Breathe New Life Into An Old Door By Turning It Into A Stunning Garden Trellis

Old doors often boast a particular kind of vintage charm not usually found in modern-day prefab and manufactured doors. Usually made of solid wood rather than the hollow core doors of the past few decades, these doors can sometimes have carvings, millwork, and other details that can make them far too pretty to throw out if you are thinking of replacing them. There are a number of ways to upcycle old doors in your home, including wooden interior doors, screen doors, and louvered shutter closet doors. They include everything from building DIY countertops and stunning coffee tables to outdoor furnishings like garden benches or a stylish potting shed. One of the best uses for an old door outside is repurposing it as a trellis for your plants to climb. This very functional role is compounded by the vintage and rustic style these old doors visually add to your outdoor space.

You can often find old antique doors at a bargain in several places, including antique retailers, thrift stores, flea markets, and architectural salvage yards. They can also be found on the Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist at a steal. You may even have one laying around from past home remodels. You can leave doors in their original rustic finish with hardware intact or add a new coat of paint and a weatherproof coat for a sleeker, more contemporary look. 

Old screen doors in particular, due to their open spaces, make the best trellises, particularly if they have lots of scrollwork, spindles, and other pretty details that allow plants to grow through them and twine around the wood. Just place your old wooden screen door in your garden after removing the screen and replacing it with some chicken wire stapled to the wood. This gives a wider surface for plants to fully envelope and climb up the door. You can lean the door against a fence, suspend it from an overhang or tree limb, or create a simple stand to make it freestanding.

Other types of doors with lots of openings work similarly well, including French doors, from which you can remove all or some of the glass plates to allow the plants to climb through. Or use a louvered closet door and train the vines or plants to climb between the rungs of the shutters. Solid doors can also work beautifully as trellises when you add chicken wire or small cup hooks to guide the plants along the wood. You can also remove some of the panels to allow plants to climb through. Add some simple shelves to your door to hold plants in smaller planters for creative DIY storage.