DIY Plain Door into Panel Door

double four panel doors that are painted beige with brass doorknobs

Sharing how we turned a plain door into a panel door using 1/4″ plywood! We finally got around to adding doors to the closet in our bedroom!

I was hoping to find some antique doors to use, but had no luck finding any the right size. Which is why the closet went so long without having doors. So finally we decided we’d make some of our own. (Although I’m still not giving up on the idea of one day finding some antique ones to use!). Our 200 year old farmhouse has a mix of old doors in it, but some of the oldest ones, and probably original, are the four panel style ones. So we decided to recreate that look.

Mike found some plain, hollow doors for free. They weren’t quite the right size, so we had to add wood to the outside and bottom of the doors to fit our closet opening. Once we had the doors the right dimension for our opening, we started our DIY for giving them the look of panel doors.

wood flat door on left side, painted four panel door on right side, with small doors up above

closet nook with four panel double doors and small double doors above

close up shot of double four panel doors with vintage victorian door knobs on the doors

Materials for DIY Plain Door into Panel Door:

1/4” plywood
circular saw with cutting guide
table saw
clamps
construction adhesive
nail gun & nails
lightweight spackling
orbital sander
router
door knobs (I found antique Victorian door knobs on Ebay, but this Vintage Brass Door Knob is a similar look to the ones I found. And this Door Knob Rosette Pair is similar to mine.)