Interior Door Makeover

When I started redoing my bathroom, I knew I was going to have to do an interior door makeover on the closet door. It was so plain and I wanted to bring wood elements into the space. I absolutely love the way it turned out and it was a very cost effective way to give the bathroom a whole new look!

WARNING: Make sure the new door will fit!

This is the moment you all learn from my mistake!! I had completely redone my closet door and was hanging it back up when I discovered that adding the boards made the door too thick – it no longer had the clearance it needed to open!

I was able to remedy the situation by cutting 1/8″ off of the door but I then had to refinish that side. It was a painful to take a saw to my perfectly finished door!

I recommend holding the board you are using to cover the door against it, on the hinge side, and make sure it has enough clearance within the door frame to open. If it doesn’t, cut that 1/8″ off BEFORE you makeover the entire door!

Step 1: Paint the Door

I wanted the back of the door to be black to match the board & batten in the bathroom. I decided the paint the entire door just to ensure no white was shining through anywhere!

Interested in how I did the board & batten? Check out that post here!

Step 2: Cut Boards to Size

I bought a pack of cedar planks from Home Depot. These are tongue and groove, so they go together really easily! They are also super light and worked perfectly on the door.

I used my miter saw set on a 45 degree angle to cut the cedar planks to size.

I cut my boards before attaching to the door because I knew I was going to trim out the edges. If you don’t plan to add trim, I recommend attaching the boards first and then cutting with a circular saw for a straighter edge!

Step 3: Attach Boards

First, I recommend laying out the boards before applying the glue to make sure you are happy with the layout – liquid nails are near impossible to undo! I went with a chevron pattern.

I didn’t want a bunch of nail holes all over the door, so I used liquid nails to attach the boards.

Step 4: Cut & Attach Trim

Next, I used my miter saw to cut trim boards for the perimeter of the door and the center of the door. I used my nail gun to attach these boards to the cedar planks.