I am trying to furnish my new apartment that I'm moving into this Saturday and have been looking for ideas for different pieces for a while. On the night that Lindsey, Ashley, and I had our fun Hip Pocket Theater experience, we stopped by Ashley's house to look up directions and on the way out, I saw it. Ashley has a coffee table that is made out of an old door. I knew it was what I wanted.
So yesterday, my mom and I headed out to this store on Montgomery that has hundreds of old doors for really cheap. We went through all of them and found a door that was fairly narrow and a little shorter than normal. It was really old and had a lot of character, so we bought it. Now in my mind, I'm thinking, "Great! We take the door, scrape off some old paint, put on some new paint, screw on some legs, and we're done!" Little did I know, there were a lot of steps I left out of this thought.
Once we got to Home Depot, we realized that neither one of us knows the first thing about making a table, so we went and got my dad to help us. As soon as he entered Home Depot, or as I like to call it, "Playground for Men," he started piling our basket full of things I didn't even know existed! We got paint stripper, a scraper, a stripping brush, black paint, primer, sand paper, wooden legs, all-thread screws that are half wood screws/half normal threads, special paint rollers, paint pans, the list goes on. My cute, simple table is quickly turning into a project fit for Pottery Barn pricing. But my dad knows what he's talking about, so we get our supplies and head home.
We put on paint stripper and scraped it twice, sanded it, cut off half the door, attached legs, and primed it. Tomorrow I am going to paint it. It took me about 6 hours to get the door into a somewhat workable coffee table, but it was definitely worth it. I can't wait to see it in my new living room hopefully looking as cute as Ashley's next week. I took some before and after pictures, but I have to wait until tomorrow before I can get them on my computer, so I'll post them then.
It feels good to have a really neat piece of furniture and know that I made it. But now I can't get my mind off of the door. I wonder how old it is, what it was a door to, who used it, what kind of drama happened in its presence. I know I'll never know its true back-story, so I'll just have to make one up. So for now, my story is that it was the door to a secret passageway in a Southern plantation house that was used in the underground railroad. Anyone else have a suggestion?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Your mom was telling us about the door today. So impressed that you all are making it...can't wait to see it!! I want to see your new apartment too once you get all settled and moved in.
door to the men's room?
Three words: Bank robery... ikea
It might be easier though to just rob ikea.
Oh I'm so jealous. I dream of the door coffee table. Hmm....I'll have to think about the door's history.
I know. The door once stood in the entrance of the Clarkson family. The bubbly Burleson family ran in and out of the door as they played around in the neighborhood and dreamed of moving to the city. The sweet singer girl took a chance and auditioned for a show that sounded lame because it was on Fox and it had Paula Abdul. Her mother would run out that door after each time dear Kelly performed and shouted from her porch, "Vote for Kelly!" to all of Burleson. The competition went on and the door watched her sweet youngling in the living room. Door smiled as she watched Kelly perform to America because she knew that she would wait for a lifetime for a moment like this. Kelly won, made tons of money, and her parents remodeled. Leaving Door at the curb. So to keep Door still in connection with her past, you must keep a picture of Kelly Clarkson mod podged to the bottom.
I loved your coffee table door. Hello, by the way, from Red River.
M.C.
I would imagine that it is a door leading to a log cabin on the frontier in the 1880's. Did you ever see "frontier House"? Where the families attempted to recreate what it was like living back then? Preston and I are convinced that we could do it...We would have to get in better physical condition, but other than that we would be good to go!
Brenda Glass made a cute screen for around her computer area in her dining room by connecting 3 old screen doors together with hinges.
Post a Comment