Let’s talk closet doors – exciting stuff right?! Actually I think the ones I’m sharing today are pretty fun 😂 – I’m sharing the details of how I transformed my daughter’s ugly, yellowed, flat closet doors into these beauties with framed cork boards:
Unless you’re new to the blog (if you are, welcome!), you probably remember that I did this closet door makeover as part of the makeover of my teen daughter’s bedroom a few years ago:
Let’s flash back to what I started with – flat doors that had yellowed with time (due to oil based paint), rusted hinges, and the tiniest little cabinet knobs as pulls:
Prettying up these doors took just a couple of hours (it’s a good weekend project) and the following supplies (includes affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here}):
- Low profile molding (more on that below)
- ¼″ plywood sheet
- Two 24″ x 36″ ¼ cork sheets
- Double sided duct tape
- Compound miter saw (or a simple miter box and saw)
- Tape measure & level
- Liquid Nails adhesive
- Brad nailer (I recently bought {this one} and love it) and compressor or you can hand nail molding with brad nails
- Wood filler, sandpaper, paintable caulk, painter’s tape, scissors, and paint
The molding I used is a type of chair rail molding that has a ¼″ high notched out area at the bottom that is perfect for the ¼″ cork sheets to fit right underneath and be held in place on the door:
The first step in the project is deciding on the size of your molding boxes (my cork board boxes were 36″ tall measured from the outside edges, the bottom boxes were 24″ tall, and all four boxes were 21″ wide) and then cutting the molding to size with mitered corners. Then cut the cork sheets (I found that scissors work better than a razor for cutting them) and the ¼″ plywood sheets to the exact size for them to tightly fit under the notched edge of the molding. Handle the cork sheets with care – they’re thin so would likely crack if bent. Use painter’s tape to tape the molding into place on the door, using a level to ensure everything is straight. Once in place, trace the outline of each molding box with a pencil.
Remove the taped molding from the door. Place double sided duct tape on the back of each of the two cork sheets and adhere them to the doors, centering them in the middle of the outline that you traced. Update: after about a year of pinning and repinning to the corkboards, one of them isn’t adhered to the door as well any longer – if redoing this project I would brush a small amount of glue or liquid nails to the back of the cork boards or use a spray adhesive to make them adhere more strongly than with the tape alone.
Once your cork sheet is in place, place the molding back on the door (follow the lines you outlined) and nail it in place with a nail gun. Do the exact same thing with the bottom two molding boxes, using ¼″ plywood instead of cork sheets. Now all that’s left is to fill and sand the nail holes, caulk the corners and edges of molding, and paint the entire door (you can see just how yellow our old doors were when you compare it to the new white molding!).
And don’t forget about new door hardware if you have anything crazy strange like our little bitty cabinet knobs. I switched out our old hinges and found some new knobs from Hobby Lobby:
And…done!!
My daughter loves it and has slowly been filling the cork boards up. And I love it because having the cork boards on the closet doors means one less thing to hang on those grasscloth walls!
Want another idea for dressing up plain, flat doors? Check out {this post} on the door makeover I did in my other daughter’s bedroom that involved small panel molding in a fun geometric design:
You can also find other teen, tween, and kids room decorating ideas in {this post}.
XO,
[email protected] Stroll Thru Life says
These looks amazing. I like the idea of the cork.
Jeanette Van Wicklen says
Kris, your ideas are always amazing!! love both of these ideas!!
Ellyce says
We did something similar to this years ago for our children (now in their 40s). The cork doors let them pin up their special awards, posters, medals, etc. and saved the walls from tape and thumb tacks.
Garden, Home and Party says
Kris,
I remember the redo of your daughter’s room. It turned out so great. Thanks for the tutorial.
Have a great weekend.
Karen
Mariah says
We have the yellowing, oil-painted doors in our house, too…ugh! Did you strip off the oil paint first or did you just paint over it? We’re trying to decide on a course of action…
Kris Jarrett says
Hi Mariah – I actually just lightly sanded the doors and painted over them with Benjamin Moore Advance – I’ve used it many times and it works great. It’s made to coat over oil-based paint and leaves a nice, smooth finish. The only disadvantage of it is that it’s pricey!
Rene' says
Kris, thank you for yet another brilliant idea. I just wish I had known about this when my daughter
was a teenager…..she had picture frames everywhere which made dusting and cleaning her bedroom a long process, but the idea you have shown….not only keeps those items organized..
there’s no dusting involved! Looking forward to what you share with us after attending the Kitchen & Show! 🙂
Kris Jarrett says
I hadn’t thought of the no-dusting thing Rene but that’s a definitely plus in my book! 🙂
Angelica K. says
Thank you for the tutorial. I remember loving these doors when you first shared the room makeover. Pinning & doing this!
classic•casual•home says
Very fun idea for a kid’s room.
Rhonda says
Kris, this is awesome!! Great job
Vel says
Another pretty and practical closet door idea Kris! Love it!
Anonymous says
I can’t get over how awesome those doors look! great job!
xx, lauren
laurensparkle.com
Christine says
Thanks for your creativity. I am a renter and have 3 sliding closet doors in our bedroom. Do you have a idea for these doors? I would like to make the room look brighter.
Kris Jarrett says
That’s a tough one since if you add too much bulk to them, they might not be able to slide by each other. It might be fun to try some temporary wallpaper to cover them in a fun color or pattern!
Toni says
some great ideas thanks for being creative and sharing
Phyllis says
What color blue is that on the bedroom wall.
Kris Jarrett says
It’s actually powder blue grasscloth wallpaper!