How to Trim Your Farmhouse Door

I found this Fabulous Farmhouse Door

at a yard sale of all places for….wait for it…$25!!! WHAT?!?! Yep….that’s right. It fit perfectly in the entrance to my laundry room which is right off of the kitchen which thrilled me because this way I can see it all the time. It’s been hanging here for months now and I just couldn’t get past how the current standard colonial trim around the door was so boring and not at all the same style as this chippy old Farmhouse Door. So I decided to makeover this entire area to showcase our beautiful yard sale Farmhouse door. Follow along to see just how easy it is to trim your farmhouse door.

Before, with standard builder-grade trim!

This is a very small area

that is more like a hallway that leads out to the garage. I decided to put beadboard on the walls with trim at the top of it, new baseboards, and new trim around the door with a header to add height to it. I wanted this Farmhouse door to really be showcased and look like it belongs in this space.

So I headed off to Lowes

to get the supplies I needed:

2 -4′ x 8′ Sheets of White Beadboard – I had the nice boy at the store cut each of them into a 5 ft piece and a 3 ft piece.

3 – 8 ft 1×4’s primed MDF

1 – 8 ft 1×6 primed MDF

1 – 8ft- 6″ baseboard

1 – 6 ft – 1 x 2

Liquid Nails

Trim Caulk

Finish Nailer

Miter Saw

First I removed all the old trim

around the door. I found that the best way is to score down each side of it with a utility knife so that the drywall doesn’t get all ripped up when you pull off the trim. It came off quite easily very unlike the old baseboard which really put up a fight. I’ve been around the home building industry most of my life and I know that the proper order is to lay the flooring first and then put the baseboards on top of that.

Removing the trim from this door is the first step in getting her all spruced up.

Old Trim is removed

Well, apparently some tract home builders

don’t care about proper order so they put in all the baseboards (tiny little 2 1/2 inch baseboards) and then lay the ceramic tile right up to it. So now, 17 years later when I want to replace said baseboards, they have to be dug out of the flooring. UGH!!!! I may have broken a tile during this process….it’s possible I did it on purpose (let’s think wood floors) 🙂

These baseboards were buried behind the tile and grout and are absolutely no fun to remove.

Removing buried baseboards.

I used our miter saw

to cut the 1×4 primed MDF to fit on each side of the door from the floor just to the top of the door and nailed them in place with the finish nailer.

I love how easy this miter saw is to use. It's fabulous for making angled cuts!

I use power tools, but they still make me a little nervous!

Next, I cut the 1×6

to the same measurement as the side pieces from side to side which in my case was 39″.

Using MDF and a miter saw was a siple way to trim out this Farmhouse door

Measure twice or 5 times, cut ONCE!!!!

I cut two pieces of 1×2

to 41 inches which is 2 inches wider than the side trim pieces so that it would hang over 1 inch on each side.

I glued the 1×2’s to the long edges

of the 1×6 with the back flush and the ends hanging over exactly 1 inch on each end. I let the glue tack up just a bit and nailed them together with the finish nailer, then it was time to install it over the door. This piece sits right on top of the side pieces and if you’re going to have any overhang, just make sure it’s equal on each side. I attached it to the top of the door with my finish nailer and I feel like the door is now wearing the crown it deserves!

Next came the fun part,

installing the beadboard. Once the old baseboards were out I put liquid nails all over the back of the beadboard, placed it up against the wall and down in the wide gap that the baseboards just came out of, and using a level across the top, making sure it was perfectly level, Those vertical lines make that an important step not to skip. Once it was glued into place I used the finish nailer and tacked it in a few spots across the top and bottom just to make sure it’s secure. One wall was only about 3 inches wider than the 4ft x 5ft sheet so we had to pull out the table saw and cut a piece off of the second sheet. These sheets of beadboard are a bit floppy so it took two of us to run it through the table saw while holding flat.

Beadboard is such an inexpensive way to add charm to a builder-grade house.

Installing the Beadboard

Using the 1×4 primed MDF

again, I cut two strips that serve as the trim across the top of the beadboard, also known as chair railing, but this is much higher than a chair. I laid it flush against the wall right above the beadboard and nailed it on with the finish nailer.

MDF works great for this project. I used 1x4 primed MDF to trim out the beadboard on the walls.

Trim across the top of the beadboard

The final step

is to add the new 6 inch baseboards along the floor. Wow…what a difference baseboard makes. Oh, remember that hole I accidentally broke in the tile??? No worries, I mixed up some grout and filled it in…it’s not even noticeable now.

This farmhouse door started something and I ended up adding new baseboards to this entire area!

Baseboards are in!

The baseboard ends had to be cut

on a 45-degree angle because I wrapped it around the corners, but that’s no problem because my miter saw can be adjusted to cut at an angle. Easy peasy!

A miter saw is a very handy power tool to have around!

Mitered Corners!

In the world of DIY

there’s a slogan I heard that has become my mantra…“Do your best, and caulk the rest!” Caulk is just as magical as paint….i love how it finishes off all the edges and makes them look perfect and seamless.

This farmhouse door trim really was a very simple project!

Do your best and Caulk the rest!!!

A couple of caulking tips:

1. After you have run your bead of caulk the length of the crack/crevice/flaw that you’re trying to cover, have a damp paper towel in one hand to wet your finger on and then pressing down gently run your finger down the length of that bead of caulk, wiping any excess on the paper towel and going right back where you left off. This will press the caulk down into any openings and give it a smooth finished surface.

2. When caulking the tops of the baseboards run a piece of painters tape along the wall about 1/8′ above the baseboard, caulk and smooth it out and then remove your tape and you’ll have a very precise line. I also do this on the floor under the baseboards as well.

The last step is to paint.

I chose to paint my trim, baseboards, beadboard, and walls all the same color. Easy!!!! I wanted my chippy old farmhouse door to be the star of the show and felt this would not only accomplish that but would make my life easier in the process. LOL!!!! Work smarter, not harder! (Ok so I have a couple of mantras!) Oh the magic of paint. As I was sitting on the floor rolling the lower part of one wall my husband commented on how nice the paint made everything look and I very cleverly replied, “It’s like makeup for walls!” It really is!

Remember how I said I wanted the door to be the star of the show?

Well, how about we go one step further and shine a light on it? I found this fabulous farmhouse sconce light on Amazon for under $30. There’s no electrical wiring above the door but that didn’t stop me. I just attached it to the wall using the hardware it came with and then stuck remote-operated puck light up inside where the bulb would go and Voila…Light!!!

This was a super easy project

and I am thrilled with how it turned out!

I actually spent $63 on this project

but I already had the caulk, liquid nails, and one piece of baseboard, so this really could be done for about $75 easily. I also have two 3 ft x 4 ft pieces of beadboard left over, (ok one is 3 ft x 3.9 ft) and I’m going to use this to start beadboarding the back of my island. Woohoo!!! Stay tuned for that!!!