Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Closet Door Makeover

I love to decorate, though I am in NO WAY an expert. I am "good" for my own tastes, I guess. :) A year ago we moved into this house, and I have to say I think it is fabulous! I love it--it's a 1960's-ish rambler with lots of room. I love to have families over to socialize, especially because there is plenty of space for the kids to go downstairs and play, loudly, if they wish, and the adults can still sit and visit in relative peace.

Anyway, one of the things that I thought I would like to change is this closet in the girls' room:

It's just a little too brown. Their room is decorated in pinks and light greens, so this didn't really fit. One thing I have learned about myself is that I am NOT a painter. To simply paint these doors white is actually not a solution for me. They would turn into a gloppy, sticky mess that would peel in spots and look AWFUL. So, brown they stayed. Until one day, as I was organizing linen closets, etc and lining shelves with Contact paper, a light appeared and I heard the angel choir. Hello! Why not put the Contact Paper on the doors? I quickly listed the pros and cons: Easy, removable, inexpensive, fits the color scheme--I couldn't see a down side. So, up it went!

I removed the door knobs and didn't even measure, really; I held it up to the top of each panel and let it unroll to the bottom, then creased it against the carpet with my toes. Not very scientific or professional, but, hey, that's how I roll. Once I had a mark, it was simple to follow the printed grid on the back and cut my piece. I started by peeling off the backing on the first 2 inches at the top and sticking it to the door, and then alternated smoothing/pressing the liner onto the door and peeling about 5 inches at a time. Press, peel. Press, peel. After it was all done, I wrapped the excesses around the sides, trimming out the hinge areas. It worked pretty well. Here is the finished product:


Um, I guess you should imagine the other doorknob on and the scissors back in the knife block. Heh heh. But I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered. I thought about going to Hobby Lobby and getting fancy little girl knobs, but I think these will be fine.

2 comments:

  1. Looks great. You are so brave. I get so nervous to change anything in case I'd make it worse.

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