Hollow Core Door Makeover

September 20, 2017 by Ruthie 11 Comments

This post has been a long time coming and I couldn’t be happier with the results!  We have ugly brown fake hollow core doors throughout our house.  I wanted to get all new doors but then realized what a pain it is to replace doors.  I already tormented my husband with projects while I was pregnant so I’ve been trying to take more things on myself lately.  I knew I couldn’t do the doors myself, so I decided to give them a little makeover instead.

I’ve seen a few makeovers online that added wood to the doors to give the illusion that they weren’t hollow. I really liked that idea but I wanted to take a little different route.  I am obsessed with O’verlays and how they transform a piece of furniture.  One of my favorite transformations are these IKEA Malm dressers I redid in our Master Bedroom.

I went to the O’verlays’ website and searched door O’verlays.  I was so happy to find a list of different door options.  I decided I wanted to design something myself so I came up with a “4 panel” design.  I sketched up the design I wanted for my doors and sent it over to them.  I was directed to one of their custom orders associate and he helped aid me along the way!

I wanted the panels to be thicker than in the photo so I created this image to show their custom designer the measurements I was looking for.  You could adjust these depending on the size of your doors.  Most of the doors in my upstairs are the same size.  I found out after the fact that my bathroom door is actually 2 inches shorter in the width.  Ooops!  On the regular sized doors this allowed me to put 4 panels on each door side.  I spaced them out about 8 inches apart and they were centered on the door with about 5 inches on each side.Here is what the doors looked like before the project started!

A couple years ago I redid my kitchen cabinets and used the HomeRight Finish Max Sprayer to do the job! I knew that I wanted to use this again as it would be a quicker way to paint this large surface area.  I’m so obsessed with how the HomeRight Finish Max Sprayer eliminates your time spent painting!

I set up shop in my garage by putting my Large Spray Shelter up and setting the doors on a couple saw horses.  I gave each door a light sanding just to ensure that the primer would adhere properly.  I cleaned up the existing dust and started spraying.

After the primer was dry it was time to put the O’verlays onto the door.  To ensure I centered them correctly and level I used a t square and ruler.  Once I had the panel centered I drew a line on the door so that once I applied the glue to the panel I would put it back in the same spot.  I did one panel at a time and pressed firmly down on the panel so that it would stay put.  Once that side of the door was dry I flipped it over and glued on the 4 remaining panels.  I gave the doors about 24 hours to dry and then it was time to paint them.

I’m a big fan of Sherwin-Williams paint and so I went with my go to trim and cabinet paint, ProClassic Interior Waterbased Acrylic-Alkyd Enamel.  It goes on like a strong oil-based paint but has the clean up of a waterbased paint!  My favorite part is that it has a self leveler, so it smooths out while it dries.  It truly is my favorite paint and I love how it looks as a finished product.

Once the two coats of paint were dry my doors were almost finished!  All that was left was to put some new hardware onto the doors to make their beautiful design pop even more.  Schlage has a beautiful assortment of door knobs and I absolutely fell in love with the Georgian Knob with Brookshire Trim in Satin Nickel. The intricate design really adds to the beauty of the doors.  I also added new hinges and door stoppers. Our hinges were in rough shape and had various coats of paint on them from the previous owners.  The door stops weren’t in much better shape.  Most were missing the pad.  I’m so happy that they all go together and give it all such a cohesive look.

I could not be happier with how the doors turned out.  I only wish they weren’t all in my hallway so I could get a better pic for you guys!  :\  There is no need to throw out those old hollow core doors if you can transform them into beautiful “new” doors.  

Now that our hallway and doors are complete and white, I’m working on the trim in the rest of our house.  I didn’t have a huge timeline for it but it has recently been rushed a little bit.  We will be installing new flooring in the next couple weeks so I’ve decided to paint all the trim before the new floors are in.  It makes the job so much easier to not have to worry about getting paint on the floor.  I only have to tape the walls and not the floor so that saves time for sure!  Here is what the hallway currently looks like:

I can’t to have the flooring in so it gives it a completed look.  I’m having so much fun adding my own touch to our home and seeing the white trim slowly go up in our home makes me happy.  It feels brighter and more at home.  It’s amazing what a little paint can do!  Thanks for reading everyone and I hope everyone is having a great week!  I’ll be back at the end of the week with a room transformation for you!  Happy Wednesday!

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