Today, I am sharing an upcycled vintage door beverage bar.
So the summer weather is winding down in our area here. The windows are open and the air is letting us know it is coming to an end.
But that doesn’t mean I am ready to go inside yet. I am hoping to still use our porch into the fall, just start to wrap ourselves in quilts and blankets. For the past two years since we have had our porch, we were hit with a hurricane at the end of the summer season. We had to quickly “batten down the hatches” and get ready for the storm. We closed up early and didn’t open again till spring.
This year, I am really hoping to be able to use the space well into the fall, have friends over, share meals. And what better way to to do that then with a fun beverage station.
Technically, this could also be considered a potting station, but I am just being honest here, for us, it is a beverage bar. It is perfect for our screened porch. Every time we had people over, I was bringing a folding card table out here for drinks. Not only did it not look cute, but it was always an awkward height to serve from.
Now, we have the perfect space to serve drinks for the whole crowd.
I added a tray to the top to corral some sodas.
And a galvanized tray (which is really a vintage maple bucket cover) to collect condensation from the perfect pitcher of easy white sangria.
We added a shelf underneath to store glasses and such and there is a spot underneath for a cooler or container to keep beverages on ice.
And we even added helpful details like a hook for a dish towel, a bottle opener and a hook for a wine opener. The towel hook is an old piece of hardware and the wine opener is hanging on a maple syrup tap, but any type of hooks would work.
So how did we put it all together? This project actually was much easier than I had anticipated. Basically, if you can handle simple wood cuts and handle a drill, you are good to go!
Step 1:
First you need to gather your materials. The only item that is essential is a door. Ours is vintage found at a yard sale years ago, but a new one would do just as well. We went in a rustic direction, but this could also be created painted out in one color or even a high gloss paint for a completely different look.
We used six spindles removed from our porch (another DIY project in the works), a shelf (again, ours is vintage found at a yard sale but new or made yourself would work as well), and then two sections of doors for the top and bottom of the work surface. We recently cut down some other doors to be used as desks (another DIY project upcoming), so we used those. However, once again, almost anything would work – scrap wood, planks of wood combined or even pallet wood.
Step 2:
Especially since our items were all vintage, we power washed everything first. We used a large piece of plastic underneath to collect any particles that fell off and could be dangerous to our sweet puppy. We then sanded everything down with a hand sander.
Step 3:
Begin assembling your parts. We laid the door down on two saw horses and then used right angle braces to line up the bottom shelf first. We came from underneath, drilled pilot holes and added screws from the back side of the door.
We added the spindles next by measuring out the spacing, drilling pilot holes and attaching screws from underneath. Since the back spindles touched the door we also drilled some screws from the back to strengthen them.
Using the right angle braces again, we attached the top shelf with screws from the back and straight down into each spindle.
We then added a new wood shelf underneath. We cut sections of additional spindles at a 45 degree angle, but any scrap wood would work. We drilled from the underside of the shelf to attach the bracket to the wood. We drilled in again from the back directly into the shelf and into the bracket as well.
Step 4:
Once it was all assembled, I did some dry brushing of paint on the spindles (they looked too new), the plain wood shelf and the bottom shelf (it was a little too high in contrast). I layered a few colors of chalk paint to best blend with the rustic finish of the door. Then I covered the spindles and all of the shelves in Annie Sloan’s dark wax. This gave an aged looked to the newer pieces, sealed the surfaces and unified all the pieces together. Because this piece is designed to be outside I was concerned that the wax finish might take a beating in the heat. To combat that and to seal the old finish of the door, I finished the whole piece in two coats of a spray poly.
And now you just need to move her in where you want her to go. I would suggest using some sort of anchor to ensure it doesn’t tip over.
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you too make your own customized outdoor bar!
If you are looking for some other outdoor projects, be sure to check out my DIY Vintage Mason Jar Solar Light and the fun space we created for our girls in our playhouse / pool house.
Sharing at Savvy Southern Style, Funky Junk Interiors, I Heart Naptime, The 36th Avenue and The DIY Dreamer
Thanks for reading!
this is a great use of old doors( of which we now have approximately 8)! thanks for the inspiration. Jeri
Wow, this is the cutest idea! I love re-purposing vintage items! You always amaze me! Thanks for sharing this great tutorial!
I LOVE this! It’s so cute and practical. Thanks for sharing. Have a great day! Pamela
Gorgeous piece! I found a door at my local flea market but wasn’t sure where or what I’d do with it ( gorgeous patina!). This is a great idea! Thank you for the step-by-step! leslie
I absolutely LOVE this project Laura! What a wonderful way to combine vintage goodies to make something you can use every day. So cool 🙂
xo, Tanya
Laura that is just too wonderful and fun! How creative. I love it and I’m pinning. 🙂
You amaze me! That is sooo cool! Pinned it, maybe one day I will learn some DIY skills!
What a great idea! I had found a nice chippy door just like yours several months ago and used it for a headboard. The lower half with small panel was cut out of it, and I’ve been wondering what to do with it. I can envision something like this but in a smaller scale. LOVE this so much!!
Love this idea laura. Your staging is perfect and sangria looks darn good too.
You are a gem. I love this!!! I have a perfect spot to put this on my deck and have a perfect door to use to make it!!
Adorable. Perfect. And so much to look forward to with future posts! Lori Lucas
Absolutely LOVE this! I’m currently in an upcycling window phase, maybe this will be next!
I love that, Laura!! So creative and fun, and perfect for entertaining!! Thanks for sharing!
Absolutely LOVE it!
This is ridiculously beautiful! Fantastically creative and styled up a storm!
As always, you have the coolest projects! I absolutely love this. I have got to find some old doors, pronto! 🙂
Laura! I love this beverage station is the bomb.com.
SERIOUSLY.
wish I lived close enough to come over for some of that white sangria.
What a beautiful project Laura. 🙂 I love it!
NIce work Betty – love it!!! xoxo
Laura! This is freakin’ amazing!! I mean seriously beyond incredible! It looks so fantastic and the only thing that would make it better is if I were over there right now enjoying a drink with you! 😉
Vanessa
Laura, This is so inspiring and I’ve tagged it to share on my blog’s Facebook page soon plus my head is whirling on where in my AZ backyard can we do something like this. So clever and functional. Found you through Heather – At The Picket Fence and am now now a new Facebook and Blog Follower. If you have a minute, pop over at visit Deliciously Inspired.
Sincerely, Debbie
WOWZA this is so beautiful!!! I’m on my way 🙂
XO
Kristin
I absolutely LOVE this! So cute and fun. I’ve always wanted a drink station. I’ve got it pinned. Have a great day!
what a great piece!!! of course I’m lovin’ all that chippy goodness. all the shelves make it so versatile! please come by Thursday for Be Inspired!
Laura, this is so amazing! I adore the character of this build so very much! I can’t wait to make something similar for indoors! I’ll be featuring it on I Love That Junk and various other places on Monday. 🙂 Thanks for linking up!
This beyond adorable!! I NEED ONE!! Thanks for the post!
Even though I’m English, I have to go all American and say that is totally awesome and cool, because it seriously is, and no other words seem to fit !
Just found you at Funky Junk! LOVED this project!!!
I am in a super rush right now but just wanted to say hello!
I will subscribe to your blog so I can keep in touch!
cheers,
Claudine
This website was… how do I saay it?Relevant!!
Finally I have foynd something which hekped me. Many thanks!
What a great project! I’ve added a link to one of our pinboards. Check them out at Pinterest.com/Homedepot
Spending a quiet Friday night enjoying your blog. It’s been awhile since I stopped by. I love, love this. I have OLD doors in my basement. Now if I can get my SIL on board! Happy Valentine’s Day, Linda
Oh my gosh I just saw your chippy goodness vintage door beverage bar station featured at The Cottage Market. Love love love this idea and you just solved my how to build a mini bar on our deck dilemma. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
I love this! We have a farmhouse built in 1903 and the old doors are stored in the garage. 2 of them are amazing wood with the original handles and hinges. Would we use TSP on it before sanding? I think I can get the spindle legs at habitat or another salvage wood place. Thanks for the amazing idea! Just in time for summer!
Looks awesome. I am not handy at all but will be trying to do this same thing over the next few weeks. Why did you add spindles? Are they part of keeping the bar upright?