Ron's last HouseCall in the great state of Texas took him to Longview where Lara Leaver had asked him to come and help give her outdated interior doors a makeover. Lara had an entire hallway full of plain doors. She had always liked paneled doors and was hoping Ron could help her achieve this look by adding molding to the old doors. Ron thought this would be a great project and it would only be a fraction of the cost of replacing the doors. Lara was very eager to learn, so together they got to work.
Click here for a list of what
you will need in order to complete this project.
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1. Remove existing doors:
- They started by removing the doors from their hinges and then carried them outside, laying the first door flat across two saw horses at a comfortable work height.
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- The next step was to remove all the hardware, screws, hinges and door latch from the first door. To make achieve a paneled look, the plan was to apply two rectangles of molding to the face of the door.
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2. Select molding:
- Ron recommended selecting a trim that was thick enough to give the illusion of a recessed panel. To be certain that the trim she selected would look right, Ron had Lara help him stick a few pieces up on the door temporarily with some rolled masking tape. She liked it, so they were ready to begin.
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3. Placement:
- They needed to determine where on the door to place the trim. Lara decided upon five inches down from the top so they set a combination square at five inches and drew a line across the top of the door.
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- Ron placed strips of wide masking tape along the lines to simulate the molding. They trimmed the overlapping ends to create a mitered effect. What they were looking for was proportion and placement of the molding. They wanted to be sure it wouldn't look too high, too low, too narrow or too wide.
- Lara thought it looked just right, so they were finally ready to begin cutting the wood.
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4. Cut wood:
- They used an inexpensive, plastic miter box with an adjustable peg-in-hole system that helped hold the wood in place. The first cuts Ron made were rough, slightly longer than what was needed, so he could work with more manageable lengths.
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- Ron cut an angle off one end with the miter box before measuring and cutting the other end. Lara was eager to take over the saw and make the next few cuts herself.
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- Since the project required several mitered pieces cut to exactly the same length, they installed a stop block with the end of the molding just touching the block. Adjustable C clamps held the stop block in place while Lara cut the molding pieces.
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5. Painting:
- Laura wanted to brighten up her doors by painting them an off-white. Sanding the doors before painting helped to give the new paint a better grip. Painting the doors before attaching the molding was recommended so that they could use a short nap roller to paint the surface quickly.
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- Ron also thought it would be easier and faster to pre-paint the individual pieces of molding before attaching them to the door.
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6. Attach molding:
- They laid out the original marks they had made, very faintly this time, because now they were working on a freshly painted surface. They attached the molding by first applying glue to the back of each piece and then by pressing it firmly onto the face of the door.
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- Next they inserted small brads or headless nails into the end of a tool called a brad pusher. As pressure was applied to the handle of this tool, the tiny brad was forced through the molding and into the face of the door. This helped to hold the trim work in place while the glue dried. With the upper panel completed, they moved on to the bottom section repeating the gluing and nailing process.
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7. Reinstall hardware:
- The final step was to reinstall the hardware. Ron often recommends replacing the hinges and latch set for a fresh new look, but in this case they were in great shape and replacement was not necessary. After the hardware was re-attached, the doors were finally hung back in place.
RESULTS:
Not only did the hall now have a much brighter, more updated look, but it also added a lot of interesting detail to the hallway. This is one of the times when seeing a before picture and then comparing it with the end result makes quite an impression. |
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Before After |
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