Creating with Reclaimed Wood

Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who was looking for a solid wood door for his home. He went to an auction where they were selling used items from an old hotel. He bid on a door and thought he was getting a pretty good deal on it, but when he arrived at the pick-up area, to his surprise, he had purchased nearly 50 solid wood doors! Hmmm...what does one do with a plethora of doors? Well, over the years this man (my father-in-law), and his eight children have found some creative uses for these doors. Some remained as doors, but others were turned into useful and decorative projects, including storage shelves, head boards, coat hanging racks, and entryway accent pieces. Some pieces still have the original hardware on them, which adds even more character to them. In recent years reclaimed wood has seen a surge in design popularity as a way to add originality and character to your home. While 50 doors may have been our biggest score, my family has a history of finding and repurposing wood into interesting projects. But first I must admit that there were many hours spent on the internet to come up with the ideas of how we wanted to finish and use wood as decor in our homes. Here are some outstanding examples to get you inspired on your reclaimed wood journey.

My sister-in-law used some wood from her grandma’s old chicken coop to make a mantle above her fireplace. She scrubbed the wood really well to clean it. Then, she soaked steel wool in vinegar overnight to make her own stain that she used to coat the wood mantle. Lastly, she put a clear wax coating on the wood to seal it.

When my father-in-law sold his farm he told all of his children that if they wanted something from the fields that they had better go get it. We came back with some old corral fence rails of different shapes and sizes. We used them to make some shelves and a mantle for above our fireplace. We cleaned the fence rails with a 4-to-1 water/bleach mixture and scrubbed with a toothbrush to kill all of the moss that was growing on them. Then they went sunbathing in the blazing St. George summer sunshine for a few days. Lastly, we put 3 coats of clear coat on the wood to seal them.

While these examples needed some pretty extensive cleaning due to their previous purpose, using wood doesn’t have to be difficult if you can use it as is. Sometimes just placing an old wooden crate on a shelf or in the entryway can give a room character. I used my grandma’s old singer sewing machine stand drawers as shelves to decorate one of the bathrooms in my home, no work needed except nails to hang it up.

Good luck on your next reclaimed wood project! Need some ideas? Check these out!