DIY Corner Shelves from a Reclaimed Door

You can find some absolutely amazing treasures at garage sales, thrift stores, and even just sitting on the side of the road. I am a huge fan of taking these trashed pieces and making them into something new and spectacular!

This set of corner shelves were born from an old white door that I picked up for a few bucks at a garage sale. It didn’t look like much at the time, but it had so much potential!

First, I measured the center of the door and market it with painters tape to ensure I had a straight line. I used a jigsaw to cut the door right up in half.

It was then that I noticed the door was completely hollow. Most modern doors are hollow, this keeps costs down and makes them more lightweight- perfect for interior doors, not so perfect for shelves.

To combat the hollow door, I filled it with expanding spray foam. This made a bit of a mess, but it ensured my door would be strong and sturdy enough to hold my shelves. I used a serrated edge knife to cut the bulk of the spray foam off the outer edge and then sandpaper to smooth it out. Since my door also had a shiny white finish, I sanded the whole thing to give it a little bit of a bite to hold onto my paint.

I am going for a rustic look with these shelves, so I know I’ll want more than one coat of paint. I started with a coat of a sky blue color. All of the paints that I use are sample sizes from the hardware store that I mixed with calcium for my own perfectly matte chalk paint blend. After the sky blue I went over it with a dark rustic red, covering the blue completely.

Now comes the fun part! Sanding. I use one of those block sanders that has different grits on each side that you can get at the hardware store. It is helpful for getting into all the grooves of the door and the different grits are perfect for getting that rustic look, where some parts look more weathered than others.

After all the sides were sanded down, it was time to put them together! I used wood glue down the edges where the doors were touching to create an initial point of contact. After that I used screws at the top and bottom and angle brackets in the center to create a sturdy base for my shelves.

To cut the shelves, measure your door and use some of that high school trigonometry. I used reclaimed lumber from the cull lumber pile at the hardware store, but you can use any kind of flat lumber. You should end up with 4-5 equal triangle shelves. Paint them in the same way you painted the door, and don’t forget the front!

To brace the shelves, I measured out where I wanted them to be on my door and marked them accordingly. Using reclaimed cull lumber again, I cut two pieces for each shelf that were about one to two inches shorter than each side of my shelf. I painted them in the same fashion as my door and used wood glue and screws to attach them to the door where I wanted my shelves to be. I then used wood glue again on the bottom and sides of my shelves and nestled them into place.

After the glue has dried completely, you can give your shelf a new home and fill it up with keepsakes!