Table of Contents

• Prep Work
• Align the Door in the Frame
• Installing the Pre-Hung Door
• Finishing Touches

Prepping to Install the Pre-Hung Door

The first step in installing a pre-hung door is to expose the studs and framing. You need to prep your opening to be big enough to fit the door you are installing. I used the measurements that came with my pre-hung door and cut the opening accordingly. To cut into my drywall and expose the studs I am using my oscillating multitool. This makes light work of the cutting process! PPE is a MUST for this step, I wore a respirator, goggles, and ear protection. It gets loud and very dusty.

The next step that is necessary before you can hang your door is checking to see how square your framing is. If the framing is not square, you need to add blocking. I am using a nail gun to hold my blocking in place where the door is not square.

Aligining the Door

Once the door opening is completely prepped, you align the whole kit in the opening. It is important to keep the jamb and door shut together to maintain the square. If you have exposed everything correctly, the door should fit well in the hole. It is important to check alignment because if you are slightly off the door will look wonky in its opening.

Installing the Pre-Hung Door

When you have ensured the door is aligned, it is time to install. You need to shim behind each hinge. Attach the frame of the door to the framing where you shimmed. I am using 2.5-inch long 16-gauge finish nails, but you can also use screws. It is vital that you maintain level in all directions, and then you can repeat the shim and nail process on the opposite side of the door.

Finishing Touches

Now that the door is hung, you can remove the plug that keeps the door closed. This is located where the door handle will be. You need to take a hammer and knock the plug out of place, and then grab it and pull the plug out. My door needed more threshold clearance, so I cut a bit off the bottom and sealed it. Next, I am installing the handle set in the pre-drilled holes. Finally, I am adding the trim around the door. Now the door is completely installed. To make it complete, you just need to caulk seams, fill nail holes, and paint!

This door looks so good and adds privacy to my kitchen! Installing a pre-hung door is so much easier than you would think, try it out yourself!

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Table of Contents

• Prepping the Wood
• Adding Framing to the Cabinet
• Drywalling
• Building the Inside of the Cabinet
• Adding a Shelf
• Priming and Painting
• Building a Cabinet Door
• Sanding and Staining
• Assembling the Face Frame
• Installing the Face Frame
• Finishing Up!

Preparing the Wood to Build a Bathroom Cabinet

This project is not going to cost me all that much money because I am using a lot of leftover materials. I am going to drill some kreg jig holes into the framing. These are the center supports for the entire cabinet. Then, I am going to connect them all together, forcing them against my cement driveway so that everything lines up. The middle support piece is exactly 4-feet up the wall, I did typical measurements for framing. As I was framing this up I kept checking my square to make sure everything lined up nicely.

I am going to be framing up a wall on one side to determine the depth and width of this cabinet. It will look like it is meant to be in the corner of the bathroom, not added later. It is going to be about 22 inches deep and 21 inches wide. Because of this, I am adding a second stud because studs are supposed to run every 16 inches to support the drywall.

Adding the Framing to the Bathroom Cabinet

Bringing the framing of the cabinet into the bathroom was not easy. Learning how to build a bathroo cabinet has been harder than anticipated! It is a small space, so it was a little difficult. The frame was a tight fit, so I hammered it into place. I am screwing the framing for the wall I am adding to the existing wall framing. For the floor, I am also screwing it in.

Drywalling the Bathroom Cabinet

Once the framing is in, I am replacing the drywall. I am using a combination of drywall that I took down and leftover scraps from other drywall projects I have done. I had just enough to get both the new wall and the little sidewall next to the doorway covered. Next, I have to tape and mud the drywall. This is my least favorite part, every time I do drywall I swear I am going to hire it out but then end up doing it myself!

Building the Inside of the Cabinet

For the inside of the closet, I am using plywood instead of drywall. The plywood was such a tight fit when I tried to put one full sheet in, I realize I have to cut it into two smaller pieces. I cut the two pieces of wood where the shelf will be to cover the seam. Once it is cut properly, I am screwing the plywood into place. For the side walls of the closet, I sliced down 1/2-inch thick plywood. I am nailing these into place. I only screwed the back plywood in so there would be added support for the shelf.

Building and Installing the Shelf

Once the inside of the closet is complete, I am going to drill pocket holes into the piece of plywood that will be my shelf. This piece of plywood is 3/4-inch thick and sanded on both sides. I am pre-drilling a couple of holes into the plywood. These will go into the back of the closet, a couple into the sides, and a few in the front that will go into the face frame. I knocked the piece of plywood into place inside the closet and got it as level as I could. This shelf is not covered with an edge band because it will be covered with the face frame. I cut a smaller second shelf to go above the first shelf. The edge is covered with an edge band because the face frame will not cover it.

Priming and Painting

Once my shelves were in place it was time to prime and paint. I am using a 4-inch mini foam roller to prime the inside of the cabinet. I did not use a paintbrush in the seams because I was not doing a super precise job of priming. When the primer is fully dry I am going in with 220-grit sandpaper wrapped around a little 2×4 block. I did this to sand everything smooth before going in with my paint. Then, I wiped any sawdust or residue off with a damp rag.

Before I can paint I need to fix the gaps in the ceiling. I cut little strips of pine and primed them, then used a heavy-duty adhesive to adhere them to the ceiling. Once those were in place and the adhesive was dry I could go in with caulk. When the caulk dries it will finally be time for paint.

Time to paint! I started by using a polyester bristle brush in all of the seams first to prevent drips. Then, I am going in with a big roller and rolling paint all over the inside of the cabinet. I chose to use the same color inside the cabinet that I used on the walls of the bathroom.

Building the Exterior Door for the Cabinet

I am using 3/4-inch. plywood for the doors as well, I am ripping it on my table saw so the edges are a 30-degree bevel. It was my assumption that this detail would make them look prettier. I am going to rip the other side in the other direction to get a bevel on every side.

To create the face frame of the closet I am using select pine. I ripped some of them thinner, the side that is covering the framed wall is kept at 3 1/2 inches wide whereas the other ones are 2 1/4 inches wide. I drilled a bunch of pocket holes, used my clamps to hold everything in place, then added screws to hold the frame together. Because the door is made of plywood, the beveled edge looks kind of ugly. I am using Pure Edge edge banding to cover it. This irons on very quickly and looks much better.

Sanding and Staining

Once the glue from the edge banding is dry, it is time to sand. This sanding took hours! I sanded the face frame, the doors, and every edge. I am sanding the edges so that they would be a little bit softer to the touch. Once everything is sanded I am wiping it off with a cloth and putting polyurethane on it. This is being applied with a fine polyester bristle brush. I love the color that came out with just one coat of polyurethane on the face frame, but when I put it on the doors it did not look as good. I am mixing up a custom wash for the doors and painting it on. It looks so much better.

Assembling the Face of the Bathroom Cabinet

To assemble this cabinet I am beginning on the horizontal space of my floor. This is going to make it so much easier to get things lined up and pre-drilled. I am lining up where I want my hinges to be and set the doors on top of them. Once everything is in place, I use a pencil to mark where I need to pre-drill. The hinges I am using match the ones that are on the vanity in the bathroom. I am adding a little piece of wood behind every hinge to make it conducive to the space.

Installing the Face Frame

The first thing I am doing is clamping the frame into place. Once it is clamped into place I am screwing directly into the wall stud. Then, I am adding in more screws where I pre-drilled. For the edge of the cabinet, I am taking 1-1/2 inch by 1-1/2 inch wooden outside corner trim piece and nailing that into place. This ended up being perfectly flush with the wall and it looked so good! In order to fill all of my holes I am using drywall joint compound and wood filler. To the face frame off I am sanding, adding another layer of polyurethane, and caulking.

Hanging the Doors

Once I have installed the hardware on the door it is time to hang them on the face frame. To hang the doors I am lining them up with the face frame and putting tiny little screws through the hinges. I pre-drilled holes into the face frame so I would know exactly where to put the hinges. To add more storage space I am hanging a hook on the inside of this cabinet!

I love how this closet turned out! It has added so much storage and versatility to this small bathroom!

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Table of Contents

• Removing the Hollow Doors
• Cutting the Doors
• Filling Blemishes and Sanding
• Cutting Grooves
• Fixing Ugly Cuts
• Preparing the Doors to Paint
• Painting the Doors
• Upgrading the Hardware and a Look at the Final Product

Hollow Door Removal

I start by removing the hollow core doors from their frames, I also remove the handles. I then mark the tops of each door. This allows me to know which doors go where because rectangular doors fit very specifically in their jambs. 

Cutting Hollow Core Doors

The bottom of these hollow core doors were cut very unevenly from when the carpeting was originally installed. Because of this the first thing to do is square off the bottom. I cross cut the bottom of the hollow doors. I do this by measuring from the top, clamping a straight edge, then running my circular saw against the straight edge to square up the base of the door. 

Filling Blemishes and Sanding

After I complete the cutting of the hollow core doors it is time to fill blemishes and sand. I begin by filling the blemishes with Two Part Putty Bondo. There are many dents and divots on these hollow doors that require filling. While the putty is drying I decide to try filling the grain on the hollow door panel with watered down Plaster of Paris. I actually didn’t do this on all of the doors because the extra work wasn’t worth it. I found that the grain was hardly visible after paint anyways. Once the putty is dry, I sand down the hollow core doors. I am using a 120 grit sandpaper and sand until it is smooth to the touch. 

Hollow Core Doors Groove Cutting

Now it is time to take the hollow doors over to my table saw. The blade is set extremely shallow, only 1/16th of an inch. I am creating grooves in the hollow door. The panel on the door is very thin, so I have to be careful not to cut through. I try to balance the bulky door through my table saw and this does not work well. My cut has some areas where the blade jarred side to side making a very ugly cut.  I try again, this time I set up my Workpro adjustable workbench completely level with my table saw. This creates an infeed that can support the door all the way in through the table saw blade. My outfeed then supports the hollow door on the way out. This allows me to get the straight, smooth cut I was looking for. 

Fixing Ugly Cuts in the Door

The way I am fixing the cuts that are messed up is by filling them with Bondo. When the cut is filled I sand it smooth and run it through my table saw again. Because I cut the hollow door panel vertically there are some splintery pieces, so it’s important to run sandpaper through the grooves. After doing this I am also doing a quick sand across the top. 

Prepping to Paint Hollow Core Doors

After sanding the doors smooth, I prime all six of the hollow core doors using a paint brush and a roller. I am painting the doors against my fence, so I have to set up a sheet of plastic to protect the fence from overspray. I am also nailing small scrap pieces of wood into the top of each door so when I lean them against the fence the painted surface will not touch the plastic.

Painting the Doors

It took me a long time to decide what paint color to use, but I decided to use the same color that is on the wall, French beige. (Check out the space I am matching the doors to here.) I am watering the color down so it can go through my paint sprayer. I also am adding semi-gloss white paint which is durable for doors. The addition of this really lightens the wall color which is going to compliment the space nicely. Before I actually paint I am going to do one last quick sand. To do this I like to use a sheet of sandpaper wrapped around a peanut sponge so there are no sharp edges. I am doing this as a light knockdown do of any texture that may have come up with priming.

I am using a cordless spray gun to apply the paint to the doors for a perfectly smooth finish. Because of the scrap pieces of wood I can paint one side of the door and then carefully flip the door and continue painting. When the doors are done with their paint application I am highlighting the grooves that I cut using a brown paint pen. The reason I am doing this is because I am not planning on painting any of the trim of the jamb around the hollow doors and I wanted to use some brown on this design to pull it together and make it match.

Hollow Doors Update Hardware

I am not going to replace the old hardware, rather I am going to shine up current hardware with Rub and Buff on the areas where the gold plating has worn away. Finally, I am putting the handles back on these hollow core doors and replacing them in their jambs. 

Hollow Core Doors Upgrade

At this point you may be wondering what style I am going for with these doors. The goal is to mimic a plank style door, this is a primitive way of putting together a door that’s been around for a long time. It has a kind of modern look because the vertical lines look like tongue and groove shiplap.  Plank style doors are also perfect for cottage style homes because it is such an old-fashioned way of putting together a door. This is a pretty minor change, but I think it adds more style and dimension to these hollow core doors. 

Thank you for reading about my hollow core doors upgrade! This DIY was pretty simple in nature but did take some time to do. I’m happy I had the tools and materials on hand and didn’t have to buy anything new to get doors I really like! What do you think of the change? If you liked this interior upgrade DIY and want to see more, my post on how to lay self leveling concrete is a great place to start!

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Table of Contents

• Chiseling the Hinges
• Preparing the Door Knob Hole
• Drilling the Hole

Chiseling the Hinges of the New Door

Typically a door you buy at the hardware store needs the door knob hole drilled and the hinges chiseled. The first thing do is take a hinge off the door that’s broken to use as a template to chisel out the hinges for the new door. Make sure you measure on the new door how far down/in each hinge needs to be. Mark with a pencil and then trace your old hinge on the new door. Using a chisel set, carefully chisel around the line, making sure you don’t get too deep. When chiseling take your time and go slowly – you’d rather take out too little than too much! The chiseling doesn’t need to be perfectly level, but should be close.

Preparing the New Door Knob Hole

Remove the old door knob from the old door, then measure the center of the door knob hole from the edge of the door and mark the new door. Repeat for the latch hole. You can see the whole measuring process I use in the video at the top of this post.

Drilling the Door Knob Hole

Using a hole saw, we line the drill bit up with the mark we made in the previous step. You can buy an assembly to ensure your drill is held perfectly perpendicular, but it’s pretty easy if you hold the door to make sure everything is right up and down. DO NOT DRILL AT AN ANGLE! Repeat with the appropriate drill-bit for the latch.

After drilling the holes, you can follow the directions that came with your hardware for installation! Be sure to check out the video for any details you may not understand! I hope this was helpful, if you have anymore questions feel free to leave a comment!

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This post is all about how I designed and created the minimalist hidden door in our new bathroom. If you missed the final bathroom reveal, be sure to check out all the other beautiful aspects of the room. For today, we’re just focusing on the coolest door you’ve maybe ever seen!

The door is concealing a closet in our bathroom. I wanted something that didn’t attract attention and allowed the eye to scan the space, skipping right over the door on this long blank wall. If you have a spot in your home you need to have a door but wish you didn’t, creating this could be a great solution!

My contractor helped construct the main frame with simple 2 x 4’s, created a box he then screwed a piece of drywall onto. When the door was constructed, we mounted it with regular door hinges because of how heavy it was. To conceal these hinges a bit better, I simply painted them white with paint formulated to stick to metal.

The door opens by pushing on it in the middle. We installed two push latches that are magnetic on the inside, one on top and one on bottom. They release and catch the door beautifully so there’s no need for a handle or knob protruding out.

To get the seams of the door really tight, I ran corner bead along the edges of both sheets of drywall: the wall and the edge of the door. After mudding, sanding, priming, and painting, the seams are so close together you barely see the line!

The finishing touch for creating a door that blends in with the wall is to install baseboard. I continued the same baseboard along the door as the wall, but I cut both pieces of baseboard trim at a 45 degree angle on the backside of the door to allow it to swing open fully. Want to a know a little secret? To save money on modern trim, I actually just primed, painted, and installed 1 x 4’s as our baseboard.

Thank you for watching! Until next time!

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Isn’t that how it always goes? You improve something in your home that highlights the next thing to be done. It is never-ending. Anyways, after I moved to a monochromatic color scheme in my home design, I have felt my front door just doesn’t fit in anymore. It was time for a new paint color that matched the inside. As you know, my living room looks like this:

I used that same teal color I mixed up for the coffee table to paint the walls of my bathroom. This time I mixed it with a little gray to tone it down and completed a front door refresh!

To get started, I removed the hardware from the door, the handle and deadbolt.

My daughter was playing peekaboo through these holes for a solid half hour afterwards.

I didn’t take process pictures because it really was as simple as mixing up my color and rolling it on. I used a mini roller with a 3/8″ nap to get a heavy coat. After two coats of paint and a day of dry time, the front door refresh was done.

Bam! Totally different, right?

This color is so cheerful, I hung a flowering spring wreath up right away.

The difference still catches me off guard every time I come home. However, it certainly goes with the rest of the house now!

What do you think of the new color!? I asked my readers on Facebook what I should do beforehand; the winning choice was some sort of teal. Did I pick the kind of color you would go for on your house?

If you liked this interior upgrade DIY and want to see more, my post on how to lay self leveling concrete is great place to start!

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Patio Door to Table

This project I can’t take much credit for. My grandpa was supportive of the idea and went right ahead and built a frame and legs for the table. It’s all made from 2 by 4’s. Basically all I did was paint it brown to match the outside trim of our house. I think this table is basically just a good example of looking at everything you throw away in the way of, “Can I reuse this?” This mentality was instilled in me by my parents, but it isn’t hard to do even if you didn’t grow up with it. Just ask yourself, “Can I reuse this?” every time you go to put something in the trash. Sometimes you end up with something functional and beautiful, like this table!

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