I LOVE using old doors and shutters in design. They have so much interest in them already with the paint colors and moldings. They bring a depth and character to a project that I find hard to replicate with new materials. It can be done but is not the same! I thought I would show you some of the projects that I have used old doors for that have given them new life.

Here an old door with the lock box still attached was paired with two old shutters and two fabulous old corbels to make a fabulous bar area.

We had a copper top installed (new) and then applied bleach and muriatic acid, much to the chagrin of the contractor, to age the surface quickly. Imagine his face as we then took mallets, hammers and wrenches to beat it up a bit!

These corbels were the perfect supports for the top!

In my daughter’s room, we used two old wooden doors with their original glass knobs as her headboard. Check out those panels!

Shutters make wonderful doors! This is an old blue shutter whose paint has faded over time that I used as the face of a small cabinet in my closet.

We found these large shutters in the barn when we moved in. We used them to house the refrigerator. The slats in the sides are natural ventilators for the appliance.

There was a fabulous old sink in a powder room in the upstairs but it was badly damaged and leaked like a sieve. I wanted to maintain the character of the room without spending a fortune on the new reproduction sink so I used an inexpensive vessel sink from Home Depot atop…what else? Old shutters of course!

As a side…don’t you love that diamond pattern that my artist friend Jennifer painted over top the purple floor that was there?

More old shutters?????

Actually I deviated a little on this one and used these wonderfully heavy and solid old barn vents as the sides of the sink vanity. The finish was actually as you see them when I found them.

Last but not least, I had this entertainment center made out of ONE fireplace door. The kind that used to keep the cold and drafty air out of the walk in fireplaces as well as the critters! It has wear and tear on it but when you see it in person, you can almost see the past hands that have opened and closed these doors over the course of many many years. The perk in the worn, uneven finish is that you cannot see the fingerprints of my kid’s hands as they open and close them!

When one door closes…use it for something else other than it’s original intention!