I am sharing how I transformed our boring interior doors by adding paneling. I love the outcome of this carpenter-assisted DIY project.
My family moved into a new, modern-style home in 2021. We chose the home because the location was perfect, and it checked so many boxes on the long list of things we were looking for. But the modern new construction felt like a big, white, personality-less box. One day, it hit me: the builder-grade doors and cheap-looking doorknobs needed to be changed.
I think that doors are an often overlooked design detail. Think about it: you can likely see a door from nearly anywhere you stand in your home. A flat-panel door isn’t adding anything to the design of a home.
The Inspiration
Determined to find a way to upgrade the doors, I started researching and realized that buying new doors would be a big, expensive project. A designer confirmed that starting from scratch would likely cost about $1000 per door by the time they were painted, installed, and had upgraded hardware. Given the fact that we have 20 interior doors in our home, I quickly realized that spending $20,000 on this project was out of the question.
Since the existing doors are solid wood, I switched gears and looked into adding paneling to our existing doors.
After much research, I found a style of paneling that I liked. Pre-assembled frame-style molding can be purchased online. The style that I liked cost $93 per side of a door. Not wanting to use my time to install molding and lacking confidence in my ability to do that work, I hired a carpenter to build custom molding instead. This cost $166 per side of the door for the molding itself and the installation. It turned out better than it would have if I had done the work, and the carpenter was able to adjust the size of the molding based on the various door sizes.
The Process
While a carpenter added the molding to the doors, I painted them and swapped out the doorknobs. I used enamel paint since it is extra durable, and our doors experience a lot of wear and tear, especially in the hallways. I had never used an enamel paint before, and I want to warn you that it is a bit hard to work with. It didn’t look good after the first coat, but after the second, the paint looked great. I love the semi-gloss finish and the subtle light blue color I chose for the entryway.
Once the molding was added and the doors were painted, I added new doorknobs. (I did remove the old knobs before painting the doors). I chose Emtek knobs and I quickly learned how to install them on the doors.
The very last detail was to use Rub n Buff to paint the hinges, turning them from matte chrome to brass satin. Using Rub n Buff was much easier and more affordable than swapping out the hinges. I used the “Gold Leaf” color and it was a near perfect match for the satin brass knobs.
See the Entryway Before and After
The Final Result
When I pitched this idea to my husband, he thought it was unnecessary. He couldn’t visualize the plan. To him, the doors just faded into the background. He didn’t even notice them. In my opinion, the flat doors weren’t adding anything to the design of our home, and could be improved. While Charles didn’t understand my vision, he trusted me.
Now, the doors make an elegant statement. I truly believe that they elevate the look of our home. And yes, my husband is happy with the outcome.
The Cost (for 9 doors)
Custom Door Molding and Installation: apx. $2000
Doorknobs: $155
Paint (Sherwin-Williams “Little Boy Blue” Semi-Gloss) & Paint Supplies: $166
Rub n’ Buff: $13.16
Per Door Total: $259.35 total *
*This total includes four closet doors with Dummy Knobs (which come in sets of two). Additionally, we only added one side of paneling to the closets. This brought the average cost down.
At this point, the nine doors on the home’s first floor have been updated. We have 11 more doors to update. The total cost will come to about $5,187. This isn’t a small amount of money, but it is significantly less than buying all new doors. We plan to live in our home for many years to come, and to me, this is an impactful upgrade that gives my home a more sophisticated look.
A Warning:
When I was researching this project, I saw so many people who claimed that adding molding to doors was a quick and easy project. Perhaps adding the molding isn’t too hard, but the process of preparing the doors to be painted and painting the doors took three days.
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