What can I do to turn old doors into furniture?

January 23, 2005 8:29 PM

Doorfilter: A convent nearby is being torn down, and on a whim i bought a number of the room and closet doors from the place. Four of the doors will fit my current house perfectly (style-wise - they are bare-wood exact matches for my painted doors), but four are a different, older style. They're solid pine, five-panel, and they're stained to a dark color. I also pulled all the frames and jambs, for the [cough] hell of it. My question: what can I do with these? I'm mechanically inclined, but I've never done much woodworking.
posted by notsnot to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

they make great dining room or office tables...get a piece of glass made to go on top, and you can buy pre-made legs. A carpenter or interior person might want to buy them from you, too. Or they can become headboards. (these ideas are not terrible either, or this)
posted by amberglow at 8:44 PM on January 23, 2005

If it comes down to just using them for wood - scrap them. It's not worth the time and hassle. You will be better off going to the local bigbox and getting some 2 x 8's (they're only pine).
posted by jmgorman at 9:10 PM on January 23, 2005

Response by poster: Oh, I don't mean that I'd use them for anything. I want furniture ideas.
posted by notsnot at 9:58 PM on January 23, 2005

I disagree with jmgorman. Door-wood, pine or otherwise, is old, dry, stable wood, excellent for cabinetry - if you have a table saw, planer, jointer, &c. You've got a bunch of thick, wide pieces - make a nice octagonal poker table and a base for it. (The pine is for the edges - cover veneer plywood with felt for the middle. Mail me if you want, I've done this before - and I promise you, if you start with a construction-grade 2x8 you won't like the results.)

On the other hand, doors are also valuable as doors - how big are they? I've been looking for a couple of good 103" x 36" doors for five years.
posted by nicwolff at 10:17 PM on January 23, 2005

If I had some old, cool-looking doors lying around, I'd make a fake door in my house. Nail the door to an empty wall, put up some trim for the "frame". Dunno if it floats your boat, but it would make my day every time somebody tried to open it.
posted by Hildago at 12:11 AM on January 24, 2005

Nicwolf is right. If you have the space,keep that wood.

Kudos to Hildago.
posted by Dick Paris at 4:56 AM on January 24, 2005

I want furniture ideas.

Headboard.
posted by probablysteve at 6:23 AM on January 24, 2005

I have seen old cypress doors used for the front facing of a bar and it looks pretty cool.
posted by brheavy at 7:02 AM on January 24, 2005