When I started designing our budget friendly kitchen makeover, I was looking for inspirational ideas that would make the room unique and bring texture and character to the space. Creating a DIY custom door for my largest cabinet door was the perfect touch to bring my inspiration to life.
This DIY custom door is my new favorite thing in our kitchen and I am so excited to share with you how to make it.
Materials needed:
- Wooden boards (I used .25” X 3.5” X 48” Poplar wood)
- Wooden boards for the border (I used .25″ X 2.5″ X 48″ Poplar Wood)
- Saw (I used a circular saw)
- ¾” nails
- Hammer
- Wood Glue
- Speed Square
DIY Custom Door Design
We have one cabinet door in our kitchen that is much larger than all the others, so it was easy to come up with the idea of creating it to be a significant accent door in this room. However, you could use this idea for any door in your house to bring a unique accent to a room.
To start this project, I had to come up with a design. I’ve always loved the look of the herringbone design and immediately tried to think of a way that I could incorporate that. Being the over achiever that I am, I couldn’t just do the herringbone design by itself. I decided on a design that would have the herringbone coming through the side at an angle and then have other boards going in a different direction. The more character and unique style I could bring to this door, the better.
I sketched up a few ideas and my husband and I decided which one we liked best. This was the winner.
The next thing that had to be done for this project was decide what kind of wood I wanted.
I took a few things into consideration:
- I’m incorporating natural wood accents in our kitchen, so I wanted a wood that was pretty enough by itself without having to stain or paint it.
- I used the original cabinet door and built my design on top of it, so I wanted something that was thin and not too heavy.
- I’m always looking to make my DIYs as budget friendly as possible without losing quality.
Taking all of that into consideration, I settled with .25” X 3.5” X 48” poplar wood for the inside design and .25” X 2.5” X 48” poplar wood for the border. Our door is 4 feet by 2 feet so we needed roughly 5 of the 3.5 inch boards and 3 of the 2.5 inch boards for this design.
How to Build the DIY Custom Door
As I said, I’ve been doing a kitchen makeover where I removed all the cabinet doors, sanded and painted them as well as updated the hardware and countertops. (Check out my budget friendly hack for a countertop makeover!)
Kitchen Before
Kitchen Progress
So, I had already removed this cabinet door and just left it off and did this project before putting it back on, but if your door is attached, I recommend removing it. I did this project on our floor, but if you have a work bench or table, even better!
Step One
You’ll want to sand down your boards. I recommend using a fine grit sandpaper like 220 grit just to smooth out the wood.
Step Two
Make your border. I made the border first and then worked on the inside after. We made sure to get 4-foot boards to keep it simple with our 4-foot door. If you can make things easy like that for yourself, that’s best.
Since the boards were the same length as the door, I was able to take two of the boards and glue them to the original door and match them up to the edge. Measure and cut the third board for your top and bottom border pieces. While the glue is still wet, make sure you nail it down to secure it. Using a finishing nail gun would be ideal, but you can use nails and a hammer too.
Ideally, make your cuts with a miter saw, but if you don’t have one (like me), using a circular saw is just fine. It will just be a bit more challenging to cut straight lines.
I put nails in the corners of the boards. For the two longer border pieces, measure and hammer two nails in the middle of the board (2 feet). This becomes helpful when making the herringbone design.
If you’re using thin boards like me, be careful not to put your nail too close to the edge of the wood. Also, try not to hammer it in too softly or slowly. Both of these tips will help prevent you from cracking the wood. If you do crack the wood a little, that’s fine. You can fill it later with wood filler or leave it if it’s not that noticeable. The glue should be helping the wood stay in place enough that you shouldn’t have to worry about a chipped piece falling out.
Step Three
The herringbone design! My favorite part of the door!
Herringbone is a V-shaped design using rectangles to form a patterned V. Since the design on the door started at a corner of the design and went off the edge of the door, we still have the rectangle ends connected, but they go off the door at an angle.
To start, take the first board and line up one of the corners to the center of the door. If you hammered nails into the center of the border, then you’ll be able to easily line up this board with those nails that are at the 2 foot mark. Next, use a speed square to mark where the board meets the border and draw a line to make your cut. It should be a 45-degree angle and you can check that using your speed square.
All angled cuts for this project are 45-degree angles.
Glue and nail in your first piece and line up the next board making the outside edge flush with the flat end of the first board. Make your cut, glue, and nail. Keep repeating, alternating sides so your boards are creating a V. At the end, you’ll have a small triangle piece. You don’t need to nail that piece in. Just some wood glue should hold it in just fine.
You’re going to be able to make several cuts with one board and I found it easier to use the angled end and measure a straight cut instead of always cutting 45-degree cuts. But find what works best for you!
Step Four
The horizontal pieces. Once you’ve done the herringbone design, you’ll probably be a pro at this point. For this step, all you have to do is the same measuring and 45-degree angles that you’ve been doing, glue and nail. Start with the larger ends first and work your way in. I alternated sides to make sure I was being resourceful with the wood I had.
If you’re planning on painting or staining the door, fill in the nail holes with some wood filler first. I’m leaving my door unfinished because I’m loving the raw, natural wood look for my kitchen right now. But, I suggest taking sandpaper and lightly sanding the nails so they aren’t as shiny and noticeable.
You’ll might notice that each piece is not perfectly cut straight. Part of that is because I was using a circular saw. Instead of fixing those mis-cuts, I used them to my advantage. I want a more rustic look with visible spaces in between the wood. So this works out perfectly for me.
If you want even spaces between the wood pieces, you can use spacers to get a cleaner and more finished look for your DIY custom door.
When I put the door back on, I added an extra hinge in the middle. This might not be necessary, but it’s a large door and since I added weight to it, I wanted to make it a little more secure.
Conclusion
This project didn’t take long- only a few hours altogether. Once I got the hang of the cuts and got in the rhythm of things, it was a breeze cranking through everything. My husband did help me at the end of the project and things move so much faster when there’s two people working on it.
I took an ordinary door and created this beautiful DIY custom door for my kitchen that has made such a statement in the room. It was so worth it for this space and I couldn’t be happier with it. I hope you get inspired to do your own DIY custom door and that you’re just as happy with it.
Push through your boundaries and try something new!
