DIY Door Stop

This DIY Door Stop was such a necessary DIY for me! The four doors in my hallway (3 for the bedrooms and 1 for the bathroom) do not stay open on their own. I didn’t want to go with the classic door edge, so I started thinking of other door stoppers ideas. Of course, I am always looking for new DIY projects, so a homemade door stopper quickly made the to-do list!

Step 1: Make Design

I wanted all four of my DIY Door Stoppers to have the same shape, houses, but to be slightly different. So I sketched my design.

Step 2: Fronts & Backs

Using my design, I marked my cuts on the wood. I used a 1×6 pine board for the fronts and backs of the houses. I first cut 8 8 ½” squares. Then I set my chop saw on a 45-degree angle and cut the roof.

Step 3: Bottom Insert

Next, I cut the bottoms out of 1x2s. I cut 4 5 ½” pieces for the bottoms. Using my brad nailer and 1¼” nails, I nailed the front & backs to this piece. With that, my houses started to take shape!

Step 4: Side Inserts

For the side inserts, I slide the 1×2 into the side and marked the angle to cut. I did this for all 8 sides, to ensure I had the correct angle. Using my brad nailer, I nailed the sides into place.

Step 5: Roof Inserts

Following the same method as the sides, I slide the 1×4 into one side of the roof and marked the cut. I cut and nailed the piece into place for each house. Then I measured the remaining gap, and cut the last little block for the roof. I did not nail these into place yet!

Step 6: Fill the Stops with Concrete

Yep, you read that right! I knew if I left the door stop hollow they would not be heavy enough to hold the doors. Therefore, I decided to add concrete inside! I poured the concrete into the open part of the roof. It was as simple as that and allowed the concrete dry.

Step 7: Attach the Roof

Once the concrete dried, I was ready to attach the last roof block. I slid in the block and using my brad nailer, I nailed them into place.

Step 8: Fill Cracks & Nail Holes

Using Stainable Woof Filler, I filled the cracks in the wood and allowed that to fully dry. I started applying the stain using a putty knife but ending up just using my finger!

Step 9: Sand

I sanded the houses first with 150-grit sandpaper, followed by 220-grit using my palm sander. With each DIY doorstop sanded and smooth, I was ready for paint & stain!

Step 10: Paint

When thinking up my door stop designs, I wanted it to be simple but classic. I have been loving all things green and wood, so I decided to do a combination of both! I chose not to stain the wood but use a shellac finish to give the wood an amber hue. Since I wasn’t staining, it was time to paint!

Like I said, I wanted my little houses to be coordinated but not all the same. So, I did various two-tones on all four. I used painters tape in different locations on each house. You can design your houses however you want! I did a simple top/bottom on two of the houses, random zig-zags on another and a checkered pattern on the fourth.

Step 11: Add Doors & Windows (optional)

At this point I decided to add doors and windows. With my mom’s circuit (and her expertise!) I laid out 2 door/window combinations stencils. Then, I inverted the images so that I had 4 different door/window combinations. We cut the door and window designs using Cricut’s vinyl (NOTE: I would recommend Cricut’s vinyl stencil material but this is what we had laying around the house).

After the stencils were cut, we stuck them to each house. Using the dry brush method, I painted the doors & windows onto each house using Fushion’s Ash paint! It’s super important to dry brush here to ensure paint doesn’t bleed underneath the circuit vinyl.

If you do not have a circuit, I recommend using these wooden doors / windows! You can paint them first and then use wood glue to attach to your houses.

Need more details on how to Dry Brush? Check out our post on DIY Baby Blocks here!

Step 12: Finish

After the door & windows were thoroughly dry, I applied my finish coat of Shellac. After two hours, I applied the second coat of Shellac, and then left my house door stops to fully dry overnight!

I decided to add furniture sliders to the bottom of my houses so I could slide them easily with my foot. I absolutely love how these DIY Door Stops turned out!