DIY Magazine Rack from old Shutter

Another Pinterest project! I have long been wanting to do something in our downstairs bathroom for the magazines other than just stacking them on the floor or behind the toilet. I found this link while browsing Pinterest and thought it was a great idea. http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/2011/10/repurposed-shutter-magazine-rack.html I had wanted to use an old shutter but could not find one. I did however find this old slatted closet door at our local Habitat for Humanity restore for $7 and thought it could be used for the same purpose.

So I cut it in half and decided to use the top half for the magazine rack.

I cut out every other slat. Now ideally it would be nice to use a Dremel Multi-Max with the right attachment to cut the slats flush with the sides and with a little sanding and painting you would never know the other slats were there in the first place (this is shown on the site I got the idea from). However I do not have that tool and am trying to do this project on the cheap so was not going to go out and buy it either. So I just used a Black and Decker HandiSaw (as shown in the following picture of my hubby), and just cut it the best I could without nicking the surrounding slats and removed the pieces.









I chose to fill in the indentations where the hinges were with wood putty but you don't have too. Not doing so I think kind of adds to the whole re-purposed look, so either way works. I already had the wood putty on hand otherwise would probably not have gone out to buy some just for this.

I sanded the whole thing a little, just enough to score it a bit and then primered it. The primer I already had on hand from when the house was being worked on. Because the piece was so dark I primered twice because I figured it was easier to do that than multiple layers of paint.

Then I painted it with paint I already again had on hand from when the house was being worked on. If I was buying it I probably would have gone with a different color but again I was trying to go on the cheap. I made it work though. Our bathroom has kind of an African motif going on so to not make it look too bland I used brown spray paint to stencil on these designs. I bought the stencils on Amazon. And as a last step I applied a varnish. I am very excited to get this up in our bathroom!

Stay tuned for what I decide to use the other half of the closet door for!!