Door Shelf Tutorial

DIY Door Shelf Tutorial

I was browsing an antique store in Sequim a couple weeks ago and came across a shelving unit made from an old door. I fell in love with it but it was more than I wanted to spend since I wanted to put it on my porch so I walked out of that store empty handed. A couple weeks later while I was gathering supplies at Home Depot for another project I came across marked down/clearance interior doors. The doors were scuffed, scratched, chipped or otherwise blemished and were a fraction of it's original price. I found a door for $9.00 that reminded me of the shelving unit I had seen a few weeks prior and decided to recreate that piece in my own way. Here is the door I bought from Home Depot.

 

The first step in creating this piece is to cut the door into 2 equal pieces down the center of the door but since you need the door pieces to fit perfectly back together at a right angle you need to cut at a 45 degree angle. I didn't realize this door was hallow inside so my cut was pretty messy and didn't fit perfectly back together. I took some brackets and attached the 2 pieces together so they were sitting at a right angle and filled in any unalligned pieces with filler. Once the door was standing on it's own I added a few shelves.

 

Now on to painting. I wanted a worn look so I'll explain how I like to create that look. I take a base color that I want to peek through when I'm done and paint the entire thing the base color which I chose brown for this project. Then you take vaseline or wax whichever you prefer and rub it on the areas you think the door would have naturally rubbed off any paint if it had aged. I usually apply the vaseline on the edges and randomly on any edges I see. To get the worn paint look I like to use chalk paint. You can buy it or make it yourself since it can get pricey for big project. To make chalk paint I take my paint and add water and some plaster of paris.

  

 

Base Color 1 coat

2 coats of chalk paint in white (I also used outdoor paint for the white since it will be sitting on my porch)

 

After you sand various parts of the shelf you get the "worn" paint look. Add decorations to the shelves and your done, I'll post another photo once I add all my shelving decor but here is my porch door shelf.