Your Weekend Project: A Leather-Detailed Wooden Doorstop

by Margot Guralnick

It’s the summer of DIY: This year, every other Friday, we’re revisiting some favorite, easy-to-tackle projects from the archives, like this one:

There’s no need to get fancy when it comes to propping open a door, but a wedge of wood is so much nicer than a mood-killing piece of plastic or rubber. Years ago, my mother returned from a trip to London with a traditional English turned oak doorstop made by David Linley, aka “the royal carpenter.” We have used his handiwork daily ever since, so I was delighted to come across its raffish American-made counterpart: a DIY door wedge created by Anna of Annabode & Co. for Home Made by Carmona. May it open doors for you.

Project and photography courtesy of Home Made by Carmona.

diy doorstop: a wood door wedge with leather loop, a project by annabode for ho 14

Above: The finished doorstop has a painted tip and an easy-to-grab leather tail.

Materials

Above: Chances are good you already have what you need to make the door wedge.

Piece of wood approximately 1.5 inches wide and 6.5 inches long. Use scrap wood or buy a length of wood, such as Home Depot’s Poplar Hobby Board; $5.34 for three feet (enough to make several doorstops).
Length of leather, 1/2 inch wide and five inches long. Consider cutting up an old belt.
Saw. “Use whatever kind of saw you have on hand,” says Anna.
Sandpaper
Drill
Pencil and ruler
High-gloss white paint
Minwax Polycrylic, a protective finish.
Paintbrushes
One No. 6 brass washer. Home Depot sells five-packs of Brass Finishing Washers for $1.18.
One No. 6 brass flathead screw. Home Depot sells four-packs of 6 3/4 inch Phillips Flat-Head Wood Screws for $1.18.

Instructions

step 1: how to make a diy wood door wedge 16

Step 1: Mark a diagonal line across the length of your wood, and saw in half. “If you start with a longer piece of wood, it’s easier to mark the six-and-a-half-inch length and saw the diagonal line,” advises Anna. step 2: how to make a diy wood door wedge 17

step 2: how to make a diy wood door wedge 17

Step 2: Sand the wood, then mark (and tape off, if you like) the front section and paint white. Treat the rest of the wood with Polycrylic, but not the white tip (because the finish will yellow it). step 3: how to make a diy wood door wedge 18

step 3: how to make a diy wood door wedge 18

Step 3: Drill a small hole through the center of the back end—Anna suggests using the other half of the scrap wood as a base. Use the drill to attach a loop of leather secured with the washer and screw.