But, then I remembered that ordering an inexpensive Pax wardrobe and building it into the wall would be the fastest, easiest, and best looking solution to my closet storage problem.

If you’re asking, “How do you make IKEA Pax wardrobes look built in?” it’s actually pretty simple and I was surprised how fast the process went. I’ll show you what I did!

Looking to organize your closet space? Check out these posts:

• How To Customize A Store-Bought Closet System
• How To Organize a Closet in a Non-Permanent Way (No Drilling and Perfect For Renters!)
• Divided Built-In Closet DIY
• Elsie’s Low Waste Closet Renovation
• Easy Built-In Closet DIY

Supplies:
–IKEA Pax wardrobes (I did this double set and added plain doors)
–2 1/2″ or 3″ construction screws
-drill
–miter saw or hand saw with a miter box
-2x4s or 2x2s for base
–finishing nail gun or small finish nails, a hammer, and a nail setter
-baseboard to match your current baseboard
–wood filler and caulk
-paint in your current baseboard color and/or IKEA Pax Wardrobe color

Step one: Remove the baseboard. You’ll want to first remove the baseboard on the wall that you are placing your shelving so that it can sit totally flush against the wall. Just use a box cutter/razor to cut the bead of caulk between the top of the baseboard and the wall to disconnect that connection point.

Then, use a crowbar to gently pry the baseboard off the wall (pull it a little bit every foot or so to try and keep it all coming off at about the same pace to avoid breaking it).

If you want to only remove the amount needed rather than the whole baseboard, you can use a multi-tool like this and mark how much board you want removed based on your closet width and length measurements.

Then cut a line down the board so you can simply pull off the piece you want removed (you can see I did that on the back right corner of my photo).

Step two: Build your simple rectangle platform. You know what a rectangle looks like? Good. All you have to do now is build a base with either 2x4s or 2x2s that is the same size as your cabinet dimensions.

So let’s say for simplicity’s sake your total closet measures 24″ wide and 80″ long, you would build a base 24″ wide and 80″ long so it fits perfectly under your closet.

I used a miter saw for this, but you can also use a hand saw with a miter box to cut your boards to the right lengths.

You’ll see I also cut some middle support boards that are the same length as my end pieces so the middle of the closet had something to rest on as well. Just screw your boards in place from the outside edges and your platform is ready to go.

Optional note: As you can see, the right side of my cabinet is right against the wall, so I did add a 3″ spacer trim board to that side to make it easier to open that door without feeling super tight (I’ll show you how).

You won’t need to do that if you are in a free-standing area, but you may consider it if one side is against the wall like mine and you want to move it out a bit.

It is one extra step, and you need to add that into your total width measurements, but it helped a lot since I had a wall and a window in that corner.

Step three: Attach platform to wall. Use some all-purpose screws to attach the back edge of your base to the wall every 12″ or so. If you had flooring you didn’t care about, you could also drill down into the front edge to secure that to the floor.

But there’s certainly enough weight on the platform once complete to not really need to do that step.

Step four: Add your wardrobes on top (one at a time). Place your closet sections one at a time on the platform, making sure it’s snug against the wall.

The IKEA instructions show you how to connect the sections to each other and then how to connect them to the wall, so just follow their instructions to install.

Step five: Add your trim. Now that your units are sitting on the platform and connected to the wall, you can go ahead and add your baseboard back on. For best results, use a miter saw to cut your baseboard to fit all the way up to and then around your closet (I cut a 45° angle on the corners for a clean look).

Or you can use your hand saw and a miter box if you don’t have a power saw. I cut the wall pieces first to fit and then measured for the pieces around the closet.

Attach with either a finishing nail gun (I have this battery one and I love it) or small finish nails and a hammer and use a nail setter to make sure the head of the nails go in past the face of the wood.

I also added a small piece of cabinet trim to the vertical side gap between the wall and the cabinet (it was actually leftover from my kitchen renovation), but you can order something similar from the cabinet department of a home improvement store.

Or just browse their trim aisle and see if you like anything over there. I just cut it to the height of the cabinet and attached it with a finish nailer.

Step six: Caulk/paint your trim and you’re done! Fill any nail holes with a small amount of wood filler (just wipe with a damp cloth to smooth, easier than sanding) and caulk between the baseboard and the wall or closet to make them look seamless.

When the filler and caulk is dry, paint your baseboards to match either the cabinet or the baseboards in the rest of the room for the ones against the wall only, and your new closet system is ready to use!

I used Melting Icicles by Behr to match IKEA Pax white and it’s a great color match if you are trying to match the stock wardrobe.

Optional side trim/spacer step: If you do decide to add some length to one side (or both) to get a wardrobe door further from a wall (or to center the whole thing into a recessed area but you have a gap on both sides), add your closets to the platform first.

Once they are attached, scribe the curves of the wall onto a board. Walls are never perfectly straight, or in my case, even a little straight, so you want to trace the actual curve of the wall onto the board.

If you haven’t scribed an uneven wall or floor onto a board, this is a good video that shows you how to scribe in general and this one shows how to do it when filling in a cabinet gap like I did. I cut my board to the right height first and then scribed the curves and used an inexpensive jig saw to cut the lines.

Then, I gently tapped my board into the space with a hammer/mallet (being really careful not to push it back too far so that it lined up flush with the wardrobe front) and attached the spacer to the wardrobe with a finish nailer from inside the wardrobe where it’s barely noticeable at all.

Caulk and paint the spacer and the area will totally disappear into the built-in.

How great does that look?! I did also add some custom trim to the doors to make them feel more Parisian and special.

I’ll show you how to do that in another post, but it’s pretty similar to how I added DIY Arched Door Trim (with Flexible Molding!) to the doors in my house.

If you’ve always wanted some built-in closet or wardrobe storage, this is a great way to do it yourself and you can customize it to the size that you need by buying more or less Pax wardrobe units.

This solved a big problem for me in an affordable way and I love the way that it looks in the room. Hope this helps if you’re thinking of doing the same! xo. Laura

P.S. Love this post? Check out Young House Love’s IKEA Pax Wardrobe Closet Makeover.

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Easy Hack to Build-In an IKEA Pax Wardrobe

Easy way to make an IKEA Pax wardrobe look built into the wall

Keyword ikea hack

Prep Time 5 hours hours

Total Time 5 hours hours

Author Laura Gummerman

Cost $50 (not including wardrobe)

Equipment

• drill
• miter saw  or hand saw with a miter box
• finishing nail gun or small finish nails
• hammer
• nail setter

Ingredients

• IKEA Pax wardrobes 
• 2 1/2″ or 3″ construction screws
• 2x4s or 2x2s for base
• baseboard to match your current baseboard
• wood filler and caulk
• paint in your current baseboard color and/or IKEA Pax Wardrobe color

Instructions

• Step one: Remove the baseboard. You’ll want to first remove the baseboard on the wall that you are placing your shelving so that it can sit totally flush against the wall. Just use a box cutter/razor to cut the bead of caulk between the top of the baseboard and the wall to disconnect that connection point and use a crowbar to gently pry the baseboard off the wall (pull it a little bit every foot or so to try and keep it all coming off at about the same pace to avoid breaking it).
• If you want to only remove the amount needed rather than the whole baseboard, you can use a multi-tool like this and mark how much board you want removed based on your closet width and length measurements and the cut a line down the board so you can simply pull off the piece you want removed (you can see I did that on the back right corner of my photo).
• Step two: Build your simple rectangle platform. You know what a rectangle looks like? Good. All you have to do now is build a base with either 2x4s or 2x2s that is the same size as your cabinet dimensions. So let’s say for simplicity’s sake your total closet measures 24″ wide and 80″ long, you would build a base 24″ wide and 80″ long so it fits perfectly under your closet. I used a miter saw for this, but you can also use a hand saw with a miter box to cut your boards to the right lengths.

  You’ll see I also cut some middle support boards that are the same length as my end pieces so the middle of the closet had something to rest on as well. Just screw your boards in place from the outside edges and your platform is ready to go.
• Step three: Attach platform to wall. Use some all-purpose screws to attach the back edge of your base to the wall every 12″ or so. If you had flooring you didn’t care about, you could also drill down into the front edge to secure that to the floor as well, but there’s certainly enough weight on the platform once complete to not really need to do that step.
• Step four: Add your wardrobes on top (one at a time). Place your closet sections one at a time on the platform making sure it’s snug against the wall. The IKEA instructions show you how to connect the sections to each other and then how to connect them to the wall, so just follow their instructions to install.
• Step five: Add your trim. Now that your units are sitting on the platform and connected to the wall, you can go ahead and add your baseboard back on. For best results, use a miter saw to cut your baseboard to fit all the way up to and then around your closet (I cut a 45° angle on the corners for a clean look) or you can use your hand saw and a miter box if you don’t have a power saw. I cut the wall pieces first to fit and then measured for the pieces around the closet. Attach with either a finishing nail gun (I have this battery one and I love it) or small finish nails and a hammer and use a nail-setter to make sure the head of the nails goes in past the face of the wood.

  I also added a small piece of cabinet trim to the vertical side gap between the wall and the cabinet (it was actually leftover from my kitchen renovation but you can order something similar from the cabinet department of a home improvement store or just browse their trim aisle and see if you like anything over there). I just cut it to the height of the cabinet and attached it with a finish nailer.
• Step six: Caulk/paint your trim and you’re done! Fill any nail holes with a small amount of wood filler (just wipe with a damp cloth to smooth, easier than sanding) and caulk between the baseboard and the wall or closet to make them look seamless. When the filler and caulk is dry, paint your baseboards to match either the cabinet or the baseboards in the rest of the room for the ones against the wall only, and your new closet system is ready to use! I use Melting Icicles by Behr to match IKEA Pax white and it’s a great color match if you are trying to match the stock wardrobe.
• Optional side trim/spacer step: If you do decide to add some length to one side (or both) to get a wardrobe door further from a wall (or to center the whole thing into a recessed area but you have a gap on both sides), add your closets to the platform first and once they are attached, scribe the curves of the wall onto a board. Walls are never perfectly straight, or in my case, even a little straight, so you want to trace the actual curve of the wall onto the board.

  If you haven’t scribed an uneven wall or floor onto a board, this is a good video that shows you how to scribe in general and this one shows how to do it when filling in a cabinet gap like I did. I cut my board to the right height first and then scribed the curves and used an inexpensive jig saw to cut the lines. Then I gently tapped my board into the space with a hammer/mallet (being really careful not to push it back too far so that it lined up flush with the wardrobe front) and attached the spacer to the wardrobe with a finish nailer from inside the wardrobe where it’s barely noticeable at all. Caulk and paint the spacer and the area will totally disappear into the built-in.

Notes

Optional note: As you can see, the right side of my cabinet is right against the wall, so I did add a 3″ spacer trim board to that side to make it easier to open that door without feeling super tight (I’ll show you how). You won’t need to do that if you are in a free-standing area, but you may consider it if one side is against the wall like mine and you want to move it out a bit. It is one extra step, and you need to add that into your total width measurements, but it helped a lot since I had a wall and a window in that corner.

I have a few canvases around my house that I’ve been wanting to have framed, but rather than saving up for a custom job, I thought I’d just take an afternoon to frame them myself!

I designed three different styles of canvas frames with three different mounting techniques, and they’re all super simple to build.

All you need are various pieces of wood and the tools shown below, and guess what? None of them are power tools!

So if you’re a little leery of wielding a power drill, router, or chop saw, don’t worry! You don’t need ’em. This low-fuss method will get the job done.

Supplies:
–various pieces of wood
–wood glue
–finishing nails or wire brads (size depends on depth of wood)
-paint or wood stain
–sandpaper

Tools:
–miter box saw
–band clamp
–various clamps
-hammer
-tape measure
-pencil
-paint brush or rags

To begin, you’ll need to decide which style of mount you want for your frame and how thick and detailed the frame will be. For a wider, chunkier frame, you’ll need spacer wood for between the canvas stretcher and the edge of your frame.

You can bring your art with you to the lumber yard (or just dimensions if you’re shy about toting around your art) and try stacking together different pieces of wood, square dowels, and molding to get the look you want.

Check out my frame profiles below to get ideas for your own frame, and if you want more detail in yours, don’t be shy about adding molding too!

Mounting Techniques

A recessed mount is a traditional framing technique where the art sits behind the frame and the very edge of the art is covered by the lip of the frame.

A float mount, the most difficult to build, is sometimes used in canvas framing to give even more dimension to the piece by creating a decorative gap between the canvas’s edge and the frame’s edge. 

Something that you might see more frequently on larger pieces of canvas art is the flush mount, where the frame is simply attached to the edge of the canvas stretcher, with no lip on the front or back.

Flush Mount Frame

The flush mount frame I designed is mounted relatively flush with the surface of the canvas and is nailed directly to the edge of the canvas stretcher, without assembling the frame first.

It’s the easiest frame to make, in my opinion, and I think it looks nice with larger pieces of artwork.

Step One: To begin, I purchased two 8′ long pieces of cedar 1x2s, lightly sanded them, and then stained them with my own gray mix of these three stains pictured above: Rustoleum Driftwood, Rustoleum Willow, and Minwax Golden Oak.

Step Two: Rather than measuring the edge of my frame and transferring those measurements to the lumber, I just laid my 1×2 against the frame and marked the length of the canvas directly onto the lumber.

Step Three: I cut each of my pieces of lumber a bit longer than I needed, in case I made a mistake and cut them too short.

To cut the pieces, use a miter box saw, which clamps the lumber into place and has guides that ensure you are cutting to the exact 45-degree angle that you need.

It’s pretty handy, though it does take more elbow grease than an electric miter saw. After making the cut, you may want to lightly sand down the corners if you have any splintering.

Step Four: Using a band clamp* or a ratchet strap, do a dry fit of the frame to make sure it fits. If any pieces are too long, cut them down appropriately.

When the pieces are cut to the right length and the dry fit shows a nice fit, loosen the band clamp around the loose pieces of the frame and dab paint into the corners where the pieces meet.

Use your finger to spread the glue around a bit before clamping again. Some glue will ooze out when you clamp the frame together, so be sure to have a rag handy to wipe away any glue immediately.

Step Five: Use finishing nails or wire brads to attach the frame to the canvas stretcher, making sure to also drive nails through the mitered joints in the corner, giving the wood glue some extra strength.

Wood glue isn’t very strong when applied to end grains of wood, so the nails are a necessary step unless you use a stronger adhesive like Gorilla Glue.

*When using a band clamp on soft wood, be sure to use a piece of scrap wood as a buffer between the clamp and the wood so the clamp doesn’t leave an imprint on the wood.

Recessed Mount Frame

The traditional recessed mount frame utilizes a rabbet, or inset, for the art to sit nestled in behind the frame. It hides a small border of the art, which works out well if the edges of your canvas aren’t finished.

This frame is assembled prior to attaching the artwork, as opposed to the flush mount frame which is built directly onto the canvas stretcher.

The materials you need to build this particular frame are as follows:

-outside edge piece: 1/2×3″ lumber
-middle piece: 1/2×2″ lumber
-inside edge piece: 1/2″ lumber
-top edge piece: 3/8×2″ lumber

I started with stained wood, because it was my goal to have two tones of stain in my finished frame and decided it would be best to stain first.

The stain didn’t absorb very well on the pine I used, though, so it might not have mattered. You can stain your frame before or after assembling it.

Step One: Glue together the 1/2×3″ outside piece with the middle and inside edge piece as listed in the supplies above and shown in the above right image. You’ll need to use clamps to hold together the wood as the glue dries. Be sure to wipe away any seeping glue with a damp cloth before it dries.

Step Two: After the edge and bottom pieces have dried, attach the top piece, which should be a bit wider than the wood stacked below it, in order to create a lip which will overlap your art.

Spread the glue with your fingers to limit glue seepage. Then clamp together and allow the glue to cure.

Step Three: Measure the size of your artwork and add about 1/8″ buffer space/error space.

Step Four: Cut your lengths of wood with the miter box saw according to the measurements from step three. I like to err on the side of longer than necessary, because you can always cut off more than you need! Lay the parallel boards against each other to make sure they are the same length.

Step Five: Arrange a dry fit with the band clamp and your canvas. Make sure everything fits together relatively snugly. If the canvas is too loose in there, you may need to shave a bit off the lengths of the frame pieces.

After the fit is just right, spread some wood glue with your finger onto the edges of the frame pieces and fit together the joints with the band clamp, wiping away any excess glue before it dries.

Step Six: While the frame is clamped and the glue is drying, drive finishing nails into the joints of the frame to give the piece more stability. I chose to only nail on two parallel frame pieces instead of onto each side.

Flip the frame over and attach the canvas from the back by driving longer nails through the canvas stretchers and into the frame.

Float Mount Frame

I personally think float mount frames look the most professional, but maybe that’s because it was the most finicky of my frames to make, so I was the most proud of this one! Float mounts leave a space between the edge of the canvas and the sides of the frame.

They provide dimensionality to the framed piece and are a great way to show off gallery wrapped edges of canvas art. I personally thought this float mount frame would be great to give a more substantial feel to a thin, less expensive canvas piece.

For my float frame, I used the following wood:

-1/2×2″ lumber painted white
-1/2″ square dowel stained dark (though I suggest using a 1/2×1″ piece of lumber instead)

I chose to start with already-painted side pieces to save me the trouble of trimming in with paint and stain with an assembler frame. I chose a bright white for the outside of the frame and a dark stain to emphasize the float space between the canvas and the frame.

Step One: Glue the bottom piece of the frame to the side piece and clamp into place. Make sure you wipe away the excess glue before it dries!

I used a 1/2″ square dowel for this, but it was exceptionally difficult to later attach the canvas to such a narrow space, so if I were to go back in time, I would select a 1/2×1″ piece of lumber instead.

Follow Steps 3-5 of the recessed mount frame above, but instead of adding 1/8″ to the dimension of the artwork for your frame, add about 1/4″ to create the float space in the frame.

Step Six: Instead of nailing the frame together, you’ll secure it by nailing it to the canvas stretcher from behind. This is the tricky part! You will need to lay your artwork into the frame, making sure the gaps are even all around it. I had a difficult time getting the gaps to stay even as I was clamping it into place.

Once it’s clamped into place properly, flip over the frame and drive nails through the back piece of the frame and into the canvas stretcher.

Make sure you don’t miss the stretcher and drive your nails into the float space instead! I had to drive my nails in at an angle because my 1/2″ square dowel left me hardly any space.

It was a little difficult attaching the canvas to that little dowel in my float frame, but I love the results! Such a handsome frame ready for display!

I’m really pleased with the results of my custom framing jobs and will definitely be DIY framing more in the future! Next I might try something a little more ornate by combining molding styles.

These kits are really handy when trying to hang pictures and they make some really cool gadgets like this to help you hang things more easily.

Think of the all the possibilities. Happy framing! xo Mandi

Love this post? Check out this Easy Wood Frame DIY for Large Art or Posters.

P.S. Looking for more wall art DIYs?

• Oversized Felt Letter Board DIY
• Kids Art Frame DIY
• Elsie’s Mini Photo Wall Art
• Floral Shadow Box Art DIY

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DIY Custom Frame

Create a custom frame without using any power tools!

Keyword custom frame, DIY, wood working

Author Mandi Johnson

Equipment

• Miter box saw
• Band clamp
• Various clamps
• hammer
• Tape Measure
• pencil
• Paint brush or rags

Ingredients

• various pieces of wood
• wood glue
• finishing nails or wire brads size depends on depth of wood
• paint or wood stain
• sandpaper fine grit

Instructions

Flush Mount Frame 

• To begin, you’ll need to decide which style of mount you want for your frame and how thick and detailed the frame will be. For a wider, chunkier frame, you’ll need spacer wood for between the canvas stretcher and the edge of your frame. You can bring your art with you to the lumber yard (or just dimensions if you’re shy about toting around your art) and try stacking together different pieces of wood, square dowels, and molding to get the look you want. Check out my frame profiles below to get ideas for your own frame, and if you want more detail in yours, don’t be shy about adding molding too!
• To begin, I purchased two 8′ long pieces of cedar 1x2s, lightly sanded them, and then stained them with my own gray mix of these three stains pictured above: Rustoleum Driftwood, Rustoleum Willow, and Minwax Golden Oak.
• Rather than measuring the edge of my frame and transferring those measurements to the lumber, I just laid my 1×2 against the frame and marked the length of the canvas directly onto the lumber.
• I cut each of my pieces of lumber a bit longer than I needed, in case I made a mistake and cut them too short. To cut the pieces, I used a miter box saw which clamps the lumber into place and has guides that ensure you are cutting to the exact 45-degree angle that you need. It’s pretty handy, though it does take more elbow grease than an electric miter saw.
• Using a band clamp or a ratchet strap, do a dry fit of the frame to make sure it fits. If any pieces are too long, cut them down appropriately. When the pieces are cut to the right length and the dry fit shows a nice fit, loosen the band clamp around the loose pieces of the frame and dab paint into the corners where the pieces meet. Use your finger to spread the glue around a bit before clamping again. Some glue will ooze out when you clamp the frame together, so be sure to have a rag handy to wipe away any glue immediately.
• Use finishing nails or wire brads to attach the frame to the canvas stretcher, making sure to also drive nails through the mitered joints in the corner, giving the wood glue some extra strength. Wood glue isn’t very strong when applied to end grains of wood, so the nails are a necessary step unless you use a stronger adhesive like Gorilla Glue.

Recessed Mount Frame

• Needed: outside edge piece: 1/2×3″ lumber-middle piece: 1/2×2″ lumber-inside edge piece: 1/2″ lumber-top edge piece: 3/8×2″ lumber
• Glue together the 1/2×3″ outside piece with the middle and inside edge piece as listed in the supplies above and shown in the above right image. You’ll need to use clamps to hold together the wood as the glue dries. Be sure to wipe away any seeping glue with a damp cloth before it dries.
• After the edge and bottom pieces have dried, attach the top piece, which should be a bit wider than the wood stacked below it, in order to create a lip which will overlap your art. Spread the glue with your fingers to limit glue seepage. Then clamp together and allow the glue to cure.
• Measure the size of your artwork and add about 1/8″ buffer space/error space.
• Cut your lengths of wood with the miter box saw according to the measurements from step three. I like to err on the side of longer than necessary, because you can always cut off more than you need! Lay the parallel boards against each other to make sure they are the same length.
• Arrange a dry fit with the band clamp and your canvas. Make sure everything fits together relatively snugly. If the canvas is too loose in there, you may need to shave a bit off the lengths of the frame pieces.
• After the fit is just right, spread some wood glue with your finger onto the edges of the frame pieces and fit together the joints with the band clamp, wiping away any excess glue before it dries.
• While the frame is clamped and the glue is drying, drive finishing nails into the joints of the frame to give the piece more stability. I chose to only nail on two parallel frame pieces instead of onto each side.
• Flip the frame over and attach the canvas from the back by driving longer nails through the canvas stretchers and into the frame.

Float Mount Frame

• Needed: 1/2×2″ lumber painted white, 1/2″ square dowel stained dark (though I suggest using a 1/2×1″ piece of lumber instead)
• Glue the bottom piece of the frame to the side piece and clamp into place. Make sure you wipe away the excess glue before it dries! I used a 1/2″ square dowel for this, but it was exceptionally difficult to later attach the canvas to such a narrow space, so if I were to go back in time, I would select a 1/2×1″ piece of lumber instead.
• Follow Steps 3-5 of the recessed mount frame above, but instead of adding 1/8″ to the dimension of the artwork for your frame, add about 1/4″ to create the float space in the frame.
• Instead of nailing the frame together, you’ll secure it by nailing it to the canvas stretcher from behind. This is the tricky part! You will need to lay your artwork into the frame, making sure the gaps are even all around it. I had a difficult time getting the gaps to stay even as I was clamping it into place. Once it’s clamped into place properly, flip over the frame and drive nails through the back piece of the frame and into the canvas stretcher. Make sure you don’t miss the stretcher and drive your nails into the float space instead! I had to drive my nails in at an angle because my 1/2″ square dowel left me hardly any space.
• It was a little difficult attaching the canvas to that little dowel in my float frame, but I love the results! Such a handsome frame ready for display!

My parents were also avid renovators and I spent lots of time with my parents helping them as they made charming older homes into a warm inviting place for our family to live.

My mom always tells the story of how I, as a young teenager, wouldn’t stop sanding our weathered staircase one very late night and go to bed until she went to bed, so I just kept sanding and sanding alongside her until she finally gave in and retired. I guess it’s in my DNA!

That being said, while there’s a lot that I don’t know, and some jobs I do need to call in a professional for, I do know quite a bit from my past experiences. But this current house has so many issues that it’s really forced me to branch out and learn new skills and acquire some new tools along the way.

Some of the best home improvement tools on my list are ones that I’ve known about but haven’t used in a long time (and can’t believe I haven’t been using them in the meantime!). Others are totally new to me, but so helpful that I don’t know how I made it to this point without them!

There are some smaller, inexpensive items and there are some larger investment pieces, but I hope some of them are helpful for you as well!

Dremel Multi Tool: This is a tool that’s new to me, but I really can’t believe we’ve done two houses without one! There are different blades/attachments that you can use with this tool (hence the “multi” tool name), but we’ve used the saw blade the most by far.

It’s perfect for cutting things that would be difficult for any other kind of saw to get to (like cutting our baseboards just a little bit to fit updated heat registers) and it’s super helpful for cutting nails and screws in lots of demo and install situations.

It has a sanding attachment to get into corners and little areas that are hard to sand, and you can buy other attachments like this blade, which is super helpful as well.

Like all saws and sanders, make sure to use safety goggles when using the tool (and I would pop in a pair of earplugs to protect your ears).

Ratcheting Screwdriver: Probably the most used tool in our home (whether renovating or not) is a screwdriver!

Having one that has different bits for different sizes and types of screws is incredibly helpful (like several Phillips head bits and several flat head bits at a minimum).

But, having one that is also a ratcheting screwdriver is amazing. It’s like a punishment to use anything else and I get mad when Todd brings me a “regular” one when I ask him to grab me a screwdriver.

Corner Brush or Rounded Spindle Brush: I’m not usually much of a specialty brush gal, but I’ve always been curious about those triangle corner brushes, and the rounded spindle brushes and wondered if they were worth the extra money to get a specialty brush for a particular job. It turns out they are!!

I had to do six coats of paint on the elaborate woodwork around our entryway (I hated the first color and had to repaint it) and it was a nightmare to try and get my regular brush into all those crevasses each time.

On about the fourth coat, I decided to try a corner brush and it made such a difference to get into all those different angles!

For the spindle brush, I was painting a piece of furniture that I had attached a ton of half round molding strips to the front and sides and the rounded end of that brush made that process so much easier than it would have been.

So, if you are painting rounded edges or something with a lot of corners and angles, get a specialty brush and you’ll be so glad you did!

Paint Edger: While I’m pretty good at edging with a brush, my least favorite thing about it is that a brush makes a thinner line of paint than a roller does, so I always have to edge a few more times than where I rollered (especially when you are painting walls white).

I have used these paint edger pads in the past, but for some reason I got away from them for a while and I tried them again—they just cover so much better than a brush does, and you don’t have to do as many passes overall, which saves time and effort. They also make smaller edgers for smaller areas which are helpful.

Want to see before/afters of my new home? Click here!

Battery-Powered Nail Gun: I’ve had an air gun with a compressor tank for a few years, and while that was a total game changer in and of itself, this battery powered nail gun is really what I should have gotten instead.

It’s so much easier to use and faster to set up (just one button to turn it on rather than setting up the whole air tank) and you don’t have the air hose in the way as you work or have to drag the heavy tank around with you.

Also, when the air compressor tank fills back up with air, the extremely loud (and sudden!) noise it makes causes me to leap out of my skin … every … single … time. The battery powered one has none of that.

The only downside is that it is heavier to hold than the gun of the air compressor model. So if you are not very strong when it comes to your arms and are doing a lot of overhead nailing, it will get heavy after a bit, but other than that it’s amazing.

It’s a lifesaver for doing jobs like custom closet doors or building shelves and I’ve used it for lots of smaller DIYs as well. If that price point is too high and you just want one for smaller projects, this combo staple gun/nail gun is very inexpensive and able to do small nails, too.

Table Saw: So, this is higher on the end of cost and “scary factor” if you aren’t used to power tools, but this one is still much less than most table saws while still being foldable and compact when not in use, and it’s great because you can rip a board up to 27″ wide (which is much wider than most little table saws can do).

I get that table saws seem scary and you do need to be very careful with them (this one comes with a push stick so you don’t get your hands close to the blade when you push the wood through), but they make so many projects possible that would be impossible or way slower without it, so it’s totally worth it in my book.

Door Lock Installation Kit: If you’ve ever had to drill a doorknob or latch hole into a door, then you know what a be a big pain that can be. It’s especially tough when you need to drill one juuust a little bigger than the one that’s there if the doors are older and the holes aren’t current standard size (that’s the problem we had in our house).

If there’s already a hole there using a hole saw without some sort of guide is almost impossible so this jig clamps to your door so you have a guide for the exact spot you need the correct size hole—so helpful!!

Before I knew this existed, we did two different doors with a complication series of clamps and wood pieces to hack it into working, but I definitely wish I had known about this before all of that!

There you go!! The best home improvement tools I wish I’d had in our toolkit a long time ago that would have made lots of jobs so much easier up until this point (by the way, I love having a ladder like this with the tray on top to hold things while you work).

If you are also in the midst of a renovation right now, hang in there, and if you’re just noting this for future reference, you can do it and I hope some of these tools will be helpful for you too! xo. Laura

Renovating a home? Check out these for more tips!
–What Low Budget Renovations Make the Biggest Impact?
–Episode #82: How to Plan, Budget For, and Execute a Renovation Without Losing Your Mind
–Our Best Room Renovations
–Episode #106: (MINI) How We Survive Major Renovations

I knew I wanted some kind of breakfast nook since we had a corner of our kitchen that didn’t make sense as cabinets or extra countertop area.

When the idea of a banquette came to me, I knew I wanted to do it in the same vibe as the lovely (and very Pinterest-worthy) Sketch restaurant in London. Pink velvet was a must, and I thought I’d throw in some channel tufting to make it feel a little more special.

Thankfully, I was familiar with Mandi’s Channel Tufted Storage Banquette from a few years back, and I thought that would be a great start to the project.

Having the booth sit in an L-shaped corner with exposed ends (rather than cover a straight wall section end-to-end like Mandi had) posed its own challenges.

But after enough trial and error—and I was able to get it all figured out—you can take or leave whichever steps you need based on the shape and area you are adding a banquette to.

Supplies:
-velvet upholstery fabric (I used between 6-7 yards of this fabric in Bowie pink)
–batting to go between your velvet and foam
-6″ pine boards for backing of each half round bolster
–half round bolsters (I used 6″ wide bolsters and you can email them to ask them to cut them in half for you)
–metal strap ties (I used 8 with 4 on each section)
–upholstery foam (comes in different thicknesses but I used the 3″)
-plywood for base of seat
-sewing machine (optional depending on shape of cushions you need)
–jig saw or circular saw for cutting straight cuts on a plywood seat base or 3/4″ boards
–miter saw if you have a corner banquette to cut your 3/4″ boards at a 45° angle
-staple gun (electric recommended)
–construction adhesive (optional)
-L-shaped corner braces (I used several of these 1 1/2″ brace packs)
-3″ or 4″ trim boards to trim out your banquette (optional)

Make the Seat Base: First, I needed to get a large plywood board and cut it down to the shape of my L-shaped seat area. We had the base cabinets installed when we got the rest of our kitchen cabinets put in, so I just built on top of those (Mandi’s banquette post shows you how to build a bottom if you want to build your own).

I wanted the seat to hang over from the front and side edges of the seat about 1″, so I made sure that overhang was there as well. Then, I cut out the shape with a jig saw.

You can also use a large piece of cardboard to make a cardboard template first (like I did to trace onto the wood) if you want to, but be sure it fits before cutting the wood. Highly recommend!

Once the wood was cut, I put two pieces of seat foam next to each other to make an L shape and marked where they should be trimmed with a marker to fit the shape of the seat.

For cutting foam, either an electric bread knife or a standard bread knife are the best for slicing through the green upholstery foam.

Cover the Seat: Once the seat was shaped, it was time to cover it in velvet. If you have a straight bench with no corner to turn, you can basically flip your seat upside down and place it foam side first onto the underside of your velvet fabric with some batting in between the velvet and foam layers.

Your fabric will be face down on the floor with batting on top, and then the upside down seat will be on top of that.

For a no-sew option, you can simply pull and wrap the fabric up and over the sides of the seat and staple in place on the plywood every few inches to keep it in place. Then, wrap the corners like a present. You can see how Kara did that in this DIY Color Blocked Velvet Bench tutorial.

You can see that my L-shaped cushion has a seam where the two sides meet in the middle at a 45° angle, so I had to pin and sew my fabric together along that line first and then wrap and staple it to the underboard.

That meeting point where it waterfalls down the front of cushion can be a tricky point, but you can either fold and staple the excess under to get it as smooth as you can, or you can try and pin the excess on the back side.

Then, sew a seam down the front like I did so you can cut away bulk excess so it looks a little smoother. It’s not perfect for sure (I wish I was a master seamstress in times like this!), but it works well enough to get the job done.

I wanted the exposed corner to look more finished on mine, so I did the wrap-and-staple method I mention above on all the hidden corners. I pinned and sewed a box corner on the one exposed corner to give it a more polished look before folding the extra fabric under to staple.

*Note: Remember, if you use velvet, pay attention to which direction the grain is going when attaching it so it’s all flowing the same direction when attached!

Cut the Wood/Foam Sections: Once the bench bottom was complete, it was time to move onto the channel tufted section! I took my 3/4″ thick boards that were the same size as my half round bolsters and cut them to the lengths of my left and right top sections (3 for each side).

Since I have a corner to deal with, I also mitered the boards at a 45° angle on the edges where they would meet in the middle.

Then, I laid the half round bolsters on top of the boards (you can use some tape to get them to stay on the board temporarily) and cut them down to fit the boards. I cut the straight outside edge first (or just lined it up with an existing end of a bolster).

Then, for the mitered 45° angle side in the middle, I would cut it straight, hold it up where it was going on the wall, and then use the knife to eyeball a 45° angle cut like you see above.

Wrap the Sections: Once the foam was cut for the channel tufted pieces, I put strips of velvet I had pre-cut on the floor.

The strips were long and wide enough to to cover the front and could be wrapped around the back to staple face down. Then, I added a layer of batting, and my board with the foam (foam side down).

For the mitered edges that meet in the middle corner, I folded the fabric several times and stapled it underneath.

I also did the same for outside edges that wouldn’t be seen (the right side of the banquette runs into our cabinets), but you can do this wrapping method for any seen edges as well if you don’t mind the look.

For my edges that were visible, I decided to sew those instead of fold and staple like above for a cleaner look. I made a half circle piece a little bigger than my foam bolster semi-circle and pinned and sewed that onto the edge of my fabric (right sides together when pinning and sewing).

I left extra fabric under the semi-circle when cutting the template so I had extra fabric to fold over and staple.

Once it was sewn and flipped right side out, it looked like it does above and I could fit that over the end of the foam. Then, I folded/stapled the extra fabric underneath for a cleaner end look.

You can do either method depending on your sewing skills, but if your ends are hidden, I would definitely do the faster folding/stapling method rather than sewing.

Attach the Back Sections Together: Once my three sections were covered in velvet, I used my metal strap ties to attach the sections together for each grouping of three.

I let the strap tie hang over at the bottom so I could screw that part into the wall to hold the bottom section in place.

Prepare the Wall: Then I used painter’s tape to mark about where I wanted the top of the banquette section to hit (I was trying to make it even with the marble windowsill ledge on the right side of the banquette).

I put some L-shaped brackets there to hold the top of the banquette in place and give me something to attach my final wood trim to.

Attach Back Sections to Wall: It would be easiest to screw in the back sections first and then slide in your seat cushion, but I had to put my seat back in before the back right section. My kitchen counter was in the way of angling it back in properly after the back was on.

Add Wood Trim (optional): You can see that my back section is in and the top L-brackets are holding the top in place, but the walls in our older home are not exactly straight, so there was a gap where the wall curves inward quite a bit in that area.

Besides rebuilding the whole wall properly, my best option was to hide that gap with some wood trim that goes up the side of the banquette and follows the curve of the wall (and painted the same color as the wall) to help hide the issue.

I put a 4″ board on top of my banquette and used a compass that was fixed to the dimensions of the widest part of the gap to trace along the wall. Then, I scribed a line onto the wood of where I should cut it with my jig saw for a perfect fit.

This is a great video that shows you exactly how to do it with just a pencil or small block of wood.

Once I had the top board scribed, I could use my miter saw to cut the other pieces to fit the other gaps I wanted to cover, glued them together with wood glue, painted it white, and then installed it on top of the banquette brackets.

You could screw/nail it into the wood backing of the banquette sections or even glue it onto the metal brackets as well.

Note: If you don’t need to cover any wall gaps like I did, you can simply use construction adhesive to attach these panels to a wall or refer to Mandi’s banquette post if you are going from one side of the wall all the way to the other for best practices there.

I will say that this was a marathon of a project for me and a lot of problem-solving with our particular space and the corner component, windowsill on one side, countertop edges in the way, and uneven walls.

The whole thing was dragged out for almost a year in between other projects in the area/kitchen, but I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have it done and it came out so beautiful that it really was worth all the work that went into it.

Just this morning my daughter was sitting on the banquette and coloring in her pjs, and it just gave a little shot of joy to my morning to see her there (and I love it with that star rug right in front of it.

Hope this inspires you to make your own banquette or to go for a DIY project that will brighten up your home! xo. Laura

Love a good kitchen makeover? Check out these posts …
–How I Refreshed My Kitchen Cabinets In One Afternoon
–Holiday House Kitchen Before & After
–Laura’s Kitchen Tour (Part 2!)
–Elsie’s Kitchen Tour (Before & After)

It seems, however, that she’s hit a sweet spot of really enjoying all the coloring and painting time we can throw at her at preschool or at home, and she’s starting taping up her projects all over the house as soon as she completes her creations.

Related: For more kids activities and printables check out Childhood Magic!

She’s also very insistent on her artwork being in our main living areas in the house, so I thought I would elevate the current “scotch tape” method by making her some frames that she can easily display her own artwork in (and switch them out herself with new ones) as she wants to.

Since these are open front frames, this kid’s art frame DIY accommodates more 3D artwork (think cotton ball clouds and whatnot) without smashing their masterpiece.

Supplies:
-small saw (this compact hand saw is great!)
–1/2″ square wooden dowels (x4)
–small metal hinges (x2)
–8 x 11.5″ picture frame
–superglue and wood glue
–foamcore board
–X-Acto knife, ruler, and cutting mat
-2 flushmount canvas hangers (these will sit flattest on the wall but these are a good second choice)
-2 magnets (I recommend these as they are stronger than the stick-on ones I tried first)
-wax paper
-hot glue gun
-paint the color of your frame (optional)

First, you’ll want to remove the back from your frame. Place it back-side-up on a piece of wax paper and cut your square dowels to fit to make a frame all the way around your backing (this small handsaw cut mine really easily and really quickly!).

Use some wood glue to attach the dowels to each other and line the inside edge of the dowel with glue where the frame backing will sit against it (so you are also glueing the backing to the inside of the frame at the same time.)

Having wax paper under it will protect your table from any wood glue seepage and the glue won’t stick to the wax paper when dry so you can peel it up easily.

Once your glue has totally set, flip the frame over and use your small hinges to attach the framed backing to the front frame piece. You can screw the hinges in if you want, but the ones I bought didn’t have recessed holes for the screws.

The screwheads stuck out more than I would like and it wouldn’t close completely flat, but if you have hinges with recessed holes that won’t be an issue.

Hinges can be annoying to figure out exactly where they should go, so glueing them with super glue is actually a lot easier than screwing them in!

I just opened the hinge flat and glued two hinge plates at the edge of my backing frame (with the actual moving hinge part hanging over the edge) and then once that was dry enough, I folded the other side of the hinge down with a folded piece of wax paper in the middle to keep the hinge from being glued shut.

Then, I put some more super glue on top of the hinge plate and then centered and placed the top frame on top and allowed it to fully dry.

You really want to let the glue fully dry before trying to open it and take out the wax paper fold (give it a day) otherwise the hinges may pop off. Trust me!

Once the hinges are on, cut out two pieces of foam core slightly smaller than the size of art your frame holds and glue them onto the backing stacked on top of each other.

If you don’t have this foamcore backing, your art piece will kind of float around in the space but the backing helps to push it up to the front of the frame so it looks much better.

If you want your frame to look more like one unit, you can also paint the wooden dowels you added the color of your frame so the blend together more.

Glue your magnets to the frame and backing in the two corners opposite your hinges so that the frame will stay closed when hanging, and screw in your canvas hangers on the back with a screwdriver and your artwork display is ready to hang!

Don’t want to add holes to your wall and want to hang these in seconds? Use these instead of the hangers!

Lola was so excited to see this kid’s art frame, and when I showed her how it worked, she immediately gathered three of her favorite drawings she had done that week to switch them out.

I hung them at a height she can reach on her own (or on our little step stool we keep around for hand washing) so if you want your kiddos to be able to do it themselves, make sure you hang them where they are within reach for them!

Q: Can you hang these vertically and horizontally?

A: Yes! I hung them all horizontally, but to make a vertical one, just add the hinges to the longer side instead of the shorter side and move the canvas hangers from the long side to the short side. Easy!

Q: Can I make these in another size?

A: Yes! You can choose whatever size frame you want (9″ x 12″ is another popular paper size so this frame would be good for that).

We do a lot of coloring on copy paper since I print out free coloring pages online or the backs of old printed documents, so 8.5″ x 11″ seemed like a good size for us.

Lots of kids art paper comes in a size similar to that, so I figured I could trim those down to fit easily with scissors.

Hope this is a fun way to get those precious pieces of art up on your wall for all to see! This is also a great option if you don’t want to make your own and want one ready made.

Check out all our other Kiddo DIYs in our archives for more fun ideas! xo. Laura

Love making art with the kids in your life? Check out…

• How to Turn Your Child’s Drawing Into a Graphic Art Poster
• Waterproof Table Cover DIY (For Arts + Craft Time!)
• Episode #108: Raising Creative Kiddos with Elizabeth Chapman
• Crayon Wallet DIY For Kids (Great For Travel!)
• DIY Family Board Book For Kids

Print

KID’S ART FRAME DIY

Art frame to easily display and switch out kids art

Prep Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Glue Dry Time 1 day day

Total Time 1 day day 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 1 frame

Author Laura Gummerman

Cost $15

Equipment

• small saw or compact hand saw
• hot glue gun
• X-Acto knife, ruler, and cutting mat

Ingredients

• 4 ½″ square wooden dowel
• 4 small metal hinges
• 8 x 11.5″ picture frame
• superglue and woodglue
• foamcore board
• 2 flushmount canvas hangers
• 2 magnets
• wax paper
• paint the color of your frame (optional)

Instructions

• First you’ll want to remove the back from your frame. Place it back-side-up on a piece of wax paper and cut your square dowels to fit to make a frame all the way around your backing (this small handsaw cut mine really easily and really quickly!).
• Use some wood glue to attach the dowels to each other and line the inside edge of the dowel with glue where the frame backing will sit against it so you are also glueing the backing to the inside of the frame at the same time. Having wax paper under it will protect your table from any wood glue seepage and the glue won’t stick to the wax paper when dry so you can peel it up easily.
• Once your glue has totally set, flip the frame over and use your small hinges to attach the framed backing to the front frame piece. You can screw the hinges in if you want, but the ones I bought didn’t have recessed holes for the screws so the screwheads stuck out more than I would like and it wouldn’t close completely flat, but if you have hinges with recessed holes that won’t be an issue.
• Hinges can be annoying to figure out exactly where they should go, so glueing them with super glue is actually a lot easier than screwing them in! I just opened the hinge flat and glued two hinge plates at the edge of my backing frame (with the actual moving hinge part hanging over the edge) and then once that was dry enough, I folded the other side of the hinge down with a folded piece of wax paper in the middle to keep the hinge from being glued shut, put some more super glue on top of the hinge plate and then centered and placed the top frame on top and allowed it to fully dry.

  You really want to let the glue fully dry before trying to open it and take out the wax paper fold (give it a day) otherwise the hinges may pop off. Trust me!
• Once the hinges are on, cut out two pieces of foam core slightly smaller than the size of art your frame holds and glue them onto the backing stacked on top of each other. If you don’t have this foamcore backing, your art piece will kind of float around in the space but the backing helps to push it up to the front of the frame so it looks much better.

  If you want your frame to look more like one unit, you can also paint the wooden dowels you added the color of your frame so the blend together more.
• Glue your magnets to the frame and backing in the two corners opposite your hinges so that the frame will stay closed when hanging, and screw in your canvas hangers on the back with a screwdriver and your artwork display is ready to hang!

Once you start to research how much new/nicer doors are, it becomes apparent (to the budget-conscious shopper, anyway) that the budget-friendly thing to do is rehab the doors you’ve got and give them a total refresh!

That also saves you from having to hang all new doors, which can also be a frustrating project. As I’ve done it a few times now, I’ll show you my process to refresh hollow core doors and take them from crummy to cute!

Supplies:

–wood filler and putty knife
-sandpaper (medium and fine grit)
-primer that’s also a stain blocker (like this one)
-semi gloss paint in your color choice
-hinges in your metal preference (I used these)
-doorknob set of your preference (I used this one but you can see trendy hardware options for all budgets here!)
–half round molding or molding of your choice

1.) Repair any splintering/cracks:

It’s not uncommon on hollow core doors for the bottom of the door to start to splinter off and leave some uneven surfaces. The best way to repair that is to get some wood filler and a putty knife to fill the splintered areas.

Put a layer of wood filler that’s a little higher than the surface of the door so you can sand it down to a level surface once the wood filler has dried.

2.) Paint the door:

The color and tone of the wood on a hollow core door is always a dead giveaway that it’s a cheap door, so painting it helps to hide those splintered areas you just repaired, and makes it look like it could be a solid slab door.

I like to sand down the door with a medium sandpaper to rough up the surface. Don’t skimp on the sanding—the paint won’t stick to the door as well if you don’t really rough up the glossy surface enough.

Then, do a coat or two of a stain-blocking primer to keep the wood stains from bleeding through.

If you’re painting the doors a dark color, you can probably get away with a paint/primer in one rather than separate coats. Then, use a semi-gloss paint in the color of your choice (I usually do white) to refresh your door with a low nap roller for smooth surfaces.

3.) Replace the hinges:

A lot of the time, an older hollow core door will also have older hinges that could use a swap for something nicer and newer. Our doors had really clunky heavy hinges that are meant for outdoor doors (very heavy duty) and they were also rusty and splattered with several colors of previous trim paint colors.

Getting a pack of sleek modern hinges can go a long way in modernizing a door and making the whole thing feel refreshed (you’ll want these if your hinge cutouts are rounded).

4.) Switch the door hardware:

Now, this is the final step in making your door makeover a real success! Getting some sleek modern door hardware will be a giant leap forward for your hollow core door project.

I wanted to spend a little more on the hardware to really make the end result feel more luxe (and since we saved so much on rehabbing the doors that was possible), so I bought this one. It has a 5-year finish warranty for the finish color I wanted (a nice thing to have for brass hardware).

If you are wanting to save all around, they have more budget-friendly options that are similar like these and these that would be beautiful, too!

5.) Add some custom trim (optional but amazing!!)

Now that you have a repaired door with a fresh coat of paint and new hardware, you can call it a day and admire your new door, OR, you can go one step further and make the door pretty special with some custom trim additions.

I’ve made quite a few basic doors feel much more special with either wooden trim or wooden cutout designs, but in this house I added an arched half-round trim design to the back and all the main interior doors with flexible moulding, and I just LOVE how it made the doors feel so much more luxe and custom.

Want to see more door DIY ideas? Check out …

• Star Trim Closet Door DIY
• Pyramid Trim Closet Door DIY
• Circle French Door DIY
• Add Geometric Panels to Your Doors DIY
• Modernizing Bi-Fold Closet Doors

Looking for new hardware? Check out our trendy hardware favorites for every budget!

As a side note, especially if you have older doors, you may need to drill a hole bigger to fit current standard door hardware sizes and a jig like this one is extremely helpful for that!

The doors that were add-ons later in the life of the house were updated to the standard hole sizes, but all the doors in the main hallway of our ’60s house had smaller latch holes than we needed, so that jig came in handy to update those holes so the hardware would fit properly.

There you go! You can see that we also updated the door casing around the doors since we had the baseboards and flooring replaced, and that also helps make the whole doorway look more updated.

Hope this helped show you that hollow core doors don’t have to be removed to refresh your home into a more modern and updated space! xo. Laura

Print

How To Refresh Hollow Core Doors

Best ways to makeover hollow core doors

Cook Time 1 day day

Paint Dry Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 1 day day 2 hours hours

Author Laura Gummerman

Cost varies

Ingredients

• sandpaper medium and fine grit
• wood filler and putty knife
• primer that’s also a stain blocker
• semi gloss paint in your color choice
• hinges in your metal preference
• doorknob set of your preference
• half round molding  or molding of your choice

Instructions

• Repair splinters and cracks: It’s not uncommon on hollow core doors for the bottom of the door to start to splinter off and leave some uneven surfaces. The best way to repair that is to get some wood filler and a putty knife to fill the splintered areas. Put a layer of wood filler that’s a little higher than the surface of the door so you can sand it down to a level surface once the wood filler has dried.
• Paint the door: The color and tone of the wood on hollow core door is always a dead giveaway that it’s a cheap door, so painting it helps to hide those splintered areas you just repaired and makes it look like it could be a solid slab door. I like to sand down the door lightly with a medium sandpaper to rough up the surface and then do a coat or two of a stain-blocking primer to keep the wood stains from bleeding through (if painting the doors a dark color, you can probably get away with a paint/primer in one rather than separate coats). Then use a semi-gloss paint in the color of your choice (I usually do white) to refresh your door with a low nap roller for smooth surfaces.
• Replace the hinges: A lot of the time, an older hollow core door will also have older hinges that could use a swap for something nicer and newer. Our doors had really clunky heavy hinges that are meant for outdoor doors (very heavy duty) and they were also rusty and splattered with several colors of previous trim paint colors. Getting a pack of sleek modern hinges can go a long way in modernizing a door and making the whole thing feel refreshed (you’ll want these if your hinge cutouts are rounded).
• Switch the door hardware: Now this is the final step in making your door makeover a real success! Getting some sleek modern door hardware will be a giant leap forward for your hollow core door project. I wanted to spend a little more on the hardware to really make the end result feel more luxe (and since we saved so much on rehabbing the doors that was possible), so I bought this one that has a 5-year finish warranty for the finish color I wanted (a nice thing to have for brass hardware) and here’s a pretty budget-friendly option too. If you are wanting to save all around, they have more budget-friendly options that are similar like these and these that would be beautiful too!
• Add some custom trim: Now that you have a repaired door with a fresh coat of paint and new hardware, you can call it a day and admire your new door, OR, you can go one step further and make the door pretty special with some custom trim additions. I’ve made quite a few basic doors feel much more special with either wooden trim or wooden cutout designs, but in this house I added an arched half-round trim design to the back and all the main interior doors with flexible moulding and I just LOVE how it made the doors feel so much more luxe and custom.

I both like and dislike the feeling of familiarity this room gives me. I sometimes wonder if it’s the kind of job I do that makes me feel this way.

As my workplace is mainly in the online sphere, I’m often bombarded with images of other people changing and redecorating their homes, new products being launched, old trends being recycled or thrown out, etc.

I notice that if I don’t set a limit on my time online, that massive consumption of content can lead to me feeling less inspired to create (and more unsatisfied with things that might have brought me joy before). I talk a little bit about that here.

And the urge to buy another new thing is stronger than ever, setting off an entire room makeover that probably didn’t need to happen. Am I making sense?

I know I’m digressing a little, but I promise you there is a point to this rambling self-reflection. What I’m trying to say is that with all the time I’ve spent at home this year (as result of Ms. Rona), I’ve found myself becoming increasingly bored with my entrance—in particular the cabinet (pictured below).

As a result of consuming other people’s content online, I had spotted a few gorgeous alternative cabinets and immediately thought that I should just buy a new one.

Thankfully, my sensible voice took over. “Medina, the cabinet you already have is fine. It’s functional, sturdy, looks pretty and truthfully, you don’t have the cash. Why not update it in some way instead if you’re craving that feeling of newness?”

See what I mean? Sensible. I’ll admit, being in my own company quite a lot this year due to England’s many lockdowns has really ramped up these these inner conversations that I have with myself. So, I listened and decided to hack my IVAR cabinet instead (using materials I already had in my home) in a really simple way.

And I documented it just in case you might want to try something similar.

How to Add Cane Webbing to an IKEA IVAR Cabinet

MATERIALS NEEDED FOR THIS IKEA IVAR HACK:

• IVAR cabinet door
• pencil
• angle ruler/level
• cane webbing
• sandpaper or sanding machine
• jigsaw
• staple gun
• drill driver with 20″ speed drill spade
  

HOW TO:

Here’s a short video of this IVAR Cabinet hack and the DIY steps:

1. The first thing I did was remove the door from the IVAR cabinet. This is easy enough to do with the drill driver or even with a manual screwdriver. 

2. I then laid the door flat on the ground. The doors come with wooden battens fixed across the back that you don’t need. Remove them as well if you feel they will get in your way. 

3. Find the center of the door and use that to mark out a diamond shape. You can use a level to ensure your angles are straight or you can use an angle ruler. I’ll admit, my diamond wasn’t very perfect (I rushed it a little but don’t be like me, absolutely take your time with this part).

4. Next, it’s time to cut out the diamond shape with a jigsaw. To do this, you will need to make some holes for the blade of the jigsaw to fit in for cutting. Secure the door to a raised surface with clamps before you start drilling and cutting.

5. Using a drill driver with a 20″ spade attachment, drill a hole at each corner of the diamond, making sure the holes are located inside the lines of the diamond shape.

6. Next, place the jigsaw blade through a corner hole and begin cutting along the pencil line until you reach the next corner. Take your time to ensure you get a clean cut.

7. Once you’ve cut along all the lines, the diamond shape will come apart. Sand the inner edges of the shape to smooth them out.

8. Next, cut your cane panel to size. It should fit the dimension of the diamond (I went for a rectangle panel). Note: If your cane webbing is hard to work with, you can soak it in water for 15 minutes to make it more pliable.

9. Staple the cane all the way around the diamond at the back of the door, pulling to ensure the cane webbing is taut.

10. Secure the door in place! Voila. If you have two doors, repeat this step again but make sure your diamond shape matches the measurements of the other door.

Optional: You can also add some wooden beading or trim to the edges of the cane for a neater look. As far as the design, you could cut out a rectangle space or an arch.

It feels and looks like a different cabinet.

What do you think? Do you think you might try this? Let me know in the comments below. You can also check out my blog and Instagram, and the ABM archives for more easy rental decorating ideas! xo, Medina

P.S. You can see Medina’s home tour here!

Credits // Author: Medina Grillo. Photography: Grillo Designs.

Supplies:
–2 1/4″ trim boards (these also come in 3″ wide if you want a wider board)
–painters tape
-nail gun (I love this one but you can also rent them)
–miter saw (you can also rent those)
–wood filler and sandpaper (I like these sanding sponges as they are flexible)
-caulk and caulking gun (this is my favorite, dries fast so you can paint quickly!)
-satin paint in color of your choice (I love these brushes for painting angles and trim)

First, you’ll want to figure out your grid pattern! I used some painters tape to get an idea of where I wanted the lines to be and that’s really the easiest way to see what size grid you would like. I thought about doing just vertical boards for a more striped look, but it made the hallway feel more narrow when I taped out that option, so I decided a grid would be a better way to go. You’ll see I made the boxes even bigger than what I taped in the photo. I realized that a bigger grid would help it feel more open, so I’m glad I made that last-minute change.

When spacing out your grid, take into account the width of your boards so you are accurately spacing where each board should go. You can switch it up if you want, but generally board and batten has trim board at the top, bottom, and all the way left and right of the wall, so you are kind of dividing that space that’s left between those boards for your grid area. For example, when figuring out the vertical board placement, if your wall/area is 100″ wide, and your boards are 3″ wide each, then you need to account for one board all the way at the left side and one all the way at the right so you have 96″ of space to divide out (100″- 3″- 3″ = 96″). Then, if you decide you want 3 columns in the width of your grid, you would need to have 2 vertical boards to create that 3-column area, so you would subtract another 6″ from your remaining 96″ of free space for the width of those two boards and it would leave you with 90″ that you need to divide between your 3 columns. So, you would know that each column would need to be 30″ wide to be evenly spaced out! Just repeat that for the horizontal boards as well, subtracting the top and bottom board from the height total, deciding how many columns you want, subtracting how many boards you need for that, and dividing the open space by number of columns, and you’ll know exactly where you put your boards.

I will say that the grid system makes it easy to fudge things a bit if moving a board a little here and there is better for your overall design. I moved a few boards when I realized that they were really close to meeting up at a spot on the stairs or wall that looked better overall, and you really can’t tell if one area is slightly bigger/smaller than another, so I say go for it if you want to move things a little as you go.

You can see that we have a bit of a special problem here in our stairwell … originally the wall goes from cinder block on the bottom to plaster on the top with some floor joists in between and we wanted to drywall over the cinder block to make it all smooth. We had our contractor put in some drywall over the cinder block and joists so we’d have a good starting point, but I still had the problem of the new drywall sticking out 3/4″ further than the upper plaster wall. Because of that, rather than just placing a 1/4″ thick top board on the wall as the top railing like you normally would with a regular smooth wall, I had to get a 1″ thick board and rabbet cut a 3/4″ wide notch on my table saw (a new trick for me to learn which was kind of cool!) so that the top board would sit like a puzzle piece flush against the top plaster wall and the drywall below it, making a smooth transition from one surface to another (I cut the corners at a 45° angle so they fit together when they met there). It worked really well, but I bet most of you won’t have that problem, so you can just use your 1/4″ board all along the top like all the other boards.

Once the top board was in, I set about cutting my 1/4″ boards to line the bottom of my stairwell area. You can see that it’s a lot of angle finding on the bottom of the stair area, so what I would do is hold boards in place basically drawing with a pencil where it looked like the angles should be, and then I would take the board to my miter saw and move the blade angle until it matched the line of my pencil drawing (you can line it up with the side of the opening for an easy way to tell if you have the right angle).

It can be a lot of cutting and checking, cutting a little more and rechecking, but when it’s all done it will be totally worth it! Just remember, you always want to cut things a little too long if you are unsure since you can cut off a little more if you need to. But it’s a pain to cut a totally new board or join it to a tiny section if you cut it too short, so keep that in mind. You’ll be filling all the joints where they come together with wood filler later, so if the angle is a little off where they join up but can be filled to look smooth, then just let the wood filler do its job if you don’t want to recut the board.

Use a nail gun (I’m in love with our battery powered one, but you can also rent them!) to attach the boards to the wall as you get them cut to the right angle and length, and I would give the cut edges a little sanding before attaching to sand off the little fuzzy edges from the saw.

Pay attention to how the bottom boards turn down a corner and have that little “shelf” area on the one board as it turns to go down or turns to go straight again. That keeps it the width of the board the same the whole way down, so make sure you are adding that little cut into your boards when you go down an angle.

Once you get all your bottom boards in (yay!) you can start on the vertical boards! Measure, cut, and attach with your nail gun all your vertical boards, finding any angles the way we did with the bottom boards (i.e., hold it up to the angle, guess the angle with a pencil line, cut and see if the angle fits, recut a little more if needed). You can also use a scrap board to find the angles if you don’t want to cut your “real” board, and just make note of which angle was the winner for your real cut. I found that a lot of 40° and 43° angles were needed for mine, but your staircase may be a different slope, etc.

Corners are generally two vertical boards coming together to meet in the corner, and if your corners aren’t a perfect 45° you may need to attach one board as close to the corner as you can (level it to make sure it’s straight) and then scribe the side that will fit in the corner of the second vertical board with a jigsaw to fit perfectly against that first board (here’s a good video that shows how to find and trace a wonky wall line for a good fit). That was how I did the two boards in the back right hand corner … I put the right side board on first, making sure it was straight and as close to the corner as possible, and then I scribed the right inside edge of the board on the left to fit against the other board perfectly.

Once the vertical boards are in, it’s time for the horizontal ones! These go the fastest as you have some angles to find, but a lot of them are between columns so they are just straight cuts and a lot faster (you can just measure the space between the vertical boards and cut to fit).

You did it! That’s really the hardest part and the rest is finish work. Fill the nail holes and gaps where board joints meet together with wood filler to smooth out all the joints. A little tip for less sanding is to let the filler set a bit and then gently go over it with a damp cloth—it will smooth out the filler and wipe away excess so you have less sanding to do later.

Once the filler is dry, sand it down smooth. Then, caulk all around the squares between the boards and the drywall to make it look integrated and not separate from the wall. Just cut the tip at an angle with a small opening, use a thin bead of it, and smooth it out with a damp finger or cloth. It’s a bit time consuming to do, but it makes a HUGE difference.

Once your filling and caulking is complete, it’s time to paint! I love this brush for painting angled trim like this and then a small roller for painting the insides of the squares and the flat faces of the trim for a smooth look. It’s up to you what paint to use, but I would suggest a satin finish as it’s more of a wall than trim and generally you use satin on a wall and semi-gloss on trim (eggshell could work but the whole thing in semi-gloss could look too shiny).

How amazing is that?! Let me tell you, this took me almost a full week of work since I was doing it pretty much all by myself. So it was quite a project, but was totally worth it in the end and all the wood was under $200. And once we put our railing back on, we were fully back in business! I love how polished the stairs look now—it really elevated them quite a bit and it kind of feels like a treat to walk through that area of the house (and I really like the hanging globe light we put above it all). Like I said, these general principles will work on straight areas as well if you are wanting to do a regular wall that’s not angled, but it was kind of nice to learn how to do it on stairs, so doing it on a regular wall will feel like a piece of cake in the future! What do you think, did the board and batten make this staircase so much better?? xo. Laura

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How To Do Board And Batten On A Staircase

A step-by step tutorial to add board and batten to a staircase

Author Laura Gummerman

Cost $250

Equipment

• 2 1/4″ trim boards (these also come in 3″ wide if you want a wider board)
• painters tape
• nail gun (I love this one but you can also rent them)
• miter saw (you can also rent those)
• wood filler and sandpaper (I like these sanding sponges as they are flexible)
• caulk and caulking gun
• satin paint in color of your choice

Instructions

• First, you’ll want to figure out your grid pattern! I used some painters tape to get an idea of where I wanted the lines to be and that’s really the easiest way to see what size grid you would like.
• Once the top board was in, I set about cutting my 1/4″ boards to line the bottom of my stairwell area. You can see that it’s a lot of angle finding on the bottom of the stair area, so what I would do is hold boards in place basically drawing with a pencil where it looked like the angles should be, and then I would take the board to my miter saw and move the blade angle until it matched the line of my pencil drawing (you can line it up with the side of the opening for an easy way to tell if you have the right angle).
• Use a nail gun (I’m in love with our battery powered one but you can also rent them!) to attach the boards to the wall as you get them cut to the right angle and length, and I would give the cut edges a little sanding before attaching to sand off the little fuzzy edges from the saw.
• Once you get all your bottom boards in (yay!), you can start on the vertical boards! Measure, cut, and attach with your nail gun all your vertical boards, finding any angles the way we did with the bottom boards (i.e., hold it up to the angle, guess the angle with a pencil line, cut and see if the angle fits, recut a little more if needed).
• Corners are generally two vertical boards coming together to meet in the corner, and if your corners aren’t a perfect 45° you may need to attach one board as close to the corner as you can (level it to make sure it’s straight) and then scribe the side that will fit in the corner of the second vertical board with a jigsaw to fit perfectly against that first board.
• Once the vertical boards are in, it’s time for the horizontal ones! These go the fastest as you have some angles to find, but a lot of them are between columns so they are just straight cuts and a lot faster (you can just measure the space between the vertical boards and cut to fit).
• Fill the nail holes and gaps where board joints meet together with wood filler to smooth out all the joints. A little tip for less sanding is to let the filler set a bit and then gently go over it with a damp cloth—it will smooth out the filler and wipe away excess so you have less sanding to do later.
• Once the filler is dry, sand it down smooth (I like this grit for sanding and this for a final coat to smooth it). Then using this caulk, caulk all around the squares between the boards and the drywall to make it look integrated and not separate from the wall. Just cut the tip at an angle with a small opening, use a thin bead of it, and smooth it out with a damp finger or cloth. It’s a bit time consuming to do, but it makes a HUGE difference.
• Once your filling and caulking is complete, it’s time to paint! I love this brush for painting angled trim like this and then this roller for painting the insides of the squares and the flat faces of the trim for a smooth look. It’s up to you what paint to use, but I would suggest a satin finish as it’s more of a wall than trim and generally you use satin on a wall and semi-gloss on trim (eggshell could work but the whole thing in semi-gloss could look too shiny).

Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman

I was shopping around to buy a play set instead, but as you may already know, it’s almost impossible to find a cute one in a modern/trendy color scheme unless you are really going to pay big bucks for a more specialty set (which I didn’t want to spend with all our other house projects we need to do). So I started thinking that maybe the best thing to do would be to buy an inexpensive set and use it as a starting shell that I could tweak a bit with a few additions to make it feel more custom, but without having to DIY the whole thing. I found this budget-friendly set, left off a few of their pieces, and added some new elements to make it match the vibes and colors of our ’60s mid-century modern slanted roof home. Honestly, it turned out so cute—I’ll show you what I did!

First, we bought the set and put it together with the help of an assembly app from the manufacturer (super helpful compared to the paper directions!). I left off the vinyl plastic chalkboard backboard on the back of the tower, the climbing rocks, and the domed top that comes with the set. You could leave the climbing rocks on if you want, but it’s not that high of a ladder and we have a tall 4-year-old. So there’s not much for her to climb height-wise, and it looked cleaner to just leave them off and use it as a regular ladder.

Once we had the shell of the play set up and running, it was time to customize! I used this primer and spray paint to paint the slide pink with lots of thin coats and dry time according to the directions between coats. I know that painting a slide won’t be a one-time forever fix, and from what I’ve seen, people that do that say you need to touch up the paint seasonally to keep it looking nice. But that’s basically what I do with a lot of my outdoor furniture as well at the beginning of the summer season. So, that’s not a deal breaker for me—totally worth it to have a pink slide! I did find that it was helpful to use a super fine sandpaper once the paint was totally dry to make sure the sliding area was really smooth. I lightly buffed it with a fine grit sanding sponge in circles and that helped take off any texture that had accumulated from the paint coats to make it slidable again. Just make sure to wipe off all the sanding dust before sliding or it will get all over your kiddo! Trust me. And side note: Sliding down the slide with lots of buttons and exposed zippers on the backs of clothing will probably scratch the paint off, but I knew most of her play clothes are leggings and soft shorts, and so far we haven’t had any problems from that.

Once the slide was done, it was time to work on the back window of the tower. I bought three boards that I ripped down to 10″ tall with a table saw, and them cut them to 32″ wide with my miter saw. You can also just buy boards that are as close to 10″ tall as you can find so you only have to cut them to 32″ wide if you don’t have a table saw (you just may have a slightly larger or smaller gap between each board than I do). I traced a 14″ circle between the top two boards and used my jig saw so I could cut out a window for the back side. Then I painted the boards with exterior white paint and could attach them with screws through the back posts of the window area.

Now for the top! If you wanted to, you could use the awning it comes with as a pattern to make a new cover in your own outdoor material for a faster upgrade. But since we have a legit mid-century sloped roof on our house, I thought it would be fun for the playhouse to have one too. I basically made a rectangle frame out of 2″ x 2″ boards that measured 40″ x 27″ with a support board in the middle. For the support posts, I cut two 17″ tall front pieces with a 10° angle on the top side so that the rectangle frame would sit at an angle on top of it and cut the back supports to 14″ tall with a 10° angle at the top.

Get a helper and clamp the legs onto your play set frame in the spots shown above and center and level the rectangle frame on top of the legs, adjusting the legs as needed to make it level. Attach the top to the legs by screwing down into the legs from the top of the rectangle frame and then screw the legs into the wooden play set frame as well before removing the clamps. To keep the awning wood weatherproof, I also gave it a coat of exterior paint in Valspar Hazelnut Coffee to match the rest of the cedar wood on the set (you don’t need a lot of paint so you could even get a tester size rather than a quart). You can also take the awning structure off the play set to paint and reattach it if you’d rather paint on the ground, which is a lot easier. Then, I used these screw in snaps to attach the fabric canopy (instructions on that below) to the top of the structure.

To make the canopy top, I basically folded 3 yards of outdoor fabric (similar here) in half so there were two layers (right sides facing in towards each other) and traced out a 40″ x 37″ rectangle with straight pins. Then, I traced half a paper 5″ circle along the front and back edges (the 40″ wide sides are the front and back) to make a scalloped design and sewed all the way around the rectangle, leaving a 4″ gap open on one of the sides so I could turn it through that hole after sewing. Once it was sewn, I cut a 1/3″ seam allowance all the way around and cut little “V”s into the scalloped edges so they would lay flat when turned (like they do here at the 2:50 minute mark). Then, I turned it right side out and used some fabric glue to glue the 4″ opening shut and added the snaps to the edges and corners so I could snap it to the roof. You could just nail it to the roof, but I thought there may be some occasions where the fabric could use a hose off or a wash and it would be nice to snap it off easily.

Next, it was time to add some planter boxes! While you could totally buy some planter boxes and just screw them on, they are pretty easy to make. So I just took some 7.5″ x .75″ boards for the front and back panels and 3.5″ x .75″ boards for the bottom and sides and make one box that was 26″ long and 5″ deep to mount by the slide, and another that was just long enough to sit between the swing legs. I did try just assembling with my nail gun, but they started to pull apart, so I went back and re-attached all the sides with screws instead (predrill so you don’t split the wood!). Paint with some exterior paint to seal the wood and drill holes in the bottom board every 4″ or so for drainage and you are ready to add your plants!

You don’t have to angle the edges of your ground box like I did, but it does make it fit nice and cozy between the legs … all those angles you see are cut at a 31.5° angle to fit nice and cozy between the swing legs (my miter saw had a little groove and special mark for 31.5° cutting, so check and see if yours does too).

Once the planter boxes were screwed in place and plants were added, we popped on these handles to get to the top of the ladder easier, and my play set was finally done!! Lola has been so happy with this play set (as you can see) and once I got all the additions done to it, she turned to me and said, “This playground is great!!” My mom heart was so warmed. Depending on the expense of the fabric you get or how nice the wood is that you buy, you can totally make all these additions for under $200, so it will still keep your play set in a more budget category compared to a lot of the more customized ones I’ve seen …

So, if you’ve been wanting to get a cute custom mid-century-inspired play set but don’t want to do all the work of building it from scratch, consider buying your own set and doing some custom additions! I know I’m so glad that we did xo. Laura

Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman.

Supplies:
-1″ half round flexible molding (I got mine here but you can also get it here)
-1″ straight half round molding
-level
-large circle you can trace (like a bowl or planter) or a large compass (this one is nice too)
–miter saw or miter box for a hand saw
-hammer and nails or nail gun (I love this battery nail gun!)
–wood filler
-latex caulk (this is my favorite and it dries really fast)
-paint color of choice (I love this brush for painting round molding and this primer is helpful for the flexible molding)

You can decide where you want the arches to fall on your doorway, but I wanted the peephole of my door to be framed by the arch. So I took a wooden 14″ wide circle I had and used it to trace a half circle above the peephole. You can use a large compass or a circular object to trace like I did, but just remember you are tracing the inside edge of your arched circle, so the overall width will be 2″ wider than your traced circle (each side will add 1″ of trim).

Once I had my half circle traced, I added some straight lines down the sides and decided where I wanted the “pill” shape to cut in half in the middle (use a level to make sure all your lines are level and straight as you trace). Measure your half arch at the top of your shape and cut a piece of flexible molding to that length. Find the middle of your arch and of your molding strip and nail your strip centered above your arch as you see above. Then, using a friend for help, continue to bend and arch the molding to follow your traced line and nail it in every 2-3″ as you go.

Make sure your nail heads are sinking in past the trim so you can fill those holes later to make them disappear … use a nail setter to drive them in further if you need to (this set is really handy). Repeat with the other side of trim so you have your curved arch ready to go.
Find where the mirror image of your arch should go on the bottom of the door (you can measure how far your top one is from the top of the door and use that same measurement for the bottom placement) and trace your half circle down there as well. Double check with a long ruler and level that your arches are directly beneath each other! I assumed from my measurements that mine were and I had to rip the bottom out and redo it as they were slightly, but noticeably, off.

Now it’s time to add your straight pieces! Measure how long you want your sides to be (mine were 18″ long) and cut your four side pieces that meet the arch with a normal straight across cut (or see next step for a perfected tweak if needed) and the other side at the appropriate facing 45° angle to match up with the final middle horizontal piece at the end. Use a level to ensure they are straight and nail into your door.
You can cut your trim where it meets the arch at a regular 0° angle (so no angle at all), but I found that it’s really hard to get the flexible arch to bend exactly so it fits to that angle (you can see it meets together at a slight angle in the photo above). I cut a few test scrap pieces at different angles until I found that cutting the straight trim at a small 7° angle was just enough to fit perfectly with my flexible molding. If you aren’t using a miter saw where you can change the angle slightly like that, then just cut it at no angle and you can fill any gap between them with wood filler.

And now for the final middle pieces! Measure how wide the two pieces should be and cut both sides with mirroring 45° angles. Use a level to ensure they are straight and nail into place.
And now it’s time to fill your nail holes with wood filler, sand then down when dry and caulk the sides of your seams with calk (optional but will make it all look seamless, so I highly suggest that). Once it’s all sanded and dry, you can paint the trim to match the door (love this rounded brush for painting anything rounded like this). This flexible molding had a bit of a harder time sticking to regular paint, so I would suggest a coat of this first on the trim so it adheres more evenly and requires less coats overall. A few coats of paint and you’re done!

How great is that?! The end result feels so chic and custom, I think I may do it on all the main bedroom doors in the house as well so there’s a theme that ties them all together.

Oh, by the way, my husband asked me at the beginning if I was doing a Dr. Mario logo with my design and I just rolled my eyes as far back as they could go … yes, Todd, I’m doing a Dr. Mario logo in trim on our door. Not. Ha ha.

It goes without saying, but you can adjust the design to be whatever you like for your door! Flexible trim has a limit for how small an arch it can make, but as long as you stay within that, the sky’s the limit for what shape you want to make with rounded and curved lines. Have you ever worked with flexible trim before? xo. Laura

Love this post? Check out how to Refresh Hollow Core Doors and give them a full makeover!

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DIY Arched Door Trim (with Flexible Molding!)

Use flexible molding to add a unique design to a door

Author Laura Gummerman

Ingredients

• 1″ half round flexible molding
• 1″ straight half round molding
• level
• large circle you can trace like a bowl, planter, or a large compass
• miter saw or miter box for a hand saw
• hammer and nails or nail gun
• wood filler
• latex caulk
• paint color of choice

Instructions

• You can decide where you want the arches to fall on your doorway, but I wanted the peephole of my door to be framed by the arch so I took a wooden 14″ wide circle I had and used it to trace a half circle above the peephole.

  You can use a large compass or a circular object to trace like I did, but just remember you are tracing the inside edge of your arched circle, so the overall width will be 2″ wider than your traced circle (each side will add 1″ of trim).
• Once I had my half circle traced, I added some straight lines down the sides and decided where I wanted the “pill” shape to cut in half in the middle (use a level to make sure all your lines are level and straight as you trace).

  Measure your half arch at the top of your shape and cut a piece of flexible molding to that length. Find the middle of your arch and of your molding strip and nail your strip centered above your arch as you see above. Then, using a friend for help, continue to bend and arch the molding to follow your traced line and nail it in every 2-3″ as you go.
• Make sure your nail heads are sinking in past the trim so you can fill those holes later to make them disappear… use a nail setter to drive them in further if you need to (this set is really handy). Repeat with the other side of trim so you have your curved arch ready to go.
• Find where the mirror image of your arch should go on the bottom of the door (you can measure how far your top one is from the top of the door and use that same measurement for the bottom placement) and trace your half circle down there as well.

  Double check with a long ruler and level that your arches are directly beneath each other! I assumed from my measurements that mine were and I had to rip the bottom out and redo it as they were slightly, but noticeably, off.
• Now it’s time to add your straight pieces! Measure how long you want your sides to be (mine were 18″ long) and cut your four side pieces that meet the arch with a normal straight across cut (or see next step for a perfected tweak if needed) and the other side at the appropriate facing 45° angle to match up with the final middle horizontal piece at the end.

  Use a level to ensure they are straight and nail into your door.
• You can cut your trim where it meets the arch at a regular 0° angle (so no angle at all), but I found that it’s really hard to get the flexible arch to bend exactly so it fits to that angle (you can see it meets together at a slight angle in the photo above).

  I cut a few test scrap pieces at different angles until I found that cutting the straight trim at a small 7° angle was just enough to fit perfectly with my flexible molding. If you aren’t using a miter saw where you can change the angle slightly like that, then just cut it at no angle and you can fill any gap between them with wood filler.
• And now for the final middle pieces! Measure how wide the two pieces should be and cut both sides with mirroring 45° angles. Use a level to ensure they are straight and nail into place.
• And now it’s time to fill your nail holes with wood filler, sand then down when dry and calk the sides of your seams with caulk (optional but will make it all look seamless so I highly suggest that).

  Once it’s all sanded and dry you can paint the trim to match the door (love this rounded brush for painting anything rounded like this). This flexible molding had a bit of a harder time sticking to regular paint, so I would suggest a coat of this first on the trim so it adheres more evenly and requires less coats overall. A few coats of paint and you’re done!

Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with A Color Story Desktop.