into shelving units, ladders become racks and an old headboard has been repurposed into the sign in front of the store.

For Vock, the question is always the same — What do you see when you look at this? — but it’s the answers that are different, and sometime he invites customer to help him find those answers. He recently picked up a 1950s TV set and posted a picture of on the store’s Facebook page, seeking ideas for its use. Some have suggested it be turned into an aquarium or a terrarium, while others have proposed marrying the modern with the old and keeping it as a TV — an idea that didn’t meet with the best reception.

“I’ve had people tell me that I could find a small flatscreen TV to fit inside of it and make it back into a TV,” Vock said. “I could, but that doesn’t seem very creative to me.”

Painting is Vock’s newest hobby, and his work has found its way into his shop. He’s been using old picture frame glass that he picked up at a thrift store as a canvas for his creativity, reverse painting scenes on the back and framing them — and if he wants to switch things up, it’s no problem.

“If you paint on poster board, you have to buy more poster board,” Vock said. “If you paint on glass, you can just scrape it off.”

The walls behind his counter are decorated with paintings. Some are his own, others are by his grandchildren. Occasionally, he hosts painting sessions at the shop, inviting budding young artists to pick up a brush.

“I’ll let their brains go where they want to go,” Vock said. “I feel like I’m trying to give something back.”

Owning the shop is only the beginning for Vock. He sees potential in hosting painting, birdhouse making, and perhaps other hands-on project workshops that pass along the joy of reclamation.

The balance of practical and imaginative is intentional.

“‘Reclamation,’ I use that because it’s a big, sophisticated-sounding word,” Vock said. “It’s a recycle shop. I bring in the old stuff, I clean it up, I get it ready, I have it out for the next person. It’s not going to the landfill, and there’s kind of a movement around that stuff these days.”

For all its quirky projects and antique curiosities, the store also meets simple needs.

“An elderly woman was on her way to Walmart, but decided to stop in here because she was looking for a toaster,” Vock said. “I just happened to have what was probably a $50 toaster from when it was new out here for $5. I’ve never seen someone so happy to buy a toaster in my life. She got a better toaster for less money, but she was dreading going to Walmart, having to walk a half-mile across a parking lot, a half-mile through the store. So I try to get some everyday things that people need.”

In finding new homes for overlooked and under-appreciated items, Vock has reclaimed more than their future, he’s reclaimed his own future, and found a home for his business in a place that’s been voted more than once as one of the Best Small Towns for Adventure in a USA Today readers choice contest.

“Stuff’s moving in and moving out, and we’re not doing bad in a small town,” Vock said. “Being south of Galena is helping me, and I get a lot of people going up and down [Route] 84 here seeing stuff on my sidewalk. It attracts attention when they drive, and they’ll go, ‘Why don’t I check that out?’”

The Reclamation Station and Stoney Creek Designs, 510 Main St. in Savanna, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday. Find it on Facebook, email stoneyhoh@gmail.com or call 815-718-2092 for more information.