Vintage Interior Door End Table

One of my favorite things to make are Door Tables. Sounds silly I know, but basically they are end tables, coffee tables, or (insert your use here) tables. They are made from doors that I salvage from Local buildings. Living in Maine they aren't hard to find. renovated houses, Barns, beach cottages, they all work.

The One I am about to walk through I actually had listed as a larger table. Someone requested that I shorten it, and they would buy. so I did, and they did. this is the other half. The trouble is, that when you take a 4 legged table and cut it in half, you do NOT have enough legs for both Tables. Which brings me to the "how I make my legs" section.


I do not carve the legs myself, I buy them pre-made, tags and all. While this isn't technically handmade, I love the shapes and sized I am able to use and It is all still natural wood. These legs actually require no sanding, they are ready to go straight from the store, which is nice as I can get started right away.

The first step is to decide on the finish. Since these legs were going on a table top that was already made, I knew it would be a J.Crabbit Custom Teal finish. This requires several steps, and plenty of time. In my custom teal finish I use several colors in layers. It is very important to allow each layer to dry completely before applying the next.

Finally I add the top coat of teal. As you can see the legs are neatly painted, not the signature distressed look. That comes next.

I run the Legs through my signature distressing technique. While its no secret how to make paint look old, I made this technique up om my own because I love the finish it puts onto a piece. once I am satisfied with the look I lightly dust them with a cloth and get ready for the final touch.


You can see that there is the prominent color of Teal, with the other colors showing lightly, and plenty of exposed wood. I apply a coat of low gloss polyurethane to protect the finish. I use low gloss so it doesn't look shiny and wet, that would rather defeat the "vintage" look. I love applying the poly because it really brings out the color of the wood. On the legs (where the wood is brand new) I know what it will look like, but the first time I apply the poly to the door itself, I am always amazed with the colors and shades that become visible.

I am letting these Dry for now. Tomorrow I will attach the Top and it will be listed at www.jcrabbit.etsy.com before the end of the week!

Thank for stopping by

~Mitch

The creation of Progressions

I created this Blog because I like the way things are made. I know that sounds silly and makes no sense, but let me tell you what the purpose of it all is. I make stuff. Again vague I know. I like making things, And when my house filled with all the things I had made, my wife suggested that I open a store online and sell them. So now I operate J.Crabbit, my own line of Items I created. I sell them at www.jcrabbit.etsy.com.

So back to Progressions and what It means. I wanted anyone that bought my handmade work to be able to see the progression of the piece. Because I start with a vintage "find" and turn it into something different, I wanted everyone to know both the history, as well as the journey the piece took from when I found it to when I listed it.

So, what this means is that when youre shopping on J.Crabbit you will be able to click on a link in the listing that will take you directly to the post about that Items history as well as photos of its transformation. I hope anyone reading will find this facinating, interesting, fun, and informative.

So I must now go and start the progressions of a few pieces I plan to list soon. Thank you for reading, thank you for shopping, and thank you for caring enough to stop by!

~Mitch~