Give Old Closet Doors A Modern Transformation With Erin Napier's Sleek Design Idea

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Erin and Ben Napier are known for the dramatic transformations they orchestrate on their HGTV series, "Home Town." One remodel on the show involved turning what was once a dining room into a dramatic new entryway after moving the front door from its previous location off to the side of the home. The far end of the spacious room featured a paneled accent wall with two closets, both sporting, along with another door, panels covered with a carved and painted fruit designs. While the doors were unusual and beautiful on their own, they were somewhat outdated and didn't quite fit the homeowner's desired aesthetic. The Napiers helped them achieve a more modern look, replacing the removable door panels with woven cane panels. 

The result is a stunningly earthy and lighter look overall in the first room guests encounter when entering the home. While it seems like a small change, it's made even more dramatic by switching up the other door off to the side of the closets, where they retained the original carved fruit panels, but painted them a rich matte black. The lighter closet doors balance the heaviness of the wall and other door, adding endless texture and rich layering of materials. 

Even if your door does not have easily removable panels, there are ways to create a similar look no matter the design or size of your door. You can cut the existing wood panels out with a jigsaw and replace them with caning material entirely stapled around the opening with molding in place to hide where it attaches. While this will give you a lighter door with perforations, you can also get the look by adding caning material with a heavy duty spray adhesive over existing panels to take advantage of the added texture.

Adding caning works for doors of all sizes, including standard doors with panels. Or use it to give new life to basic bi-fold closet doors or on cabinets for a modern update your kitchen needs. Add texture to the entire door or just a portion. While Erin and Ben Napier use traditional caning mesh, this approach can work for other woven materials like bamboo sheeting or rolls of more dense rattan. Transform a basic hollow-core door into a luxe paneled and cane look by adding sheets of caning marked off my molding strips around the perimeter. For a rental-friendly way of adding cane panels, use peel-and-stick textured wallpaper, like Amazon's Retro Cane Wallpaper, and removable molding strips like this Pangda 3 Set Peel and Stick Wall Molding Kit.