There are a lot of ways that you can spruce up your home without breaking the bank and without hiring a contractor.

Aside from the contents of your home, you can make your home feel warmer, cozier, prettier... more YOU with some easy DIYs that won't cost an arm and a leg but they make a big impact.

Some ideas are:

• Painting (a whole room or an accent wall)
• Wallpapering (an entire room, an accent wall, or even the ceiling!)
• Upgrading lighting (get rid of those boob lights!)
• Refreshing doors and door hardware (door knobs and hinges)

Today I want to show you how to refresh hollow core doors on a budget and without replacing the door.

How to Update Hollow Core Doors on a Budget

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First though... what are hollow core doors?

Hollow core doors are fiberboard or laminated wood doors that are flat on both sides and primarily hollow inside with the exception of the edges. The edges are either MDF or soft wood such as pine so that you can install hinges and doorknobs into something solid. Hollow core doors also have cardboard honeycomb structures at key points inside to help them maintain their structure.

They are pretty boring but also very common. They gained popularity in the 1950s and 60s but are still used today, it is what many builders use unless they get a special request to use something else because they are inexpensive and easy to install.

We have hollow core doors throughout our 1960s tri-level home and I don't like them but don't want to spend the money to replace them all either so I decided to give them an update!

You only need a few things to make your hollow core doors look like expensive paneled doors.

Step 1 - Determine measurements

Determine the measurements for your molding trim. I created a little drawing (definitely not to scale 😂) to show how I am placing the molding on our doors.

The top molding piece is three inches from the top of the door, the bottom molding is 6 inches from the bottom of the door, the sides are 2 1/2" from the side edge of the door, and the space between the top and bottom boxes is about 5 1/2".

Mark your measurements on the door so you know where to place the molding.

Step 2 - cut the molding

Use the miter shears to cut the molding with 45-degree miters and the length you need for each piece to create your boxes.

TIP: If you need a piece of molding that is 24" long, make sure that you cut it with the miter shears so that the points of the miter cut are 24" in length (where the arrows point in the image below).

Step 3 - create the boxes

Step 4 - paint and caulk

Use a good-quality angle brush and a small foam paint roller for the best results. Using a foam roller will ensure that you don't have brush strokes.

Once the paint has dried you can fill any gaps in the trim with caulking.

That's it, doesn't that look so nice?! I think it's such an improvement over the flat, boring doors.

I've been making my way through the house doing this to all our hollow core doors.

This door is in our living room. It's the door to our clantry (closet + pantry = clantry 😉) If you saw our finished kitchen tour: Storage Ideas for Small Kitchens (And a tour of Our Kitchen), then you have seen this clantry already.

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