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I organize the Before & After series and cover DIY and design. I joined AT in October 2020 as a production assistant. I have an MA in Journalism from the University of Missouri and a BA in Journalism from Belmont University. Past editorial stops include HGTV Magazine, Nashville Arts Magazine, and local magazines in my hometown, Columbia, Missouri.
I organize the Before & After series and cover DIY and design. I joined AT in October 2020 as a production assistant. I have an MA in Journalism from the University of Missouri and a BA in Journalism from Belmont University. Past editorial stops include HGTV Magazine, Nashville Arts Magazine, and local magazines in my hometown, Columbia, Missouri.
When I pore over home decor images online, the most beautiful spaces, no matter their aesthetic, often have a finishing touch in common: an interesting door with great hardware.
My husband and I have put a lot of time and energy into upgrading our beach town apartment. Everything from the kitchen counter to the bathroom mirrors were low-cost builder grade and lacked personality when we first moved in. At this point, we’re finished with all the big renovations (bathroom, kitchen, patio, and laundry room).
And seeing how nice those spaces are now, the cheap builder doors looked out of place and extra-dated. They were hollow core, plain white doors that were painted and repainted many times over. They were pretty thin and would rattle with the slightest breeze, and the noise really bothered me. Having just finished the kitchen renovation, I had some left over budget (and energy, surprisingly) to tackle replacing the interior doors.
I did a fair bit of research on what style I wanted and how it would fit with the laid back vibe of the beach style we created through the rest of the spaces. I narrowed it down to a shaker style with its simple, yet classic design.
Up next was working the replacement of six doors into the leftover budget. To plan this out, I had to decide what kind of replacing I could do. With interior doors, there are a couple options.
There are pros and cons to both, but I ended up going with a slab replacement for budget reasons and because some of our door frames were really thin and cornered up next to each other. It would have ended up being a lot more work to get everything to fit just right in these types of corners. Buying a slab door was much cheaper than the pre-hung door, and I could comfortably fit the six doors in the budget — plus the unlacquered brass door handles I had my eyes on.
I had to make sure all of my materials were the right size and came in on time. When researching how to replace doors, I landed on a super helpful YouTube video that took me specifically through replacing slab doors. It involved trimming down the door with a circular saw, routing the spaces for the hinges, and drilling the holes for the handles. I already had a circular saw, a router, and a set of drill bits.
Once everything was installed, it was time to paint. Since the new slab doors came primed already, I didn’t have to do that part, and I just chose the color I painted my walls, Valspar’s Swiss Coffee white in eggshell. I used almost exactly 1 gallon at $75. After two coats of paint, everything was done!
All in all, this project took me about one full weekend and cost $2,114. Although it was a bit of a shock to look at the price tag all together, it came out to about $230 per room and boosted the style of every room. Not to mention, they’re much sturdier than the old doors. The unlacquered brass door knobs tie in with the brass I used in the laundry and kitchen renovations as well.
I’m a fairly skilled DIYer (see: my kitchen renovation, laundry renovation, and back patio), and my project took one day for the total install and one day for painting. But this is also a project that you could outsource.
Personally, I plan on holding onto our townhouse and not selling, so it was easy to make the upgrade choice based on my personal preference, but replacing your doors is also something you might consider if you’re selling.
Doors are so noticeable because it’s the first thing a visitor (or buyer) will see walking down a hallway or up to a room. Solid wood doors are something you can also immediately feel when you open them. It is an upgrade that could make a big impact in the sellability of your home. It sounds so simple, but installing new doors gave a new and fresh look to the whole inside.
I organize the Before & After series and cover DIY and design. I joined AT in October 2020 as a production assistant. I have an MA in Journalism from the University of Missouri and a BA in Journalism from Belmont University. Past editorial stops include HGTV Magazine, Nashville Arts Magazine, and local magazines in my hometown, Columbia, Missouri.
Victorian conversion apartments like the one I live in come with many enviable perks, like large windows and high ceilings. But because they started out as larger Victorian houses that have since been chopped up into smaller apartments, these conversion apartments also come with plenty of quirks. Challenges include drafty windows, a lack of bathrooms, and the biggest one of all: at least one oddity in the layout.
In my home, that head-scratcher was the living room, which I can only describe as a large “hallway.” It has my bedroom at one end, the kitchen at the other, and the entryway in the middle, almost like a railroad-style apartment (just not in a completely straight line). It’s also windowless apart from a sliver of glass near the ceiling.
My living room started out in fixer-upper shape, with dated 1970s finishes, so gutting it down to its bare bones was the first step. I followed that with fresh wood floors and a new fireplace. This was the easy part! Choosing where new light switches and outlets should go was trickier, as was arranging the space so that flow of traffic to the surrounding rooms made sense. And then there was the lack of light! Here’s how I made it all work.
I’m an interiors blogger who’s written about lots of homes, including my own, and I knew that fighting my home’s original layout was useless. Instead, I tried to create distinct zones within the living room’s long, open space.
I began by narrowing the opening between the kitchen and living room but opted for no physical separation between the spaces, not even glass doors. With the narrower opening, both the rooms work as two separate spaces but also allow my family to feel like we are together even when we’re in different areas.
To reduce the number of angular doorways, I turned the opening of the entryway into an arch. I made it “disappear” by painting the entryway in a much darker color (Mylands’ Millbank). Now, when you’re in the living room, it’s almost as if there’s nothing there.
Although the style of this home was originally Victorian, my style naturally leans more minimalist. Luckily, the natural light and scale of Victorian-style homes lends itself well to my style, too. Painting the walls crisp white made the space look bright and helped maximize every bit of light.
Adding windows to the living room wasn’t an option. So, lastly, I replaced almost the entire rear wall of the kitchen (which is an extension) with 18-foot-wide glass sliding doors. While costly, it is the single best splurge I made in this transformation. Now, I don’t even notice the lack of windows in the living room.
My favorite thing about the after is how light and bright my windowless living room looks and feels. And I absolutely love that as a family we can be in separate spaces but still feel like we’re together.