“The Nest at its Best” is a weekly column by our area expert & Realtor, Amanda Rickman. This column features helpful home tips, some DIY tutorials, and interesting info about the area! So whether you are looking to sell your home, moving, or just trying to make your home a home, this is surely a column you’ll want to follow!
Meet another life I live: antique/shabby chic/repurposing crazy person…. aka my husbands worst nightmare since he “gets” to help me 
which leads me to this gem: The door table.
I made my first door table from the perfect door that I found in Brenham, Tx that I paid way too much for (cough $250…).
The thing is, is that you don’t always come across the perfect door nor do you want to pay $250 for it! The thought of making something just as cute but cheaper sounds much more satisfying to the average DIY’er. Isn’t that the point of DIY anyway? To make something yourself that you couldn’t usually afford to buy? Yes.
What you will need:
*An old door (I found this one at an antique show for $30, but you can probably even find them at salvage yards)
*4 Decorative deck posts from Lowes that are around $10 a piece
*4 to 8 iron brackets (I did 4 on this table) you can find at Hobby Lobby for about $3.50 a piece
* Your favorite color of Chalk Paint and clear and dark wax. There is a shop in Buda called Shoppe by the Railroad that sells Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, however if you want to save some money and mix your own color all you need is some flat latex paint, plaster of paris (powdered gypsum), and water. Per 1/2 cup of paint add 5 Tbsp of plaster of paris and 5 Tbsp of water. And you can use regular clear and dark furniture wax from Lowes (much cheaper) Tada!
*Sandpaper
*Paint brushes
*Old rag
*Sawhorse or something to hold the door up
*Screws
*Drill and drill bit
*Skill Saw
Now it’s time to get started! First you need to prep your door. I used sandpaper on mine, but the magical thing about chalk paint is that it doesn’t require sanded furniture. Once your door is prepped, you can prep your table legs. This is where my husband comes in. He cut the ball off of each deck post and then we marked the other end of the posts to the height we wanted the table. Once the legs are prepped, it’s time to attach them! So the wood doesn’t split, place the door on the legs where you want them to be screwed in and pre drill them with a drill bit. Once you have your holes you can drill in the screws without the wood splitting. Now it’s time for the fun part…. painting! Fully coat the table in your base color chalk paint. Once it has dried, with an old rag, coat the table in the clear wax. Once it is coated with clear wax, you can go back and create a “distressed” look with the dark brown wax. Be sure to watch some of Annie Sloan’s YouTube videos on all the different techniques you can do. After it is to your liking, you can put on the finishing touches which are the brackets! Place them where you would like them and again pre drill where your screws will go with the drill bit. Last but not least, screw those puppies on and there you have it, your own door table! You can get glass cut for the top if you wish, and this same idea could be used for a coffee table.
