Michael Whitney’s Brooklyn furniture studio is where old objects go to be reborn. In the hands of this designer, 38, discarded doors become coffee tables, old fan blades return as clocks, and beat-up street signs are transformed into metal chairs. His showroom (which is also the living room in the DUMBO apartment he shares with his wife and baby daughter) is filled with pieces that elicit double-takes.

Mr. Whitney’s designs combine found objects with his own creations. The entrance to his apartment is studded with a series of clocks made from blue plastic fan blades joined in the center by small aluminum plates that he made.

The fan blades came from an old warehouse. “My buddy called me up and says, ‘They’re throwing everything away!'” Mr. Whitney said.

Mr. Whitney’s “Paranoid Chair” ($300) is made of a Captain’s chair that he happened upon, affixed with two rearview mirrors from an old car that he was about to get rid of. “I don’t set out and say, ‘I’m going to make a Paranoid Chair.’ The ideas come from what I find,” he said.

Though it all might sound like a bit of a jumble, Mr. Whitney’s live-work space is well edited and orderly. Everything is placed with care and style, thanks in large part to the lady of the loft, Barbara Collins, an interior-design consultant who has spent eight years working for ABC Carpet & Home’s fabric department.

The two sometimes collaborate on projects, but the dumpster-diving is left to Mr. Whitney. Everywhere he goes is fair game. “I’ll go to the movies and come back with something,” he said, earning a good-natured eye-roll from his wife.

Because his work is so dependent on chance findings, Mr. Whitney is often limited in the number of items that he can produce. “Someone could ask, ‘Can you make me 15 of these?’ But I can’t,” he said, pointing to a mirror made from an old lamp base. Mass production would require the creation of new parts made to look old – and would take the manufacturing out of his hands.

Making his own pieces is not something that Mr. Whitney would readily give up. The Connecticut native has worked as a carpenter since graduating from high school, starting out as an apprentice to a renovation carpenter and going on to work with a cabinetmaker. He went to college for graphic design after several years of hands-on experience, and went on to get a B.A. in industrial design from the Pratt Institute. Upon graduating in 1994, Mr. Whitney began designing theatrical sets and exhibiting his work in shows. Using his woodworking skills and strong visual sense, he began making furniture with found objects.

His pieces have been part of the “DUMBO Art Under the Bridge” festival for the last eight years and are now available at Gomi NYC (443 E. 6th St. 212-979-0388) and Spring 3D Gallery (126a Front Street, Brooklyn, 718-222-1054). He also works closely with interior designers and creates custom pieces for clients. A side table with Queen Anne-style legs topped with a rustic piece of wood is priced at $700. Coffee tables made of old doors run from $500 to $700. And there are plenty of items for smaller budgets: his clocks range from $50 to $150.

“The clocks are a big item for me. I like them and they’re affordable,” said the designer, whose walls are indeed lined with timekeepers made of everything from old vents and air conditioner panels to glass lighting fixtures.

But the mad-scientist creations in the spacious, spare living room/studio aren’t all invited into the loft’s other living spaces. Ms. Collins decorated the master bedroom, which has a homey color palette of white and dark brown, with a combination of her husband’s creations, modern furniture, and traditional touches such as a glass chandelier.

The baby’s room is decorated with an umbrella chandelier by Mr. Whitney, art from painter friends, and eminently practical, if prosaic, shelving units from Ikea. “It would have taken me weeks to make them,” Mr. Whitney explained. That’s time Mr. Whitney could spend making a multi-face clock from an old kitchen range, or a chair with a small broom replacing a broken leg. And such items are, of course, infinitely more satisfying to him and to his fans.