Old doors can be fun too!

By Catie Hoffman, ReStore Volunteer 

One of the great things about volunteering at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore is that it has made me see just how many “old” or ”broken” or “used” household things can be repurposed into something “new” or “fun.”

If you have ever come to the ReStore, right as you walk in, to the left we have our bulletin boards that was created out of old drawers. You can easily turn old drawers into a fun project for kids or even just for you. First start off my picking which drawers you would like to use. Maybe you have some old drawers from an old dresser or cabinets at home, but if you don’t, we do have a large selection for you to choose from at the ReStore to create a fun shelf/bulletin board. Next, pick what color you want your project to be and paint or stain the drawers however you would like. Blue and green are the ReStore colors so we went with those but you can always choose a more natural or rustic look and sand and stain them. After painting or staining them you are pretty much done. If you want it to be a bulletin board you can take pieces of cork board and glue then to the inside of the drawer. Finally, just choose where you would like to set or hang your new shelves or bulletin board. Ta-da you just turned an old drawer into a beautiful, and fun, hanging shelf and/or bulletin board! 

Drawers at the ReStore! 

The ReStore always has tons of donated doors and paint. So my sister and I came up with the idea to make a game table out of one of the used doors here. First you have to choose what color you want to do your game table. Now if you are overachievers, like my sister and I, you could also chose a theme. We chose Batman Forever because that is her husband’s favorite movie. Now based on what you decide you want your game table to be used to play will determine the rest. You could cut some holes in it and use it as a bean-sack throw and use it at a school or church carnival. You could turn it into a smaller ping pong table depending on the shape or size of the door. There are so many different options. We used our door to make a ping pong table & bowling table. First we taped off a triangle on either end of the table and painted the middle black. One side got painted green and the other got painted silver. After all of that paint dried, on the green side we painted the Batman symbol and on the silver side we painted the Riddler’s symbol. In the middle we painted a giant Batman/Riddler symbol. Once the paint was dry we used a clear coat lacquer to seal the paint on the door. Finally, we used old collapsible legs from an old picnic table and screwed them on the back of the door. Now our table hangs in the garage as a decoration when it is not being used and when we do want to use it we take it of its hooks pull out the legs and it’s time to play! 

Door before! 

Door after!