DIY laundry sorting surface

We have a lovely, light-filled 2nd floor laundry room in what used to be the maid's bedroom. (Okay, I might have made that last part up; I don't know for sure if the original owners had a maid in 1900, but if they did she would have slept in that room.) I was tired of carrying piles of laundry into my bedroom and using my bed, or my floor, as a folding surface. Piles of laundry + little kids = let's pretend we're climbing a mountain!

I browsed on Craigslist for a used countertop, table, or marble slab, but I didn't find anything even remotely close. It needed to be 6 or 7 feet long, and I didn't want to pay a lot of money. I finally gave up and decided there had to be something we already had on hand that I could use.

I headed down into the basement and found an old interior door. I had marked several ingenious uses for old doors on Pinterest, from garden arbor supports to china hutch doors. I knew I could make this door work.

The bottom few inches were rotted, but it was the perfect size for the room. When I trimmed the rotted areas away, it was exactly long enough to fit from wall to wall. I cut out a corner to fit around a chimney. I also made the door high enough to accommodate my rolling triple laundry sorter. Once the heating season begins, I'll staple reflective foil behind and above the radiator to make sure the heat reflects into the room.

I got the entire thing done, from thinking "I really need a laundry folding surface!" to varnishing the installed door, in one day. And didn't cost anything! Perfect. I love re-purposing an original item from the house and giving it an unexpected second life.

This is what it looks like most days....