Happy Friday!! How was your week?
I feel like I came back to the island from our trip to the US ‘swinging’, so to speak. Just ready to get things in order and become more productive and efficient in everything. And get focused on my personal priorities … which definitely includes learning the ins and outs of our new camera!!
So I can take better pictures of our current favorite project, our new coffee table that I made from an old door I pulled out of a dumpster.
But before I totally abandon the project that has been ‘updating our living room’ in lieu of a little much needed life/house/blog organization, I want to show you how to turn old doors into a coffee table, the easy way.
I went into all of the details about how I work my magic booty off to scrape, strip and sand old wood here.
what I was working with when I started the coffee table project
Let’s back up just one minute here, so I can explain that I actually chose the part of the doors that I wanted for the coffee table and cut it down before I got to the scraping. Why work on something I’m not going to use, right?!?
You can see from that before picture what I was working with, and I knew that I wanted as much of the hardware as possible to end up on my coffee table. So, using a triangle and straight edge I marked my cut line and used my trusty handsaw to cut my door to size. We have a Superior XT Ergo hand saw similar to this one. My dad gave it to me about 10 years ago, it’s awesome.
Yes, I could have just cut the doors in half and then made two identical tables with the two doors, but I would have lost the door knob and other hardware in my finished products. AND, I would have needed to come up with other an alternate wood choice for the legs of my coffee table and deal with matching the finish, yada yada.
And I didn’t need two coffee tables … so I did what I did. :)
Since I went with this strategy, I was able to use wood from the other end of the doors as the legs of my coffee table.
I was able to pull the legs apart from the already-falling-apart-now-very-depressing-looking-part-of-an-old-door.
It gets better looking, I promise!
So, just to recap, I have not used any power tools yet. Well, an electric sander is a power tool, I guess. But seriously, this project was so technically easy.
The scraping is a bit of labor, but it’s not difficult per se. For all of the scraping I use the 6-in-one tool and for all electric sanding I use this sander.
Once the legs were cut to size (I just measured the height of my couch, figured in the width of the doors and the 2 inches the casters would add … yeah, I added casters to the bottom, too.) and scraped and sanded to my liking I was ready to assemble my coffee table.**
**I bought my casters here in Curacao, but these are the exact same casters. I bought 2 with a swivel and two that just roll straight.
From here I think it helps to see a few steps ahead to make sense of these first assembly steps.
So, here is what the coffee table looked like once I had the 4 legs and casters attached to the bottom door panel of the coffee table.
And here’s a bit of useful assembly info.
And my favorite tip that I have to remind myself over and over, and over.
TIP!!! Drill pilot holes in any area you need to screw that could be unstable. Every. Single. Time. Just do it! It saves time in the end. Promise.
As with most projects, it’s just me around here, with my own two hands. I knew it would be a bit of a balancing act to try to get the 4 legs attached to the first part of the door. The pilot holes save my sanity. Seriously.
Run a bead of glue on the end of your leg piece, start the screws in your pilot holes, balance the other end of the soon-will-be-a-coffee-table on something about the same height and screw ‘em in.
Once all 4 legs were attached, I just measured inside from the edge an inch and added the 4 casters lined up with each leg. Then flipped this whole contraption over … and here we are.
Make sense so far?!?
I chose to go just as easy with the top part and just repeat the previous steps …
… put the top door piece on top of the legs …
… do some minor measuring to make sure they’re pretty much in the same positions as they are on the bottom door piece …
… draw the templates right on the top of the coffee table where the legs will be attaching to the underside (pencil marks sand off like a charm) …
… drill pilot holes …
… GLUE each leg NOW … once even one leg is attached you won’t be able to lift the top to glue the others.
Seems so common sense-like now that I’m pointing it out as rocket science, but I learned the hard way for sure.
Even though I was going to be screwing right into the top of the coffee table, I was hoping to hide the screws … here was the plan.
And you may end up with this.
Yeah, that’s a new crack. But what’s the use of working with old wood if you’re not going to embrace a new crack or two? :) #intentionalimperfectionismyspecialty
And, after a little homemade wood putty could look like this.
And after a little hand sanding, could look like this.
You can see them if you’re really looking, but they fit right in on the decrepit old door coffee table and haven’t bothered me one bit. Two points if you noticed. :)
And a close up of one of the swivel casters …
And here is where I was going to have all kinds of awesome new shots of the new coffee table taken with our new camera … but a couple of things happened.
We still have these awesomely ugly couches … and a bad backdrop does a bad picture make.
And I only took real life pictures … didn’t realize you could actually see our mess of cords coming out the top of that basket. And, for real, we need a better cord solution. It is a technological jungle in that basket.
There you have it, our new favorite piece of furniture. She’s definitely the focal point of the living room now, and a solid transition in a new direction. Thank. The. Lord! :)
If you want to see a totally different, yet equally cool, spin on an old door turned coffee table you should check out what Rita and Cane did here.
And, here you can see the before pics in all their glory and hear how I got it from a chipping mess to a sanded mess masterpiece. And here’s the story of my husband’s first reaction to the project.
Do you have a favorite project of all times? Or is it forever shifting? What’s your coffee table made out of?
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HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW AWESOME IS THIS!!! You have outdone yourself my friend — this ROCKS!!!!! I mean Bruce Springsteen…MY Chemical Romance ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCKS! I LOVE it!!!!!! WOW!!!! You are amazing and we are sending you applause and appaws from NJ!!!! tons of hugs to all — more hugs and hugs and hugs to my little (well not so little M&M Furry pair…hope they are happy and healthy) and one more thing — stay safe — I don’t know if you are in the eye of Isaac the storm — so PLEASE be safe my friend! hugs….
I love your take on it – so well done, cracks and all! Take care, Laura
Karah,
I think that may just be the coolest coffee table ever! Love that you used two doors … and the casters are genius! Now if I could be 100% certain that my kids wouldn’t use a coffee table like that as a sled or moving vehicle … I would make one myself!
Linda
Everyone should be so lucky to find an old door in the dumpster! But if they did, I doubt they would turn it into the coolest coffee table in the world! Love the casters too!
Kelly
You absolutely do the best tutorials!
LOVE it! Definitely pinning this one!
So you used on my fav words … wonky … then you threw in swivel casters (a gotta have in any house) and I finally saw the profile of the coffee table … didn’t know it is a double decker! Woot! Loved the table before, love it doubly so now. Glad you’ve recovered from vacation.
Robin @ happilyhomeafter.blogspot.com
That is so flipping super cool! Love the casters, the two levels… and the doorknob in the corner. Awesome. Pinned to show it off too!! Rockin’ girl!
LOVE THIS!
Thank you so much!!
so cool! i love that you created a lower shelf and added casters!
I so love this table to the core!!! It is awesome!!! You did a great job…gonna pin it!!!!
I really like your table design, and your step-by-step makes me think that even I could make one of these! (Cane pretty much did ours by himself.) And I vote for real life! Yeah, we all DO have cords, don’t we?
Thanks for the link to our project. Wonder what new iteration one of your readers will come up with…
You did such a great job, Karah! I love the way you styled it with the driftwood…beautiful.
Only you Karah (okay….only you and Donna from Funky Junk) could make two doors look this amazing.
Awesome job!
blessings,
karianne
Wires or not, it is gorgeous!!
It is amazing to me how some people have the ability to see something…say for example, and old door,…and just know that it needs to be a coffee table. I would just see a long split out door?? I love people with vision and this table is so fab!!
Rugged fantastic beauty!! One of the best I’ve seen. Pinning!
<3 Christina at I Gotta Create!
Wildly Original Linky party is open!
Well how darn cute and awesome is that?!?! And you made you table look so simple to make! I am totally inspired and in awe!!!
Jaime
Simply amazing table!!!…Always so totally in awe of your creativity and talent. You can turn a “throw away”…into a work of art….That door is just so happy now…being in your home, rather than in the land of “the forgotten”…
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Love that you embraced all the age & imperfections of the doors…fab repurpose!
This looks just so cool, and I am seriously considering using two of my old doors to make a Coffee Table from my front room. I so love how yours turned out, and the directions are awesome. Enjoy!
That is a great table!!!
Wow, I love it so much, might have to copy this one!
Fabulous looking coffee table- well done!
Thank you so much, Deanne!
So pretty….what a great idea. . I would love for you to visit me at My Dream Canvas. Have a great week. Anu
A wonderful work. Congratulations.
That’s pretty fantastic. Looks like you wasted no time getting back into the swing of things. Love your dumpster overhaul!
Liz
Looks great Karah!!
Thanks, Carrie!!
This is just gorgeous Karah, I love it so much. The fact that it has a bottom shelf and castors makes it even better – what a fantastic job.
Wow this is sooo cool! I love all the details and the wheels!! Great job. Come link up to Centerpiece Wednesday and share you idea with us and enter my giveaway!
Karin
I would never have thought of this, but it looks great!
Wow that is fantastic, and at least your cords are in a basket, ours are, well everywhere!!
This is lovely! I would love to feature this on Reduce, Reuse, Upcycle. Feel free to stop by and grab a featured button. Thanks!
Where are your cute wheels from? LOVE THE TABLE…would even bee cool with newer table and just distressed
That is crazy awesome! No really…I am going to restore tomorrow to look for old doors! I am in love:) Have a great weekend!
xxx
Kim
this is so cute! It looks awesome! Would love for you to come link up to Handmade Tuesdays @ http://www.ladybug-blessings.com
Thank you for the invite, Kristen!
LOVE it! Definitely pinning this one! and sharing it on my blog Post
Thank you for sharing my project, I’m so glad you like it!!
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What a great coffee table!!
Thanks for linking up! I am going to feature your project on my blog!
Ashley
http://www.simplydesigning.blogspot.com
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Hi Karah: What a neat coffee table project–it turned out great! I looked at your scraping/sanding tutorial–that is one hella lot of scraping work, girl. But when you are getting the wood for free, it could definitely be worth it. And I liked your tip of working on something easier in between all the big projects–I have been in easy roller-coaster mode, but hope to tackle a couple of slightly bigger projects soon!
Thank you so much!! Sometimes, it’s the easy projects that are the best … no need to to switch to bigger projects too soon.
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Thank you so much! I am new to your blog, and I am really enjoying your hard work!
That’ such a nice thing to hear! Enjoy your weekend.
What an awesome idea!! Love the funky hardware and all the chips!!! Excited to find you! and follow!
I wish I had some old doors…Nice project!!
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You might want to keep young children away from the table as you most probably have exposed lead paint when sanding or cutting the door .Try sealing with a clear water based sealer !
Thanks for the suggestion Ian.