Hi woodworking forum people. This is my first, but probably not last post here.

Here goes:

In the course of renovating an old addition on the back of my home, I removed the old panelling over the brick and, instead of removing the brick (huge, unnecessary job), I've decided to strap and drywall.

With the original panelling, the door frames going from the addition into the kitchen and living room were 10" wide to hide the brick. Now, to come out flush with the drywall, they have be 11.5".

Now, to me, that seems really bulky since they are already noticebly wide.

So, I was thinking I could do one of three things, which will bring me to my questions.

1) Route recessed panel designs in the door frame to maybe take away some of the bulk

2) Have a pilaster or fluted type moulding in the middle of the frame to break things up

3) Nothing, because these are stupid ideas

Has anyone ever seen or done either of the first two?...have any other suggestions?...or do you think #3 is the way to go?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

One more thing, I'm thinking of making the door frames by ripping 3/4" mdf, since they are to be painted anyways.

Is this a bad idea for any reason? (like, mdf is too soft for door frames or something?)