# A little imagination can go along way....



## brendanrcarpenter (Apr 14, 2010)

Hi Everyone,
This was a very fun project. A customer recently salvaged some heart pine flooring and old doors from an old home that was being demolished. They asked if I could make something interesting for their daughter. That was the extent of the guidance, which doesn't happen often. So - I let my imagination run and here is what I came up with.
Before......








After....








It all started with cutting the doors into a manageable size and then stripping off 80 years of paint. This was a job! It still took lots of scraping using the strongest industrial chemicals I have.




The customer also had a piece of yellow bodark wood which was taken from his family's farm in Texas. He asked if I could incorporate this wood into the piece - so here was my idea. I made these butterfly inlay and placed a few on the top of the trunk. 


I also inlayed walnut into the old mortise holes and used large walnut dowels to lock in the halflap joints on the case.




I found this escutcheon buried in the thick paint of one of the doors. After scraping and repainting to match the antique trunk hardware it was used over the top of one of the butterfly inlays. 


I then stained with Mohawk's Van **** Brown followed by a brushed coat of diluted Mohawk Burnt Umber. After five coats of sprayed lacquer and some rubbing out the trunk was done. Thanks to my brother Todd for taking the pictures.


Brendan
Furniture Maker
www.brendancarpenter.com


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

Nice. That chest doesn't look like it came from a couple of doors. Good use of your material, and your imagination.


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## Chad (May 10, 2009)

Good imagination, great project from salvage wood.


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## wooddude9 (Sep 6, 2008)

Just goes to show ya that old doors can have new life with alot of work.Nice job


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## jlhaslip (Jan 16, 2010)

Nice job. A real treasure.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

That's a cool project right there. I bet the customer will love it. You even saved the eustacheon. That's the great thing about wood, it can be reused as many times as your imagination allows. Cool stuff.


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## jonlb (Dec 26, 2009)

Great use of old doors. It looks great.


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