Extra door turns into a headboard

We have some doors lying around in our basement. They live in what I call the 

"treasure pile". 

Treasure pile with 3 doors and 1 door frame

Treasure pile #2
3 more doors :)

Half of Treasure pile #3....couldn't fit the rest into the photo!
Not pictured -
one more door in its own Treasure pile #4

Most folks would call it a garbage pile. If they were being generous they might call it a scrap pile. To me- TREASURE! There are all sorts of projects just waiting to be done with our old doors, windows & pieces of wood. They all hold bits of our home's history - which is probably why I want to hold on to them. Or maybe because I am my father's daughter & I hate to throw anything away......could be a combination of the two!

This post (which I found on Pinterest; no one is shocked by that) sparked my interest since we have a glut of cool old doors. I love when I find tutorials for DIY projects that seem do-able. Projects that don't require a shit ton of tools or equipment that I don't have, or have a bazillion steps so I know I'll never motivate to complete them. This project seemed like a pretty good fit for my low level skills! Having my Dad participate was incredibly helpful too - working on projects with my Dad is like sleeping with my baby blanket & teddy bear (who is named Teddy): I don't NEED to do have those things to sleep, but having them makes sleep SO much easier. Same goes for any DIY project I've tackled thus far. I don't bite off too terribly much - so I am fairly confident I could do them on my own; but having Dad come to help makes the entire process not just more enjoyable but quicker & easier too.

I started by washing the door with what I imagine to be a horribly toxic substance called TSP (Tri Sodium Phosphate). 

See the difference the TSP made on the sunporch walls?

Happily scrubbing away.....

It was recommended to me by a woman who does a lot of home painting projects for her interior decorating clients; so I knew I could trust that it would work. If you caught me washing our sunporch walls you would've noticed I was using the same product for that job. It cuts through grease/grim/dirt/smoke with ease. Between the door & the sunporch walls I had all 4 of those nasty substances!

I forgot to take a "before" washing photo - hence showing the
power of TSP above!

Next I had a pretty good time making a "custom" paint color. By custom I mean I dumped a whole bunch of leftover samples of blue paint into my tray & mixed well. We spent a stupid amount of money on paint samples for the house; so I figured I may as well get some mileage out of them!!

Mix mix mix!

I like how the colors swirled together

I taped the plate on the door so I wouldn't paint over it. I think it is pretty & reinforces the fact that we recycled a door into a headboard in our 2nd guest bedroom!

Then I painted the door; two coats to make sure the color was as rich as possible - but I didn't bother to paint or wash (as I sadly discovered when we put the headboard on the frame) the back of the door. I figured no one would see it which is true- though I could've washed it for God's sake. Its pretty gnarly back there.

Dad & I had some purchasing issues for the bolts that would connect the door to the 2x6s that hold the door up (they also connect the metal bed frame to the 2x6s). Dad went to the hardware store once & I went no less than 3 times before we finally had the right bolts. Oops. What a giant waste of time!!

Once we had the materials we finished the project really quickly- probably only an hour or so to get everything measured (to be sure we had the door centered) and connected!

Using our TV box to protect the mattress,
Dad is lining up the 2nd 2x6 support. We
bolted both supports to the metal frame
near the floor before moving up and bolting
the headboard to the 2x6s

No yet secured - notice the scrap wood between the door
and the TV box? We're making progress though!

We love the new bed! I still need to touch up the paint near the plate & also paint the
 2x6 where it is visible; but that will happen another day :)

Hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did! We are really quite pleased with the final product! We have also had our first overnight guests (my sister & niece) so the bed was tested & worked! Special shout out to my Mom who gave us the pretty coral pillows and my sister who gave us the Euro sham cases!  It takes a village to decorate a guest room!

Update February, 2017:
Dad helped put the finishing touches on this project this week! I am so thankful that Dad has a bazillion tools & knows how to use them & is willing to teach me!

I have wanted to add lights mounted on the door headboard since we started the project.....but the lights, cords, switches, etc sat in boxes under my desk (which lives in this guest bedroom) for 7 months before I admitted defeat and finally asked Dad if he could spearhead this part of the project. I bought wall mounted fixtures that are intended to be hardwired into building power; but I wanted to add switches & cords so the lights can function like a reading light/bedside lamp.

I didn't take any photos during the project, but here is the final result:

Yipee! Lights are on the headboard!

I am THRILLED! Finished just in time to have friends visit for President's Day Weekend!!