That old saying about “when one door closes, another opens” applies to furniture.
Want a big honking desk but don’t want to look like a bank president?
Get unhinged.
Need a bed for your preschooler?’s tiny room?
Get unhinged.
How about a bathroom vanity for dirt cheap?
Yep, unhinged it is.
Ditto for dining tables, headboards, hall trees and kitchen islands.
Doors create big furniture without the bulk. The result is sleek and unique.
There’s nothing new about making furniture from doors. It used to be a first-apartment thing to do, before people could afford “real” furniture.
Put a door over two filing cabinets and, voila!, you have a desktop at the ready for crafts or coding.
Two sawhorses plus a door equals a great picnic table.
DIY sites and Pinterest have expanded the usefulness and popularity of doors, with tips how to make those long slats of wood look snazzy. It’s part of the “repurposing” craze for objects such as ladders, chairs and windows.
Think — and shop— outside the box and the big box store. All it takes is some paint, imagination and maybe a power tool or two. Stores such as IKEA can fix you up with legs in various styles and accessories.
Possibilities abound. People make porch swings from doors. Garden gates. Giant picture frames. Coffins (these are typically for Halloween parties).
Old doors can be snagged for cheap at yard sales and salvage stores, but avoid those with old paint that might contain lead.
Kim Reynolds, co-founder of The Living Room coffee shop in Marysville, used doors to help furnish the 5,000-square-foot eclectic hangout that’s a comfy arena of couches, chairs and tables.
“People say, ‘Where do you find all this cool stuff?’” Reynolds said. “I tell them, ‘It finds me.’ ”
Several doors were acquired on a lunch outing with a friend in downtown Everett. “I saw this man putting doors out in the alley for the garbage,” she said.
The man, who was gutting an old building, gladly let her haul away the doors.
One door became the countertop in her coffee shop’s women’s restroom. Its white, peeling finish is sealed with a thick shellac to repel water but otherwise intact. “I tried to keep it true to color. It’s shabby chic,” she said.
The spacious top holds double sinks and has plenty of room for primping in front of a large mirror. Several inches of the door were cut off for use as a backsplash. A drape made from burlap coffee bags conceals the storage space under the counter.
Other doors serve as tables, including one that’s pub height, with spindles from salvaged staircase railings.
“It is kind of my artform,” Reynolds said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do until I start working with it. I love doors so much. There is so much history in them. I adopt them. They have so much potential. Every piece is so beautiful. No doors left behind.”
For ideas and supplies
IKEA; www.ikea.com.
The Habitat Store, 2302 Broadway Ave., Everett; 425-903-4430.
Second Use Building Materials, 3223 6th Ave. S, Seattle; 206-763-6929; www.seconduse.com.
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