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There were so many projects that we had completed in our old house that sometimes I forget everything until I look at all our old pictures. However, the new doors project was somewhat hard to forget especially when I look back at where they started.
This was our first house, well actually Kevin’s “baby”, because he bought it before we knew each other. But still, it was the first house we lived in together.
From the list, I have started to compile it is completely obvious that we didn’t have children at the time because we actually got things done around the house in record time compared to these days.
We definitely put a lot of time and love into our old humble abode and I can’t wait to see what we do with this new house that we share with our boys!
Getting All New Door
Well, some were just new in design!
So moving right down the list of projects we completed was all new doors.
This made a world of difference replacing all of our unfinished hollow core veneer slab doors with white six-paneled solid core doors.
We also decided instead of replacing the closet doors we would update all of them from the unfinished hollow core veneer slab doors that they initially were to white updated french doors.
One New Door At A Time
Slow And Steady Wins The Race!
This was definitely a project that we completed over time. As we completed each room remodel and makeover we also replaced the doors in the room. Along with the new doors, we also added new trim, handles, and hinges.
Kevin initially bought the door handle and hinges in a gold finish which was definitely not the “look” I was going for. After some discussion, or you could say persuasion from me, we did eventually “compromise” on my initial thought of satin nickel finishes.
I have to say though I did let him pick out the types of handles and hinges we used. Just as long as they had the satin nickel finish. It was a give and take as with most things we do!
The new doors made such a difference in the house. I have to say I am really glad that our new house has nice doors already so we don’t have to deal with replacing the doors again.
However, Kevin did recently point out to me that all the doors in our new house have gold finishes. So who knows maybe someday I will “talk” him into changing them.
Doors Come In All Shapes And Sizes
Whether you can easily find them or not, they do exist.
The only door that we had issues with when replacing was our upstairs hall closet door because it was an odd size.
We eventually tracked down the correct door, after multiple different store trips of course. That was probably the last door we had to replace.
Related: Living Room Makeover – Our Top To Bottom DIY Project
New Doors Casing & Molding
Because it’s not ALL about the door but what surrounds it as well.
We lived without molding and door casing for a while as we worked through the process of replacing all of the doors. This was a longer period of time than I thought.
As I was going through my pictures I realized it was like years that we lived in such disarray! I guess you let yourself remember the good, or finished, memories over the chaos of progress.
Because let’s be honest they are not the cheapest thing to replace all in one fell swoop. Well, at least not in my opinion.
You don’t realize how important having door casing and trim are until you have house guests.
Because it’s not that wonderful when you walk through the house and realize that everyone can see through the cracks in all the doors.
Privacy, not so much! Just saying, this was a really good motivator to get working on our door project.
Related: Stencil Accent Wall Project – No More Boring Guest Room
The Front Door
This new door made the biggest difference in my opinion.
All of the doors in the house needed replacing. The one that was the highest priority that we did was the front door.
I already wrote a post about our experience of installing a new front door. Which was definitely way more involved than we initially expected.
The front door is something that I would like to replace at our current house with something similar. But since it isn’t as dire of a project as it was in our old house it is definitely a “someday” project!
Related: A New Front Door Once Again
The Old Doors Updated
We updated both the closets in the guest bedroom and Grayson’s nursery this way.
We decided that we would keep the closet doors that were initially in our guest bedroom and Grayson’s nursery but we would upgrade them.
There was nothing really wrong with the doors they just were aesthetically terrible, at least in my eyes. The doors themselves were definitely in reusable condition.
We just needed to come up with our plan on how we were going to upgrade them.
#1
Paint The Doors
Prime and paint the unfinished doors white.
#2
Add Trim
Adding some character to the plain door by framing out two sections on each door with trim.
#3
Change Door Functionality
Change the door from a bi-fold door to french doors.
Time To Take The Old Doors Off To Make Them New Doors Again
The closets even looked better without the doors altogether!
With our plan in place, we were ready to remove the doors and get started updating.
As we were examining the doors we realized we were going to have to cut a little off of the bottom for to the door to have enough clearance. The doors were a little too long to be able to swing open and closed with ease.
So while Kevin was cutting the door down he also cut the holes for the new door handles as well as the grooves for the new door hinges and drive-in ball catch.
Doors prepped and ready we moved on to getting all of the supplies we needed to fully transform the doors.
We already had the primer and white paint on hand from our other projects so those were already waiting for us.
Along with all of the tools necessary for the project. Because you can never have enough tools, at least that is what Kevin tells me all the time!
New Doors Redesign In Progress
Measure twice cut once!
Once we had all the things we needed it was time to complete the project. Kevin went to work with his pencil marks and measurements.
We decided on how many along with how big we wanted the trimmed-out area to be. We decided to have two sections of panels on each door. With the top half of the section being a little shorter than the bottom.
Which I suppose is an obvious choice because the door handle is a little higher than halfway up the door making it somewhat hard to have completely equal sections.
Time To See The Old Doors Transformed To New Doors
It’s amazing how a little trim can make a world of difference.
With our measurements set Kevin cut the trim pieces. We glued the trim to the closet doors using wood glue.
Once dried we were ready to prime and paint both doors. Just the sheer paint itself was a complete upgrade from the unfinished wood doors.
Working On The New Door Frame
The process always seems never-ending, but once it’s done, it feels like the time flew by.
With the doors completely painted and ready we then started working on the door frame.
The first thing we did to the door frames was to remove the bi-fold pivot back. Then we prepared the door frame for installing the hinges and drive-in ball catch.
After giving the door frame a fresh coat of white paint, or more like a primer, and then two coats of paint. Kevin follows the tried and tested amount of coats. Then it was time to screw everything in and install the doors.
Installing The Updated Doors
Enjoying Our Finished Old Doors Made New Doors.
I was super excited when it was time to actually install the doors. The finished doors had been sitting in the garage waiting to be installed.
I really liked how the doors turned out before we installed them and I will say I liked them, even more, once they were installed.
The closets definitely were so much easier to access with French doors instead of the bi-fold. As well as the obvious aspect that they had such a nicer look.
This was definitely a pretty easy project that made the closet doors look upgraded without the price tag of replacing both sets of them.
Guest Bedroom & Grayson’s Nursery Closet Door
Before & Afters
