What can you do when you have ugly hollow core doors and don’t have the budget to replace them all?  Get creative!  My husband and I plan on eventually replacing all our hollow core doors, but unforeseen hits to our budget mean not right away.  Most of the doors we will sand down and re stain a darker color to help disguise their ugliness, but I had another idea for our pantry.

Anyone who has a busy family knows keeping track of everyone and all their activities is a full time job.  Sticky notes and grocery lists get lost, and I needed a central place to make notes to me and my family that wouldn’t clutter up my kitchen.  I liked the idea of having a chalkboard in the kitchen as they are kind of all the rage right now and lots of fun.  Since I used just about every wall surface in my kitchen for cabinets and storage I couldn’t see a practical place to put my chalkboard, then I had an idea…it would be the perfect way to cover up my ugly pantry door!

First chore, get the door off the hinges.  If you want to replace the hinges and doorknob this is the perfect time to do so.  I chose to add a bit of trim to pull it into the rustic theme of our house.  I used 1×3″ pieces of hemlock from the local hardware store that I stained to match the rest of our trim.  Since the doors are hollow core you’ll have to use construction adhesive if you will be applying any trim to your door.  Finish nails probably won’t do the trick.

I carried my door out to the yard and painted the whole thing with chalkboard paint using a small, foam trim roller.  It took three coats till I got the look I wanted, then I applied my trim, touched up the stain and sealer and replaced the door.

Making any door a chalkboard door is an easy weekend project that will be a fun focal point for the entire family and it will cost you less than twenty dollars, a lot less than a new door.

By Kingsmuir Press Author-Jean Marie Stanberry (aka-Jean the Queen)

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