Almost all of the doors in our house are standard six paneled white doors. My daughters’ closet doors are where the “almost” comes in – they were flat paneled hollow doors that stuck out from the rest of the space like a sore thumb. So as part of the recent remodel of my tween daughter’s bedroom (definitely check out this fun “before” and “after” room remodel if you haven’t already!), I decided to glam her flat doors up with a DIY makeover!
And the whole project was done without any power tools – no miter saw, no brad nailer, nada – other than a simple drill. I’ll show you how (post includes affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here}). The materials that I used included inexpensive panel molding that I bought at my local hardware store (you want a low profile molding – mine measures 1″ wide and 5/16″ at its thickest point),
a miter box like {this one}:
wood glue (I used {this glue}), some small brad nails, a hammer, a drill, caulk, wood filler, painter’s tape, a level, and paint.
The first step of the project is the one that takes the most time – deciding what type of pattern you want to create and figuring out the measurements for each piece of molding that you’ll be cutting. The closet doors that I worked on were each 30″ wide by 79 ½″ tall. These are the measurements that I used to create my paneling pattern:
Once I figured out how long each piece of molding needed to be, it was time to go to town with the miter box and cut all of my molding pieces to size. The molding was easy to cut but there were lots and lots of cuts to make so it took a while – about 2 ½ hours from start to finish. If you have a miter saw, by all means, use it but otherwise just crank your iTunes and get sawing like I did!
Before jumping any further into the project, if you are going to replace the door’s hinges, do it now! Sometimes new hinges can slightly change the alignment of the doors and you want them in their final position before you start measuring and leveling the molding pieces. Now it’s time to mark up the door, making measurements with a level and pencil to mark the spots where the molding pieces will go. Once I was done doing that, I taped each of the molding pieces in place with painter’s tape and double checked that everything was level and aligned:
Using glue alone worked great for all but about six of the long molding pieces. These pieces were not totally flat and so both ends would not stay flush with the door while the glue dried. For these difficult pieces I added a small brad nail to the end of the molding piece that was sticking up to get it to stay down while the glue dried.
Since even small brad nails can easily split the wood of molding as thin as the panel molding that I was using, I predrilled a tiny hole in the molding before tapping each brad nail in with a hammer. Once the glue has dried, the painter’s tape can be removed and the small nail holes can be puttied and sanded.
The final step is to caulk any gaps and paint the entire front of your doors. My doors had oil-based paint on them so I used Benjamin Moore’s Advance, which you can use to paint over oil-based paint yet it cleans up like latex paint. The only thing to be aware of is that there’s a long dry time between coats.
For the closet door pulls, I bought IKEA’s 13″ TYDA handles – unfortunately they don’t sell these anymore but {these 11 ½″ pulls} are quite similar. I spray painted them gold with {this gold spray paint (Design Master’s Gold Medal)}:
And with that, my closet door makeover was DONE!
I love how they turned out and most importantly my daughter did too! If you have some flat doors in need of a little TLC, I hope you found this helpful! Be sure to pin the image below so you can find this post when you’re ready to tackle the job ->
Hope you all enjoyed seeing this project and I’ll see you back on the blog next week!
[email protected] says
Fabulous!
Denise Greenwood says
These doors are amazing Kris! I love the shape you chose. Great job and great tutorial!
Cassie @ Primitive & Proper says
love this so much! i pinned it and would love to do this in my home!
Lisa @ Shine Your Light says
I love the design you created, Kris! So stylish and such a great way to transform those basic hollow doors!!!
Holly Gruszka says
Wow, I really think that this doesn’t look so hard after seeing your photos. It definitely looks a lot more difficult than it really is I guess. Big look for not a lot of $$ – that’s awesome. Great work!
Vel Criste says
This was one of the great features in your daughters bedroom, and I love that you shared this awesome tutorial Kris!
Carrie @ Cosy Carolina Interiors says
I have been waiting for this tutorial! Thank you so much for posting how to do it. 🙂 I just LOVE how it turned out!
Kathleen says
I still cannot get over how good those doors look. It’s such a huge change. The hardware was a perfect match. Great job and thanks for the tutorial!
jeanette says
you nevah cease to amaze me Kris!!! I wish I had flat doors to do this cute treatment to……i know this was alot of work, but it was so worth it….luv the gold handles too…..i just bought a gold spray paint at WalMart for another project of handles, but if it’s not the right gold, then i’ll hunt for yours….
kudos Kris!
Anonymous says
So beautiful! I admire your talent!! Diane
Kris @ Driven by Décor says
Thank you so much Diane! Enjoy your weekend!
therelishedroost says
Really great job!!!Have a good weekend!
Julie Taylor and Danni Greenwalt says
That looks so much better…great job!
Tracy Laverty says
Oh, I just love these doors you did! And those handles are from IKEA? Wow! I only wish I had flat doors to transform! Beautiful work Kris.
Jennifer @ Dimples and Tangles says
This is SUCH a great makeover, Kris! I have a few bare doors around the house that I would love to use this treatment on!
Elisa of Fancy Free Me says
Thanks for sharing your wisdom, did you leave the doors up the entire time you did this project?
Dana Frieling says
Fabulous! I’ve been trying to think of a pattern for our doors and your post just sealed the deal for me. It’s crazy how simple details can make such huge transformations!
NB says
Thanks for this! I have a similar “before” door situation and your wonderful step-by-step guide has inspired me to transform it!
Kris Jarrett says
So glad that you got some inspiration from this post – I hope you love your new doors!!
Ann says
Marvelous!
Bertha Ossachuk says
Like what I have seen s0far but would like to see something a little simpler thanks
Melinda says
Stylish & classic… You did a great job with the doors!
Kris Jarrett says
Thank you so much Melinda!
Betty in Arlington says
WOW!
Kris Jarrett says
Thanks Betty – glad you liked it!
Tammy says
Love it!
Kris Jarrett says
Thanks Tammy!
Ivory says
Wow, absolutely fanstatic
Kris Jarrett says
Thank you so much!
Karrie Kitzman says
How did you hide the doorknob holes? I have the same doors but my knobs seem larger creating a larger hole to hide.
Kris Jarrett says
I was fortunate that the holes were really small and I could just fill them with wood filler and paint over them. Most closet door knobs aren’t drilled all of the way through – they’re just screwed onto the front of the door – hopefully that’s the case with yours because then all you need to do is remove the knob and fill in the holes with wood putty!
Karrie Kitzman says
This fits my midcentury modern home. I have bedroom doors to do as well and considering same diagram but just 2 figures per door and looking for knobs to fit the bill. I am copying your door exactly if I can hide the holes.
Kris Jarrett says
Ahhh… didn’t see this comment before I responded to the last one. For bedroom doors you would probably have a big old hole so I think you’d have to keep some type of true doorknob on them unfortunately!