Give Old Interior Doors A Glow-Up With A Sophisticated DIY Ladder Design

Flat panel interior doors can seem boring, but from a different perspective, they represent a blank canvas to take in countless design directions. Finding creative ways to give your doors a fresh new look can be loads of fun, especially when you stretch your imagination to new lengths. Making stylish upgrades isn't just about adding to your door. If you have a router, a tape measure, and a steady hand, the art of subtraction can give you some truly astonishing effects with little effort as you cut out textures and patterns in the panel. A few straight lines are all it takes to create a beautiful DIY ladder design, resulting in a modern enhancement that can work for minimalist aesthetics and more.

With a router and a straightedge, you can form perfectly straight and angular lines on a door with a professional, high-end appearance. To make the cuts, a plunge router is ideal, but you can also pull it off with an inexpensive fixed-base router and a little practice. The process is approachable for almost any DIYer, and it offers just enough flexibility to work around your tools and skill set. Considering a few creative twists, you can make the design seamlessly mesh with your decor and elevate the overall look of the room.

You can router a ladder design in virtually any interior door, whether it has a solid or hollow core. The construction is a crucial consideration, though, since you can't set the router too deep on a hollow core, or you'll bust through the exterior panel. Typically, the panel (consisting of wood or MDF) will only be around ⅛ inch thick, so you have to set your depth to a fraction of that for a damage-free groove. It doesn't take much to create a discernible texture in the door. In this TikTok video, the designer used a cut depth of just 1.5 mm (around 1/20 inch), leaving plenty of the panel intact to maintain the door's stability.

To match this ladder design, you'll make two vertical grooves in the door with lateral "rungs" spanning them. Measure the vertical grooves to be equidistant from their respective sides. Mark the measurements at the top and bottom of the door. Use a straightedge tool, such as the Rockler Straight Edge Clamps, or a long, wide, and straight board to create a guide running parallel to the groove line, and clamp it in place. To prevent tear-out on the veneer, lay a strip of painter's tape over the cut line. Use the straight edge to slowly and steadily direct the router down the marked line to form a groove. Repeat this process for the rungs, measuring equal distances between the grooves and using your straight edge to make the cuts.

From the technique to the design, you can adjust this DIY to make it easier and more practical for your available tools. For instance, you may be able to pull off a groove cut with a circular saw if you don't have a router. Using a board to lift the saw as needed and your clamped-down straight edge to guide it, you can adjust the saw's height to create the desired groove depth. A thick-kerf blade will make a well-defined cut. It isn't as clean or accurate as a router, but it can suffice in a pinch. Just practice on a piece of scrap wood to dial in your technique and see if this is the approach for you.

Besides the user-friendliness, a key benefit of a router is the bit options. An essential power tool accessory for woodworkers, a router bit set can allow for more decorative elements. The ladder design becomes even more chic with a subtle angular cut from a V-shaped router bit or a smoothly rounded channel courtesy of a core box bit. Whatever tools or bits you have, you can adjust your design to work with you. If you don't have a plunge router, for instance, and aren't comfortable starting cuts midway on the door's face, you can skip the vertical side grooves. Instead, make simple horizontal grooves spanning the door's width. Pick the perfect shade of paint to finish, and you can make any ladder-style design become an instant benefit to your room's aesthetic.