DIY Headboard and Shelf from Reclaimed Door

Would you believe that you could make something beautiful from someone's trash?  That’s right.  I found this solid door on my way home from work one day on the side of the road being discarded.  At the time I didn’t know what I was going to do with it.  But I’ve watched enough DIY on YouTube, seen all the episodes of Fixer Upper, and I am quite familiar with Jay Bates’ “trash to treasure” series.  With supreme salvage ninja skills, I threw it in the back of my truck, squealed off and took it to my shop.  And there it sat in the workshop for a few weeks collecting dust…

Well, you see my girls are getting older and we coaxed them into giving up their playroom and converting it into a proper guest room.  Bingo.  Time to turn this old door into something beautiful.

We bought a bed and decided that we’d use the door for the headboard.  I measured the new bed and decided to cut the door down to size to fit the bed.  This cutoff provided the needed material to build a shelf (below) to finish out the feng shui. 

Here's how I did it:

1.  Cut door down to size.  I chose 56 3/4” for a full size bed.   I based this off the size of the bed vs the symmetry of the door panels and tried to center the door knob hole in the middle.  I tried to leave equal amounts of spacing on either side of the four panels.  The Kreg Rip Cuts jig made cutting the door easy.

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2.  Wash the door with soap and water and let it dry. 

   3.  Attach 1x4.  Glue and pin nail a piece of 1x4 to top of the headboard.  I cut this one to 60 ¼” to leave equal amounts of overhang on each side.
   4.  Attach molding.  Glue and pin nail a piece of trim or chair-rail molding that you like.  I bought this piece at the local big box store.
   5.  Caulk the spaces between the 1x4, trim, and headboard.

6.  Fill holes.  Fill all holes and voids with your choice of filler (caulk, wood filler, or drywall spackling).  I tried all three and my favorite was the drywall spackling.  It is easily sanded and painted over.
7.  Sand everything.  I sanded up to 220 grit. 

8.  Paint.  I started with spray primer.  Let it dry.  Then I used two coats of latex paint.  Make sure that you use a bonding primer.  I had trouble with the latex paint sticking to the door.  The bonding primer will stick to anything (speaking from experience).  You can also apply some kind of polyurethane or lacquer to protect it.  Smarter people recommend specific times between sanding and coats.  I winged it :).

9.  Hang on the wall.  You could use any sort of wall anchor.  I have used DIY plywood French cleats on previous projects, but decided I wanted there to be minimal space between the wall and the headboard.  Therefore, I bought this French cleat system from Amazon.  Recommend having help with hanging the door.

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The Shelf...

Due to my darling bride's affection for Christmas time, the closet located in the guest room is filled to the rim with jolly ole’ decorations.  So we needed a place for guests to hang their clothes.  I had seen designs on Pinterest showing a combination of wood and iron pipe and loved the rustic combo.  Here's what I did:

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1. Cut wood to size.  The door I used had two smaller panels at the top and that made for a cool design.  It measured 14 ¼” by 29 ¾”. 
2. Wash with water and soap.
3. Sand and prime.  Again, I went up to 220 grit.
4. Paint color of your choice.  I used Valspar Swiss Coffee latex paint.  Let it dry.  I distressed the corners and some of the edges to make it more rustic looking.

5.  Coat with sealer.  BE CAREFUL.  I used a brush-on lacquer and it turned the paint yellow.  Next time I will use a spray polyurethane or a poly-acrylic.  Again, follow directions for sanding between coats and drying time.

6.  Plan your pipe layout and purchase parts.  Below is a list of what I used.  This is the harder (time consuming) part.  I measured to the center of the shelf from the wall and figured I could get close without having to cut the pipes to specific lengths.  I went with ½” pipes and fittings because they seemed to be cheaper.  I took some time piecing this together in the middle of the isle at the big box store but they didn’t seem to mind. 

1. 4x ½” floor flange fittings
2. 2x ½” 8” pipes (braces from wall)
3. 2x ½” 90deg elbows
4. 2x ½” Tee fitting
5. 2x ½” 5 ½ pipes (vertical braces)
6. 2x ½” 1” nipple fittings
7. 1x 24” pipe (or as wide as you want shelf)

7.  Paint pipes/fittings.  Because the fittings/pipes weren’t a perfect match, I decided to paint the whole setup with a glossy black spray paint. I also painted the heads of the screws to match the flanges.

8.  Prepare shelf.  To give it a “floating shelf” kind of feel, I routed out a dado in the back of the shelf and cut a piece of scrap wood that fits inside the dado to attach it to the wall for extra support.  If you don’t have a way to do that, you could always use another way to secure the piece to the wall ("L" brackets, supports, etc.)

9.  Assemble and mount.  Put the two pieces together and mount to the wall.  I used a piece of wood to hold the shelf level while I screwed it (from top down) to the scrap cleat.  I couldn’t decide whether or not to put the two together then mount to the wall or attach them separately and then connect.  I ended up doing a little of both.  It was quite difficult to get everything right.  I think if had done it over again, 1) I would have had help putting it on the wall, and 2) I would have left it all in one piece and put it on the wall all at one time.

Mounting tip.  Make sure that you use good wall anchors or screw it into a stud.  Or in my case, I did both.  I screwed the scrap cleat into the studs and put in drywall anchors for the pipe flanges because they did not match up with the studs.  

10.  Sit back, relax and enjoy your hard work.

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Take care and God bless,
-jb