When it came time to giving the closet doors in the laundry room a makeover I knew I wanted them to be white and I knew I didn’t want to buy new doors to replace them as they aren’t a major focal point in the room. The only downside is being an eye sore with the brown color however they are still functional. This DIY was super simple once I started so I thought I would share about updating hollow core doors and how easy and budget friendly this DIY can be.
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Supplies Needed for Updating Hollow Core Doors
- White paint
- Paint sprayer (this is the one I have and love)
- Wood glue
- Wood trim
- Bricks, large rocks or heavy weights
When starting out I realized I needed to elevate the look of the door so that it wasn’t just a plain flat door. It needed more detail so I headed to Home Depot and found this simple trim to add to the front of the one door. (Since the doors slide behind one another only one door needed the detail.)
I measured in from the edge of each door and top and bottom so that I knew where the edge of the trim needed to be placed. After measuring the trim to the lengths and widths as needed I used our chop saw to cut the ends at a 45 degree angle.


Since the door itself is hollow I knew I couldn’t use the brad nailer to attach the trim pieces so I glued each piece down carefully making sure to make sure the trim was at the correct measurements and centered on the door. I didn’t have any clamps that would work to keep the trim in place while the glue dried so I used bricks that I had outside.


Once the glue had dried for 12 hours it was time to paint the doors. This is when having a paint sprayer comes in handy. I highly recommend getting a paint sprayer to help with DIY projects, as it makes painting so much easier and without brush strokes.

I used Behr paint on the door which is the same paint I have been using to paint all the trim in the house. It is a high gloss paint that is easily wiped up when dirty.

Once the paint had dried on both sides we re-installed the doors in the laundry room. This transformation of updating hollow core doors really gave the space a finished look. The door would have stood out had it not been painted and now it looks like it has been here all along.
