How to restore an old wooden door with your own hands. How to restore wooden interior doors? Installation of new fittings
If your renovation is in full swing, and there isn’t much money left, you can save money if you know how to restore old door. Using simple techniques, you can give a second life to products made of wood, metal, fiberboard, etc. In addition, you are given the opportunity to create your own unique design which will fit perfectly into the interior.
Restoration allows you to update an old door at minimal cost
Possible problems
To know exactly how to restore old doors, you need to find out the existing problems. More often interior models suffer from mechanical damage and moisture.
The number one problem with plastic is scratches. You can hide them with soft polishing. If desired, you can apply a new coating, for example, a self-adhesive film.
Wooden interior doors often suffer from drying out due to temperature changes and moisture ingress. The canvas becomes cracked and warped. There may also be a problem with the coating itself. If it's paint, it may flake and crumble over time. If you used decorative overlays like laminate or MDF, be prepared that they will come off when in contact with moisture. Wood that is not properly treated will deteriorate and may become moldy. Then you need to clean the affected layer.
It is most difficult to restore interior doors made of fiberboard, since this material cannot be exposed to rough processing. As for chipboard, it main problem is the delamination of the structure due to moisture ingress. You need to fill the gaps with glue and put the canvas under the press.
Chips and cracks appear on the doors during use.
Preparing for work
Before you decide to restore an old interior door with your own hands, you need to assess the scale of the upcoming work. Remove the fabric from the hinges, carefully inspect it from all sides, including the ends. Place it on a flat and clean horizontal surface. If the problem is minor damage, you can simply complete the repair at this point.
If adjustments to the base itself are required, you need to remove the old cladding. The overlay panels can be peeled off quite easily by hand. But how to restore an old wooden door covered with varnish or paint? First you need to remove all the coating, layer by layer, until you get to the finishing material. For this, it is best to use fine-grained sandpaper.
Since the work ahead is quite dusty, it is better to carry it out in a workshop. If this is not possible, cover all the furniture and floors in the room with film. Take care to protect your respiratory system from small particles of material and wear construction glasses over your eyes.
Before you start work, prepare work area and take care of personal protective equipment
Repairing chips and cracks
After the varnished canvas has been cleaned, you can proceed to the next stage. It is necessary to restore the door to a state of perfectly smooth and intact material.
How to restore old wooden interior doors:
- Sand the surface of the canvas with fine sandpaper and clean it from dust.
- Use special putty to seal all the cracks.
- If there are chips, you can glue the missing fragment or form it out of putty. You can also fill the cracks with sealant or glue.
- After the mixture has dried, go over these places with sandpaper to eliminate any unevenness.
- If the canvas contains figured elements and glazing beads, you need to replace those that have become unusable.
Restoring an old wooden door involves puttingty on problem areas
How to restore interior doors made of fiberboard? Since fiberboard is a thinner and more fragile material than wood, you need to work with it especially carefully. Cracks should be covered with wood putty. The surface can only be rubbed using a scratch pad and strictly by hand.
Painting
Before updating the old canvas, it is necessary to carry out primary processing. It is enough to treat the fiberboard with a primer. Typically, such a surface is decorated by gluing decorative overlays. The best option, and not only for fiberboard, is veneer. Alternatively you can use PVC film, laminate or eco-veneer.
Wooden interior doors can be restored using the same method or painted. You must first treat the canvas with a primer deep penetration, as well as a special impregnation that protects the wood from destruction, damage by fungus, insects and mold.
The use of high-quality paints allows you to effectively restore even a very unpresentable door
How to restore a wooden door using painting:
- Stain - allows you to preserve the structure of the wood and give the canvas the necessary natural shade. To protect against moisture, you need to coat the door with at least two layers of varnish.
- Paint – water-repellent compounds are used. You can choose glossy, satin or matte paint.
There are many decorative techniques for creating an unusual surface. They are based on a combination various compositions paint, varnish and the use of auxiliary materials.
Glass insert
Some interior doors contain a glass insert. Such structural elements can also be restored. If you use a solid sheet, you can embed the glass yourself.
The procedure for carrying out work during the restoration of glass inserts wooden doors with your own hands:
- Remove the beads holding the glass and remove it from the opening.
- If you want to use the same sheet, you need to tidy it up. Drops of paint are removed with a special scraper, acetone or blade. Scratches are polished using toothpaste. You can cover the glass with a film with a pattern, paint it, or turn it into a stained glass window.
- Insert new glass into the completely renewed and painted canvas. Secure it with new glazing beads.
Installation of new fittings
Replacing the fittings will help restore the doors' visual appeal.
Complete restoration of old interior doors Do-it-yourself work also involves replacing auxiliary parts of the structure. The old fittings must either be repaired or new locks and handles installed instead.
If previously used mortise models, you need to select similar products so that the finished cutouts for the fittings match. This is especially true for mechanisms such as knobs, which require drilling a large hole. At this stage, do-it-yourself door restoration can be considered complete. At minimum costs you can create a product no worse than a new sample.
The quality of old door blocks is often higher than that of modern chipboard models, so restoration of interior doors is not only a way to save money and preserve family budget. This is also an opportunity, at a relatively low cost, to turn the frame and door leaf into a source of pride and imitation on the part of neighbors and friends.
Features of door restoration
Even if the apartment left by inheritance has antique doors self made, this does not mean that as a result restoration work they will automatically turn into a piece of vintage design. In order to restore an old door with your own hands, you will need great patience and at least basic skills in handling paints, polishes, veneer and carpentry tools.
The restoration of old interior doors is considered the simplest, so if you have no experience, it is best to start with it. The traditional scope of work includes the following operations:
- To dismantle the door leaf from its hinges, you will need to remove all fittings and decorative elements;
- Removal paint coating;
- Alignment and restoration wooden parts canvases;
- Recovery seats under awnings and latch;
- Painting the door and returning the canvas to its original place in doorway.
The entire process usually takes no more than two days. The final period for the restoration of wooden doors with your own hands is determined during the initial inspection, if additional damage is identified that requires inserts or replacement individual parts wooden frame, then the work completion time will increase by a third.
Important! You can prime the door leaf in an apartment, but to remove the old coating and paint you will need separate room. Therefore, before starting the restoration, you will need to look for an isolated space; a garage or an extension with a tightly closed door is best.
In order to remove the door from the awnings, you can use a thin wooden wedge; it is carefully driven with a hammer into the gap between the lower edge of the door leaf and the floor. If the door requires particularly careful handling and careful restoration of the frame, then it is best to use a special lift, and tie the canvas itself with a canvas mounting belt for carrying.
Do-it-yourself restoration of interior doors
First of all, you need to remove the old paint. If the interior door has not lost its original shape, the plane door leaf didn’t “drive the propeller”, no large cracks, there is no damage to the lower edge of the leaf and the slats to which the awnings are attached, then the restoration of interior doors can be limited to the restoration of the outer covering.
Don't try to just paint the door. Paint, even the highest quality, after 3-5 years of use becomes covered with a barely noticeable network of microcracks, as a result the surface coating warps, and paint restoration will not yield anything.
Coating interior fabric it is necessary to remove completely to the ground, in extreme cases, to wooden base. This is a rather complex stage of restoration, so it is worth dwelling on it in more detail.
Regular interior doors white with a smooth and flat surface, of which there are still many left in old Soviet apartments, are being prepared for restoration in the following order:
- The ends of the door leaf are cleaned with coarse emery cloth down to the wood; before restoration, the wood is brought to a perfectly smooth state;
- The paint layer on the front and back sides is carefully and sequentially, layer by layer, treated with a vibrating device with a flat working surface.
In a couple of hours of sanding, it is possible to remove most of the old paint down to the primer and level the surfaces as much as possible. At the next stage of restoration, it is necessary to manually smooth the surface with fine-grained sandpaper and paint the canvas and the interior door block.
Important! In the restoration of flat interior doors, under no circumstances should you use devices with rotating brushes and attachments. They are designed for processing rounded surfaces.
In order not to create cavities during restoration and damage the surface of the canvas, two circumstances must be taken into account. Firstly, previously old interior doors were made in the form of a frame covered with sections of tongue-and-groove floorboard. Secondly, to level the surface in order to obtain a perfectly flat plane, the interior door was rubbed with a large amount of gypsum-acrylic putty, dried and painted with a double layer of enamel. Therefore, restoration of the surface of such structures is carried out only by extremely careful removal of paint by hand, followed by repainting.
The end surface of an interior door is simply a painted beam, so during restoration it can be sanded, planed, or even repaired with inserts without restrictions.
Restoration of the entrance door to the apartment
The door block and leaf at the entrance to the apartment usually experience increased loads, so more massive hinges and a thicker load-bearing beam of the door leaf are used. Therefore, it is necessary to restore the hinges and the lower edge of the door.
If the door has sagged too much, the awnings are dismantled and replaced with new ones. If the hinges have an overhead design, then for restoration it is enough to drive repair plugs into the holes from under the old screws and install “fresh” hinges.
The lower edge of the door leaf is cut to the height of the distortion and replaced with a repair strip. A wooden entrance door can be hemmed wooden slats with a thicker seal. For restoration of entrance metal doors sagging in the doorway, you have to level the frame with a jack and strengthen it with additional anchors. Only after this can the lower edge of the steel sheet be hammered through a rubber or wooden pad.
If the surface steel door was damaged due to the actions of vandals or due to force majeure, the problem can be solved relatively in a simple way- lining it with dermantine or artificial leather, textured, for example, like crocodile skin, will turn out very beautiful.
How to restore an old door
Restoring a door leaf that has served for several decades is much more difficult than working with relatively new models of interior door blocks. We have to look for ways to solve additional problems:
- Old paint and varnish coating is very difficult to remove from the surface of wood;
- The wooden slats of the door frame and block dry out and become cracked under the paint;
- The leaf is deformed, the lower part of the door may rot or swell under the influence of moisture.
For your information! Almost always, restoring old parts is more expensive, and the restoration process itself is more complicated than simply replacing it with a new interior unit of a more modern design.
Therefore, restoration work is resorted to in situations where it is not possible to perform a replacement, or the interior doors are of interest as a rare model.
How to restore wooden interior doors
The first step is to remove the old paint; this is not as easy as it might seem. If the interior block was painted oil paint on drying oil, then before restoration it will be necessary to perform two sequential treatments:
- The coating is heated and cleaned off with a spatula or sharp knife;
- Residues can be removed with a brush or bronze bristle attachment.
After the wooden canvas has cooled, you can proceed to restoration. wooden surface. If deep cavities and cracks are found under the paint layer, the defects will need to be repaired using a repair compound. You can use Liquid Nails, any putty with added fiber. The main thing is, after the composition has dried, do not forget to sand the repaired surface.
One of the options for deep restoration of interior doors involves gluing the surface with self-adhesive PVC film with a texture underneath natural wood. This method is convenient because the design of the door leaf can be painlessly changed to light or dark options in the process of renovating an apartment.
Important! The only inconvenience of film restoration is the increased requirements for the quality of preparation of the door surface.
The film is pasted without a base, squeezing out bubbles and smoothing the vinyl with a plastic wallpaper scraper. It is clear that before restoration the surface of the interior door will have to be, as they say, “licked” and polished so that wood defects do not appear on the texture through the coating.
Restoration of metal doors
Unlike wooden door blocks, aluminum and steel structures have significantly greater strength and durability. With the advent and widespread aluminum profile and fittings for metal interior doors have become incredibly popular. As a rule, such door leaves are made on a prefabricated aluminum frame with a lining made of vinyl plastic and MDF.
Most often, the list of places for restoration of an aluminum interior door is as follows:
- Restoration of frame geometry. The sash is removed from its hinges, the corner screws are unscrewed, the aluminum frame is aligned according to the template and the fasteners are tightened back;
- Restoration of seals. The rubber bands sealing the glass and perimeter are cut off and replaced with new materials;
- The interior door hinges can only be replaced; at the same time, you have to re-drill the points for screwing in the screws, since the old holes are no longer suitable for use.
Most often, handles and locks have to be restored; mechanisms and fasteners are simply replaced with new ones. Aluminum at frequent use wears out quickly, and it is almost impossible to restore it at home.
For restoration iron door you have to rent in the apartment decorative cladding canvases. Typically a steel frame requires only minor adjustments due to warping and sagging under its own weight. In rare cases, it is necessary to change or restore places for installing awnings.
Do-it-yourself restoration of paneled doors
This type of interior doors is considered the most durable. Even though a paneled or solid door leaf has a lot of weight, repairs and restoration are extremely rare. During the production process, oak, beech and yew wood is traditionally used for the frame and supporting rail, which is very strong and durable, so the parts of the door block are changed very rarely.
Most often, the restoration of solid wood doors involves adjusting the canopies and restoring the paintwork. In this case, the old varnish can be removed using any available grinding devices and nozzles. Even if you remove the varnish with a brush with bronze bristles, it will not cause much damage to the canvas. Moreover, in some cases, the surface cleared of varnish is specially treated with steel bristles in order to artificially age it and give the sash a more expressive look.
After cleaning, the surface is sanded until smooth. To enhance the texture, the wood can be impregnated with a transparent primer or even aqueous solution PVA glue. The last step is to varnish or paint the wood. In this case, the door leaf should be positioned horizontally.
How to restore a veneer door
This is the most complex type restoration work. As a rule, in order to restore veneered interior doors, you will need to professionally perform the following operations:
- Selection repair material, the same type in texture and color as what is laid on the door leaf;
- Opening areas of veneer damage, severely damaged areas are cut out, the base is cleaned for patching;
- A repair patch is cut out according to the shape and size of the defect and glued to the surface of the door with PVA glue. After drying under pressure, the edges are cleaned and polished.
The restoration process turns out to be quite troublesome, so owners of interior doors either involve specialists or paste over veneered PVC sash film.
Options for restoring old doors
With the advent synthetic materials restoring the surface of the door leaf has ceased to be a problem as such. Wooden and metal blocks are covered with decorative film, primed and painted acrylic paints, and even wallpaper it to match the decoration of the walls of the room.
Modern varnishes with toners make it possible to very accurately reproduce the color of mahogany or ebony, so restoration often turns from a complex and expensive process of sanding and polishing into the usual painting of an interior door block.
Restoration using materials that imitate artificial leather turns out to be very interesting. This type of decoration never goes out of fashion and always goes well with any apartment interior.
The durability and reliability of the interior unit depends primarily on the condition of the supporting rail or beam to which the hinges are attached. In approximately 80% of cases, when restoring the canvas, it is necessary to change and insert new repair inserts, pieces of oak or larch into the frame.
If the interior door has significant weight, then most likely the door leaf has become deformed and sagged, so it is best to replace the entire support post of the frame.
To reduce the weight of the door block, you can use a proven technique, when a window is cut out of the canvas for glazing, and instead of mineral glass, install lighter polycarbonate.
Conclusion
Restoring interior doors is a creative process that requires accuracy and the artist’s ability to correctly plan the results of his work. Modern technologies allow you to repair any part of the door block, and the use of high-quality varnishes and paints makes it possible to accurately restore the original coating.
Restoring doors with your own hands allows you to return them to their former beauty. This process requires accuracy and a certain amount of perseverance. But the result is excellent.
Don't rush to throw away your old door designs!
Even very good wooden doors lose their beauty over time. appearance and fall into disrepair. The coating on them fades and wears off, the canvas becomes deformed and dries out, and when opening and closing the door structures emit plaintive sounds and heartbreaking creaks.
These problems are solved by dismantling old doors and installing new ones. But not every person is ready to shell out a considerable amount of money for the purchase. There is a way out. It consists of repairing and restoring old structures. Restoring wooden doors with your own hands is a very real operation. If desired, any of us can do it.
The most vulnerable spot old door designs Wood is considered their decorative covering.
In most cases, we decide to change the interior door precisely because it loses its attractiveness. But it is relatively easy to return the decorative properties of a product.
The only important thing here is to take a comprehensive approach to repair and restoration work so that you are completely satisfied with the results. Let's take a closer look at how to restore painted and varnished wood doors.
The first stage of restoration work - preparing the doors for restoration
Door repair begins with disassembly wooden canvas. Theoretically, you can try to remove the old decorative coating from the solid structure, but this approach is not justified, since the work will be associated with a large number difficulties and inconveniences. And the end result will not be the best - pieces of old paint will still remain on the canvas. Who needs such a restoration?
The repair work schedule is as follows:
- We remove the door from its hinges.
- We remove all existing locks, handles, latches and other fittings from the structure.
- We remove the glazing beads that hold the glass on the door leaf (if, of course, there are any).
- We install sandpaper on the grinder and begin to sand all accessible areas of the door. This treatment makes it possible to remove the top layers of old paint and even small dents in size and depth.
- We drill out wooden connecting dowels from the canvas - round pins opposite the lintels at the corners of the door. Some doors do not have these connections, which means you can skip this step and proceed to the next one.
- We separate the wooden door into separate boards using rubber mallet. You need to act very carefully. Hammer blows should be applied to the edges from the center of the canvas.
Now you can take it, heat the boards with it and remove the old coating without any problems using a spatula. Please note that the hair dryer produces a very high temperature, so it must be used with extreme caution.
The second stage - achieving pristine cleanliness of the door
After removing the paint from the interior structures using a hairdryer and a spatula, it is advisable to once again clean the boards with abrasive sandpaper and then polish them. Polishing is also done with sandpaper placed on a grinder. For the rough mechanical cleaning We recommend sandpaper with 200 or 100 grit, for polishing - with 400 grit.
Experts advise collecting dust that forms when polishing the door leaf. It is excellent for repairing serious damage to the door structure. The collected dust must be mixed to a thick paste-like composition with PVA glue and the deep damage on the door leaf must be filled with this mixture. Simply press the homemade paste into the potholes, wait a day for it to dry, and then use fine-grit sandpaper to sand the repaired area.
If there are no deep defects on the canvas, there is no need to make a homemade leveling compound. Use regular putty and wood putty. Just remember to sand and sand the restored areas.
The door planks are then treated with drying oil or stain and the canvas is assembled. I don't think you'll have any problems with this. The individual components of the structure can be fixed to each other using PVA glue. It is recommended to buy new beads for fastening glass. Their cost is minimal, and you do not have to deal with cleaning old products.
On this renovation work are considered completed. Now you can decorate your interior door using the methods and materials you choose. We describe the most popular of them below.
We select and apply decor to restored doors – there are plenty of options!
The final stage of restoration work is the process of applying decorative covering on a wooden door. Most often it is painted. The procedure is performed with a sprayer, roller or. Choose the tool that suits you. At the same time, remember that beautiful and high-quality coloring is guaranteed only when applying paint in several layers. Moreover, each layer must dry for at least a day.
Other ways to decorate doors:
- Pasting with fabric, photo wallpaper and even plain paper. Wallpaper should be pasted with special compounds. And handmade paper decorations (drawings for children's rooms, photographs from glossy magazines, etc.) using PVA glue.
- Application to door structure various images and drawings, painting doors in different colors.
- Sandblasting or stained glass design. Popular decor options these days that are suitable for wooden doors with glass. You can paint stained glass windows yourself, but you will have to order sandblasted images from specialized workshops.
- Application vinyl stickers. Great option design of door structures for children's and youth's rooms.
We hope the following instructions will help you to qualitatively restore and decorate your interior doors. Good luck!
Door restoration- the process is much less expensive and will help keep products in good condition for a longer time if it is performed at the first signs of defects in the structure of the fabric and protective coating.
Completed and harmonious interior becomes after its final finishing and selection of furniture. At the same time, one cannot ignore the appearance and condition of the interior and entrance doors of the living space. Doors receive little attention during their service life, but in vain. Made from solid wood, painted and veneered doors are subject to wear and tear over time, even more than room furniture. For country houses, especially those that are used only in warm time, characterized by swelling of the door leaf from excess humidity, rapid aging and peeling of paint and varnish. There is no need to even talk about wear and tear of fittings.
Door restoration at home - photo:
Types of defects that repair and restoration of doors correct:
Deformed or initially irregularly shaped canvas.
You should definitely pay attention to how the doors close and open, and whether they rub at the same time door threshold and a joint. If you use pressure and excessive force, the wood will eventually split in pinched places, and the frame will become loose in the doorway. Every time the door is crushed or pulled when opening, there is a risk that the door leaf will bend in the place where the handle is attached, and the handle itself will simply fall off.
These are the main problems associated with the irregular shape of the canvas. However, a similar picture can arise if the loops are placed incorrectly or if the door frame, which causes misalignment. It is best to invite a measurer to help determine the exact cause.
Defects in protective coating.
As for cosmetic defects that door restoration eliminates, these include chips, cracks, stains from burns and caustic liquids, and various damage to the protective paint coating. In the case of a door lined with veneer, its coating is very sensitive not only to mechanical damage, but also to the action high temperatures. During restoration in a damaged area, it is enough to simply locally replace the veneer layer (apply a patch). If the entire panel is noticeably worn and scratched, you can completely replace the veneer, at the same time updating the paint or choosing a new color.
Renewing the protective coating on solid wood doors is a more difficult task, as it requires thorough knowledge of painting. If there are deep dents and cracks in the canvas, it is often necessary to remove a layer of wood along the thickness in order to maintain a uniform texture and pattern. Less noticeable damage can be easily repaired with putty and sanding. A furniture restoration specialist will select good color and a shade of varnish to highlight the natural beauty of the material.
We strongly advise you to carry out the restoration of doors and furniture as a whole, especially when it is necessary to completely renew the varnish and paint. It is important for the restorer to adhere to a single color palette so that the products are in harmony with each other.
Restoration front door- photo:
Redesign of wooden doors.
The door restoration services provided in our workshop are not limited to correcting defects in the product to give it original form. We listen to the client’s wishes and are ready to offer him options for updating the style and design of the product. The list of works we perform includes:
- ✔ reupholstering the canvas with fabric and replacing the upholstery;
- ✔ replacement of glazing and mirrors, installation of windows for glazing, if they were not originally provided;
- ✔ inlay of metal and glass decorative elements;
- ✔ wood carvings;
- ✔ installation of noise and heat insulation;
- ✔ repair and production of platbands from any material and any profile.
All this will help breathe new life into an old product and bring a fresh look to the interior of your home as a whole. Therefore, you should not limit yourself to standard repair services; allow yourself to use your imagination.
You can have no doubt about the quality of work and the speed of its completion. We can handle work of any level of complexity thanks to our extensive experience in carpentry, painting and design. Contact us for help in the repair and restoration of doors and furniture. We will be happy to help you.
Doors play an important role in the design of premises. There are many in stores different models, but quality ones cost big money, but I usually don’t even want to look at cheap ones. There is a good option - to update old doors with your own hands. There are many techniques, and not the most complex ones, that can correct the situation for little money.
Preparation
Whatever method you choose to update an old interior door, you will need to carry out a series of preparatory work. Usually old painted specimens are going to be decorated. Painting is usually amateurish, so there are more than enough unevenness, sagging and other minor defects. They all need to be leveled.
Remove the door leaf from the hinges and lay it on a flat surface. You can - on a trestle or a table. We take wood putty (even if they are from or) and cover all the holes, chips and depressions with it. After drying, we move on to the next stage - sanding.
We take sandpaper with coarse and fine grains. We process to achieve a smooth surface. If you work manually, it takes a lot of time and effort. With a hand sander, work moves faster. If painting is planned next, we try to achieve as smooth a surface as possible. If you plan to decorate with wallpaper, fabric, self-adhesive film, it may not be brought to the ideal, but it should still be exactly.
Next, remove the dust and wash off the residue with water and diluted dishwashing detergent. Dry it. Further actions depend on the selected update method. If you are going to glue fabric or wallpaper of any kind, you can prime the surface (with thinly diluted glue or a special primer). After the primer has dried, you can glue the selected type of decor or apply paint. By the way, if you are going to paint the doors, you need to select the same type of paint that was there before, otherwise you will have to remove everything to a clean base, and this is very difficult.
Renew old doors with wallpaper
The simplest and affordable way Make old doors attractive by using wallpaper. They do not necessarily have to be the same color as the walls, although this option is not excluded. First, prepare the canvas as described above, and then you can start finishing.
The procedure for wallpapering doors is as follows:
Photo wallpaper
Modern photo printing allows you to transfer three-dimensional images onto paper. It will turn out very beautiful. Moreover, you can print any image of your choice. In general, any. Photo printing is usually done by advertising agencies, sometimes by printing houses. Contact them, explaining what you need (have a flash drive with the selected design and the exact dimensions of the canvas on which you want to print the image). Having received the required image, we glue it on the door according to the method. described above.
Wallpaper with moldings
If you stick foam plastic or polyurethane moldings, sockets, style will completely change. This type of door will suit classic interiors or rooms, using a colorful background and a different form of moldings (with curves) can be decorated in Provence style.
The work is no different from the sequence described above. We take the prepared doors with a leveled surface, spread them with glue, and glue the wallpaper.
By leveling the panels with a rubber roller it is not difficult to achieve good results, but a certain number of small air bubbles remain. To remove them, take a special plastic spatula (in any hardware store they exist), and the air is finally removed from the center to the edges. Also, use this spatula to smooth the wallpaper joint, if there is one. It is quite possible to achieve that the joint will not be visible.
Trim the edges of the wallpaper with a wallpaper knife. This must be done before the wallpaper is softened by the glue, otherwise later it may “stretch” behind the blade and tear. Leave to dry. After 12 hours or a day - depending on the temperature and humidity in the room - you can continue decorating the old door.
Carefully apply the markings with a simple pencil. When everything is drawn, we measure with a tape measure required length pieces of molding. We cut it off and file the edges at an angle of 45°. We take a suitable glue (PVA is possible) and carefully smear the back surface of the cut elements, glue them according to the markings, and leave them to dry.
Using the same principle, you can update old doors so that the style will be different. Several examples in the photo gallery.
Beautiful wallpaper with a matching pattern is the secret to the attractiveness of this door decor 
Moldings were glued to the painted doors, which were then painted with “gold” paint
Designer decoration of old doors
If you are interested in designer items, you can try turning it into an art object. The good news is that you don’t need to prepare it: the unevenness and sagging will be hidden under the design.
The decorating process begins with the making of papier-mâché. Take egg trays, sprinkle them with water, knead them with your fist, trying to level the surface. They will tear during the process, this is normal and even good - we need small pieces. These almost flat fragments are glued onto the surface in any order using liquid nails or using a glue gun.
They use lids, rings, a small perfume bottle, a small non-working computer mouse, the remains of a mosaic, everything that comes to hand. You will need a lot of trash, you can collect it ahead of time.
When most the surface is “decorated”, take acrylic silver paint in cans (you need 2 pieces) and paint the decor well. When choosing paint, it is better to take an expensive one, in particular German, so that it does not crumble later.
Decorating doors using decoupage technique
Romantic or “cheerful” door designs can be made using decoupage. To work you will need:
- napkins with a suitable pattern;
- PVA glue (about 200 ml);
- natural bristle brush;
- acrylic varnish.
We prepare the canvas as described earlier. We prime and paint in suitable color. After the paint has dried, we begin decorating. Take a pack of napkins you like and separate the top layer, which has a pattern.
We tear napkins with a pattern lengthwise into three strips. We tear it, not cut it. We want a slightly uneven edge. Two strips on one side have a smooth edge; we put them to one side. We tear the middle part into squares. Best option, if they are 3-4 cm on a side.
Take glue, a brush, and a small container. In it we mix PVA with water in equal proportions.
Next, we begin decorating the door with our own hands. We take a strip with a smooth edge and apply it to the area to be decorated (in this case, it is the center of the door leaf). We dip the brush in glue and begin to smooth the fragment in different directions. Wrinkles will form, but this is just a good thing - the finish will be more textured, so you don’t really need to straighten them out. When wet, napkins are very delicate and elastic, remember this when working and act carefully.
Gradually we make a frame with one smooth edge. The second one comes out carelessly torn.
Filling the middle of the “frame”
When the entire surface is filled, leave it for a day - wait until the PVA dries. Next, take acrylic varnish and cover our decor with a soft brush. To prevent it from smelling, we use a water-based varnish. It's a little more expensive, but it doesn't give you a headache.
The beauty of decoupage is that we get beautiful things at minimal cost.
Decorating a door with self-adhesive film
Perhaps the easiest way is to update old doors using self-adhesive. All you need:
- the film itself,
- a spray bottle containing soap and water;
- plastic spatula or soft cloth;
- sharp knife (can be wallpaper).
This film is available in different options— there is a plain matte or glossy one, there is a plain one with holographic patterns, a wood look, there are even special ones for covering doors with photo printing applied.
Regardless of the type of film, it is glued in the same way. In this case, we decided to update the old doors using a photo printing option. One point: before gluing, remove handles, latches and other door fittings.
For the decor to be of high quality, the surface of the door must be clean, even and smooth. If you processed it with a sander before, try gluing a small piece of film. If it sticks well, everything is fine. If it “doesn’t stick,” you’ll have to prime the doors and then paint or varnish them to create a smooth surface.
Take a spray bottle and evenly wet the surface of the door.
We shave the film and remove it from one of the corners protective layer, also spray it. So, by wetting, we separate the protective paper from the top along the entire width of the film.
You should get a strip 15-20 cm wide. Do not remove any more so that the film does not stick to the canvas. We apply the peeled part to the upper edge of the door leaf (or the area to be decorated), it quickly sticks. Try to apply it evenly right away, but the position can be corrected - that’s why we wet the surface so that the film could be moved. If you pull it, it moves little by little.
After making sure that the canvas lies flat, take a plastic spatula (for wallpaper) and smooth the surface with it, moving from the center to the edges. The goal is to remove all the air. Since the surface is wet, this is not difficult - the water displaces the air.
Everything else is simple. We pull down the protective paper, peel off the strip, glue it and so on - to the very bottom of the door. If you glued for a long time top part, the bottom one may dry out, so periodically check whether the doors are dry and spray again if necessary.
After all the film has been glued, use a sharp knife to cut off the excess along the edges. All that remains after this is to install the fittings.
Door decor with stencils
Old doors can be updated using printed drawings. It’s just a pity that not everyone has artistic talent. But in this case, the problem is solved with the help of stencils. You can draw them yourself, or you can find an image you like and print it on thick paper, use a sharp knife to cut out the design, leaving jumpers in places. Now the stencil is ready.
The disadvantage of a paper stencil is that it doesn’t last long. If you need a “long-lasting” one, you need to transfer it to a transparent thick film. The technology for cutting out stencils for door decoration is shown in more detail in the video.
The drawing can be anything. Both geometric and floral, stylized images of animals, birds, and cartoon characters are popular.
