Fake A Gorgeous Oak Plank Door On A Budget With MDF And A Paint Hack

Oak plank doors are beautiful, timeless, and expensive — often costing between $300 and $1,000 per door, depending on where you shop. What if you could achieve the oak plank door aesthetic without dropping a small fortune? Well, with a few simple tools and supplies, a strong DIY attitude, and some affordable MDF boards, you can. The best part? You don't even need to uninstall the old door to complete the project. For this DIY, you will need MDF boards, a strong adhesive, sandpaper, primer, paint, browning wax, wood glue, and most importantly a wood grain paint tool like the one from LUTQ. With these supplies in hand, you can completely transform your interior doors or give plain cabinet doors a stunning upgrade.

One thing to note for this project is that it's best to only cover one side of your door or cabinet doors in MDF boards. This helps ensure the door can still fit inside the frame without adjustments. The measurements for your MDF will depend on the size of door you're working with. Generally speaking, you will want four wider pieces to create a frame around the door's face, then five or six thinner boards to create the plank look inside of the frame.

To get started, first measure the door to see what size boards you will need. If you're buying MDF from a hardware store, try this hardware store wood-cutting tip that'll save time on your home improvement project. Otherwise, cut the boards yourself or pay to have them cut at a shop. Next, remove the door handle and latch assembly, and attach the boards to the front face of your existing door using a heavy-duty construction adhesive. The MDF will cover the bore hole(where the doorknob goes) so you'll need to cut a matching hole in the MDF before the project is complete. Once attached and dried, use wood primer or glue to fill in any potential gaps between boards. Smooth any rough edges or excess wood primer using sandpaper.

Now comes the fun part — priming and painting. While there are many beautiful interior door colors that remain timeless, you're going to want to choose a light color with a yellowish tint to best mimic the color of stained oak. While your paint is wet, roll the wood grain tool over each board. This is arguably the most important step in achieving that oak plank look, so take your time. When the paint has fully dried, use a brown finishing wax to complete the look.

If you don't have the wood grain roller, you can roughly brush over your dried yellowish paint color with a dark gel wax instead. Rough brush strokes is key here to achieving a wood-like look. You can also mimic a wood grain look with paint and one surprising tool.