Scavenger Chic

Modern Farmhouse, DIY Barn Door Coffee Table

• By Joan
• September 15, 2021
• 2 Comments

Modern Farmhouse, DIY Barn Door Coffee Table

I know I brought you 2 DIY coffee tables last month but when I was cleaning out my garage last week I found the makings for 2 more.

Coffee tables are fairly easy to envision in anything even remotely boxy or rectangle. What could be more rectangular than this old barn door.

I found the barn door at my local architectural salvage yard in their trash pile!  He is soooo beautiful. He’s dirty, grungy, rustic and free. Their trash is my treasure. 

Before I could even consider a barn door coffee table, this guy needed a bath.  A hose and a scrub brush worked wonders.

This is my boy after he got his bath.  The loose dirt came off, but the stains remain.

I didn’t want to paint him because I personally like some of the old patina. Next best thing, lighten and brighten with white wax. Just like any chalk paint wax, paint or dab it on and wipe off the excess.

A little bit more of the barn door covered with the white wax.

Now for the legs.  From the same dump pile I found this beautiful old 3×4 post.  It did have a few nails which can either be pulled out, cut off, or pounded down so that the nail head is level with the wood.

It may have been good if I had measured the post before I removed all the nails but I did luck out, the post was long enough for the 4 legs and I had 2 inches leftover. 

Cut 4 legs 15-16 inches long.  Since an average coffee table height is  between 16-18 inches, the legs plus the thickness of the barn door will give me a nice height coffee table.

Cut a wood skirt to go around the underside of the barn door letting the barn door overlap the skirt by about an inch on all sides.

This old 2×4 was also a scrap pile find.  If you have a miter saw, miter the corners.  If you don’t have a miter saw, a straight cut will work just fine.

I did end up removing the hinges since the flat side of the barn door will be the bottom of the coffee table.

Sand all your pieces well, the skirt and the legs. 

The top piece in the above picture has been sanded.

To construct my skirt frame, I drilled 2, 1/2″ holes in each corner about 1/2″ deep.  The 1/2″ holes were equal to my half inch dowel.

Use long screws inside the holes to screw the frame together.

Fill the 1/2″ holes with a few drops of wood glue and small pieces of the 1/2″ dowel.

Use the same screws and dowels to attach the legs to the skirt frame.

Here I used 2 screws on the long side of the skirt and one additional screw on the short side.

By drilling the hole for the dowel, more of the screw length goes into the leg (or the corner).  BTW, these are 2 1/2 inch wood screws.

To cover up my very new looking dowels, I spread a dab of antique wax on them and rubbed off the excess.

The legs and the skirt all got a coat of clear wax. Again, paint on and rub off the excess with a paper towel or rag.  If you would like a darker finish, you could use the antique wax on all the wood surfaces.

The base is complete and seems super sturdy.

The only thing left to do is attach the barn door to the base.

Once again I’m using the 1/2″ dowel and long wood screws.  This time I predrilled 3, 1/2″ holes per side, again, about 1/2″ deep.

To cover up these holes, I dabbed a little gray paint over the dowels and wiped off the excess.  The gray wasn’t an exact match but it was close enough.

When the gray paint was dry, I added a few more dabs of the white wax.  This was the same wax I used to finish the barn door.   Again, wipe off the excess.

I replaced the full hinges that had been on the back with 2 half hinges screwed to the top to add a little bit of rusty vintage character.

A closer look at the dowel covered screws.

Those are my rug pillows from 2 weeks ago making an appearance. 😆 

 

 

The white wax really brightened up this grungy barn door coffee table.  It’s now clean but it manages to maintain it’s rusticness.

If you need more coffee table inspiration keep scrolling.  See you back here next week.

 

 

Upcycled and Recycled Coffee Tables