Before and After: A $30 Redo Turns a Boring White Door into a Work of Art
Statement walls — made with photo galleries, accent paint colors, and more — can add a lot of interest to your home for not a lot of money. But sometimes they can be trickier to pull off than they might seem — especially if the layout of your home is working against you. For Hana Sethi (@hanashappyhome), for instance, the problem was the number of doors. It made it tricky to find a free wall where she could add a design element.
Fortunately, Hana, an experienced DIYer, thought outside the box. “I wanted to do an accent wall, but with no space, I turned to design my door,” she says. “This is the only door in this space, so it was a good candidate to get a makeover.”
The plain, hollow builder-grade door was a little too toned-down for Hana’s stylish and eclectic space, which made it all the more perfect for a redo. “I felt like there was a lot of opportunity, as doors can be an overlooked design element,” Hana says. “This space is such a great mix of bright and earthy with the built in, but also fun and funky with the cheetah print wallpaper. I wanted to make the door a design element as well!”
Hana used 1/4-inch hardboard to create her new door. First, she added plain hardboard to the face of the door with a pin nailer; then, she cut the hardboard down to strips using her table saw. After using painter’s tape to help her plot her design, Hana cut the hardboard strips at the correct angles using her miter saw. Finally, she used her pin nailer to nail the design in place.
“The process can be tedious, but because you want every piece to fit together, I cut one piece at a time and nailed it before cutting the next piece,” Hana says. “It will give you the perfect finish.”
Once the geometric design was in place, Hana painted the door deep gray. The dark color helps the design pop against its white surroundings.
The whole project cost Hana just $30, and gives what could be a throwaway space some real design presence.
“It adds such a wow statement and it’s so unique,” Hana says. “The color is so perfectly moody and bring the office space and our lounge space together so well!”
This post was originally published on Apartment Therapy. Read it there: Before and After: A $30 Redo Turns a Boring White Door into a Work of Art
