Replacing My Interior Doors and Painting Them Black

*This post is sponsored by DAP Products and Kwikset. I have been compensated for my time and provided with product in exchange. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. 

Oh man! Last Friday officially marked 2 years since we bought our new house. It took a couple of months to finish remodeling the kitchen so we didn't move in right away, but still, time has flown by! When we first walked through the house, I had big plans in my head. I had plans to replace the obvious stuff like the dated appliances and chipping countertops, but I also wanted to upgrade things other people may not have noticed. My husband thought it was ridiculous to replace "perfectly fine" doors just because I didn't like the pattern. I mean, how much difference can the shape of a door make? A big one my friends  


I hated our interior doors from day one. Incidently, we had the exact same doors in our first house as well. Nothing screams "90's tract home" more than a cathedral arch and round brass knobs". I'm sure one day they will come back in style, but for now I'm craving simple lines and a little more structure. 

Last year, I installed new french doors in my living room and recently I finally got around to updating the rest of my interior doors. I couldn't love them more! It's amazing what a difference they make in my house. Check out what we started with.

Technically, I was only looking to replace the door slabs. Most doors these days come "pre-hung" with the jam, but replacing the whole shebang would require way more work than was really needed. I shopped around locally and found a company that had a great price on hollow core doors. Like, almost half of a big box store. I quickly discovered though that you get what you pay for and their product and service leave something to be desired. 

Either way, I loved the classic, two panel design and the door company offered to use my old doors as templates to cut the hinge notches and handle holes for only $5 per door. Sold! I was totally prepared to sharpen my chisels and cut my own holes, but I will happily save my time and pay someone 5 bucks to do it for me. 

My husband almost had a heart attack when I told him I planned on painting every door in the house black. I know it's a super bold choice, but with the white walls and underwhelming architecture, I decided the house needed some definition.

I grabbed a couple gallons of alkyd enamel paint (heavy duty and self leveling) in the color "Black" by Behr, and sprayed two coats on each side of the slabs. While the paint cured, I ripped off the old door casings and trimmed them out the same way I did my french doors and transom. 

With the trim in place, I filled all the dents and nail holes. I really like to use DAP Plastic Wood X for surfaces like primed moulding. Since it's water soluble, instead of using sandpaper and scratching everything up, when the filler is dry I use a damp rag to wipe off the excess. 

I'm impatient, so I use Alex Fast Dry caulk by DAP whenever I can. After I use it to seal all the cracks and seams in my casing, I can paint in as little as 30 minutes. 

Once the paint on the doors and trim was fully cured, I recruited my husband to help replace the hinges and hang the new door slabs. Here's one final look at the before,

And after.

It's crazy what a difference new doors can make! They are the exact same size as the old ones (6'8"), but they look so much taller.

I absolutely love the black and much to his surprise, so does my husband. I'm glad I womaned up and went with my gut. The contrast makes my walls look whiter and brighter. 

The real game changer was swapping out the door hardware. I actually love the aged brass trend that's going around right now, but shiny round knobs we were rocking before sure weren't doing our doors any favors. I chose a satin nickel finish to match the rest of the hardware in the house. 

We upgraded to Milan Levers by Kwikset and I'm obsessed! I know it sounds cheesy, but I really could tell a difference in the quality as soon as I picked one up. 

In a standard door, just about anyone can replace a door knob or lever. It only took me about a hour to swap out the entire house. 

Kwikset keyed knobs, locks, levers and handlesets are all built with SmartKey security, so I don't have to worry about forced entry. I was also thrilled that I could re-key all the locks myself so I can have matching keys. 

You can't go wrong with white moulding. Adding flat stock casing and a decorative cornice really kills the "cookie cutter, tract home look". I'll be back on Friday with the full tutorial and materials list so you can recreate the look in your house. 

It cost just shy of $1,000 to replace all the doors and trim in our 1,800 sq ft, 4 bedroom house and that included bi-pass closet doors. Admittedly, it's not the cheapest DIY project I've done, but it makes such a HUGE impact. Definitely money well spent. 

Are you ready to paint your doors black? Pin the image below to save the idea for later. 

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