Rather than trough out your old door, why not turn it into a nice coffee table. We bought this one and I thought it looked easy to make and decided to take a stab at it.

Step 1: Plan Your Project

I found out the hard way that certain doors will work better for certain projects. The one we bought had 5 evenly spaced panels. The door I picked up to use as my project has 6 different sized panels. It made it difficult to cut at the proper height and still have both side pieces symmetrical. The perfect door for this project would have had equal sized panels. Craigslist is a great resource for projects like this. I found this door at a local craft sale for $10. It was very weathered and has been repaired several times.

Step 2: Plan the Cuts

Since I did not find a door that equal panels it took some planning to get this to turn out. I wanted this coffee table to be 16” tall but I also wanted to cut along the horizontal pieces between the panels. To make this work I found the rails that would work the best and cut them in half. You can see from the photo that one of the pieces that I am going to use as legs will have 2 panels in it and the other piece will have 1 panel. Not ideal and not as symmetrical as the coffee table we bought. The first two cuts were to split those two rails right down the center. The next two cuts were to cut off the excess from the other ends to make sure both legs were the same height.

Step 3: Attach Leg Pieces

Once all the pieces have been cut to length you can put this together. I have decided to use the Kreg R3 to drill and put together. Measure the width of the wood. Then set the jig to the proper depth. Double check that you are drilling on the correct side of the wood. I accidently drilled the first one on the wrong side. Luckily the Kreg come with some plugs to fill the holes. Next set the drill to the proper depth. Clamp the jig where you want the holes and drill until the depth guide stops you. I have decided to use some glue too. Clean out the holes and wipe everything down. Glue and clamp into place. Choose the proper depth screws and screw the pieces together. I am also putting on the 45 degree decorative pieces to hold everything at a nice straight 90 degrees. My door is a little wider than the max so I am setting the jig to 1 ½ which it’s max and setting the drill guide a little deeper than the max setting.

Step 4: Paint Door

I got some paint from the local big box store. It was a return so it was only a couple of dollars. I highly suggest keeping an eye out for paint every time you go in to your local big box hardware store. Most stores have a returned paint section and the paint can be as low as $1. If you have white you can tone it down or you can make your own chalk paint. I put on 3 layers of paint and then scuffed it up with a sander. Finally sprayed on some poly help protect the finish.