Sharing all the tips & tricks we learned for changing an angled doorway & adding a new DIY doorway with a transom window. Including how to create a door & trim out a door in an existing doorway wall with before & after pictures!
How to Create a DIY Doorway with a Transom Window
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Jason & I had a lot of should we, shouldn’t we conversations about whether or not to move the angled doorway in our boys farmhouse hallway.
Knowing the walls were plaster was the major thing holding us back.
Plaster can be such a mess!
Angled Doorway Before
The angled doorway of our oldest’s bedroom made a really small awkward entrance to the bathroom door as well as make the farmhouse hallway really tiny.
DIY Doorway Demo – Taking Down the Old Plaster Walls
So we changed & moved the original plaster doorway.
We got rid of the strange angle and stole some of the square feet from his closet.
Only a few square feet…people seem to get really upset to lose any closet space… there is still plenty of room to hang clothes in his new DIY closet.
Adding the DIY doorway was really messy!!!
But…. totally worth it.
The hallway flows so much better now!
New Hallway Footprint After Moving the Existing Door & Adding a New DIY Doorway
In the picture below you can see how the footprint of the hallway changed with the difference of paint on the wood floors.
We also started adding bead board to our hallway ceiling and Bennett’s bedroom.
Here’s what the farmhouse hallway looks like now that we moved the existing door.
Adding Drywall to the DIY Doorway
Back to the bedroom…
We re-dry-walled the hallway and around the bedroom DIY doorway.
Adding a DIY Doorway Header & Transom Window Above the Door
Next we added the header, the door and we also added a transom window up above the door to help brighten up our hallway.
I love how the new door turned out, especially the transom window.
The transom window adds some pretty natural light even when his windows shades are down.
And…It is so fun to see if his light is still on when I am in the farmhouse hallway!
Changing the Floors Under the New DIY Doorway
The other thing we did was pull up the wall to wall carpet that was in the room to reveal the original farmhouse hardwood floors.
We will be adding new wide pine wood floors like we did in Tucker’s room or our master bedroom so the whole second floor of our farmhouse will match!
I wish we could have refinished the original floors but they were in terrible shape & unfortunately tested positive for lead paint.
After adding the new wide pine floors (DIY HERE) & DIY bead board ceiling (DIY HERE) to the farmhouse hallway & boys bedrooms the new DIY doorway with a transom window looks fantastic!
I hope this answers some of your questions about adding a DIY doorway with a transom window & inspires you to add a new DIY doorway to your home!
by Tara Lehman
Boys Bedroom REVEAL – We have since finished Ben’s bedroom, check out the full transformation here*
Don’t forget to Pin & save how to add a DIY Doorway with a Transom Window to your Favorite DIY Projects Board on Pinterest!
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Wow; you have done A LOT OF WORK; and it looks great!! Can’t wait to see your painted floor and the beadboard. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thank you so much Carol! Sometimes I am nervous about putting ugly pictures up but if I didn’t there would be no way to show what we have been up to:). Have a great week and take care, Tara
Your reno’s are always so ambitious! But you do a fabulous job!!! Can’t wait to see it finished! I know you can’t either!!!
Hi Susan! So good to hear from you! Yes, we definitely can’t wait to finish his boys room:). I hope you had a great weekend and take care, Tara