HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS

We replaced all the interior doors in our house with high quality Woodgrain Doors!

I recently shared my love for the four panel shaker style Woodgrain doors we received as well as the ordering process, our hardware and paint selections and our plan to replace all the doors in our upstairs hallway.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Today I’m going to show you all the steps we took to plane, rout, paint, and fit our new interior doors into our existing jambs in our upstairs hallway.

Here’s a reminder of a couple of the doors our fixer upper came with. They were super flimsy, hollow, mismatched, and just ugly. It was time to change them up for some good quality doors — and Woodgrain Doors are QUALITY!

The Before photos

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog
HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog
HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

In my last post I explained how we were planning on using our existing doors as templates to drill our new doors to ensure that they fit perfectly back into place. I’m happy to report that plan worked so well!

Here’s a reminder of the templating process using our old doors to mark our new doors.

After the door was properly marked for the handle and hinge hardware, we were off on our door replacement journey. Let’s take a look at the steps!

Dry fitting the doors

We did numerous dry fits until the door fit perfectly. Using a book under the door helped hold it in place for testing.

dry fit door installation

Planing the doors down for a perfect fit

We live in an older home, so we knew we’d have to plane the sides of the door down to ensure a perfect fit for each door — they’re all different sizes. Ted took 1/16″ off at a time in between dry fits to ensure the perfect door width.

We really like this Bosch planer if you’re in the market.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

After the edges were planed, he lightly sanded for a smooth finish.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Using his palm router, Ted routed the edges for a smooth edge.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Routing the door hinges

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Ted used the old door to mark where the hinges should go on the new door. He then removed the old door from the top and discarded.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

He locked the hinge template tool tool into place. This tool was extremely helpful, and served as a template for the hinges.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Using his router, he cut to the depth needed for the hinge to sit flush on the side of the door. The router made this project so much easier!

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

After the recessed section was cut away, Ted removed the tool.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

The hinge sat perfectly inside the recessed section flush with the door. Hooray!

Drilling the hardware holes

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Using a drill and a kit made for door hardware drilling Ted drilled through the door. The drilling takes about five minutes for each door since the doors are so thick and solid.

This is another must-have tool for door drilling!

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Next, he drilled the sides to make the hole for the hardware latch mechanism to fit.

We had a little mishap in the templating phase, which is why the other circle is drawn in this photo. We will just prime and paint over that. 🙂

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Priming and painting

Once all the holes were cut and the hinges recesses were cut, it was finally time to prime the sides that we trimmed off and then paint.

He used a can of Kilz primer, which actually matched the pre-primed doors perfectly.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog
HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

The primer dried very quickly and Ted used our Wagner Flexio paint sprayer to paint the doors.

wagner paint sprayer

We love that this sprayer comes with two nozzles and different sized tanks. The smaller nozzle worked great for cutting in the rectangular recessed parts of the door.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Once the cut in spraying was complete, Ted used the larger nozzle to spray the entire door with two coats of our paint (Gallery White by Valspar in semi-gloss finish).

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog
gallery white paint

Hanging the doors

After the paint dried for a couple days, it was time to hang.

We hauled our first door upstairs and screwed in the three brushed brass hinges. Ted used one long screw on each hinge to make them even more sturdy.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Once the hinges were secure Ted installed the gorgeous brushed brass Schlage hardware. I’m so in love with these beauties!

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

We finally had our first door hanging in the hallway! It was an exciting day for us.

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

Sometimes you have to ask for help

Due to our busy full-time work schedules the extra amount of time it took to make each door perfectly fit each door jamb we decided to use some Zaarly credits we had gifted to us to help hire a master carpenter/handyman to come in and help us speed the project along.

Even though Ted knows what he’s doing and is totally capable of doing the whole project himself, we were up against a deadline. We were also so eager to see all the new doors hanging in the hallway much more quickly! 🙂

Our handyman came over for four days while Ted was at work and repeated all the steps shown above on the remaining five doors. He did an amazing job, and was a HUGE time saver. Being able to use our credits made it very affordable. We’re so glad we knew our limits and actually hired the rest of the project out — so worth the time saved!

If you have a newer, less quirky home the project will move along much more quickly. 🙂

We’re so in love with our new Woodgrain interior doors! They make our upstairs hallway look so much more updated and modern.

Here’s the hallway tour!

Interior doors from Woodgrain
Interior doors from Woodgrain
Interior doors from Woodgrain
Interior doors from Woodgrain

Interior doors from Woodgrain
Interior doors from Woodgrain

I highly recommend Woodgrain Doors for your interior doors!

And a before and after side-by-side! I am in awe of the difference.

Interior doors from Woodgrain

Huge shout out to my husband, Ted for all his hard work on this project!

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog

You can visit this post to learn all about the ordering process and all about Woodgrain Doors as a company.

xoxo
Audrey

This post is sponsored in kind by Woodgrain—meaning I am being compensated in product— but all thoughts, opinions and selections are 100% my own. I truly love this company and the quality of their products.

Pin these interior doors for later

Interior doors from Woodgrain

You might also like this part one post

HOW WE INSTALLED OUR NEW WOODGRAIN INTERIOR DOORS, Oh So Lovely Blog