Okay dollarholics, it’s time for another burning question. You guys always come up with so many great ideas! (Is there any crafty problem we can’t solve when we all put our heads together?) This one comes to us from Cathy, who needs some ideas for updating a dated decor look that I’m sure you’re all familiar with. She writes:
I just wanted to post a request, but why not make it a challenge, right?! Anyway, I need some help with affordable ways to decorate a closet door. Preferably the ones that are kinda tacky with the sliding mirrors. If you could help me out that’d be awesome!
Thanks,
Cathy
I think it might be interesting (and classy!) to use a fancy flourish stencil and etching paste to create a wallpaper-like design on the surface of the mirrors. What other low-cost alternatives can you think of?
[photo by alvimann @ morguefile.com]
17 Comments
Michelle jadaa
Wouldnt a cling film vinyl be better,then you could change it up when you get bored.You could also use inspirational words in a frosted vinyl to look like ingraving,very classy:)
Christina
That’s almost exactly what I did … with a twist. My bedroom is very personal … it’s all about my family. What I did is take pictures that are precious to me and printed them out in black and white on colored velum that matched my decor. I used a glass stencil with etching gel and did a border around the mirrors and then I made “picture frames” for each of the pictures. I tested a few different modge podge glues until I found one that dried the clearest and then set the pictures in the frames. It turned out beautifully. One of my best DIYs yet.
Chica and Jo
You could use really thin board painted white and do a grid pattern to break up the mirror.
Michelle
My daughter needed extra storage in her room and she had mirrored doors. On the outer door we used E6000 glue and glued on some shadow boxes. We also took empty soup cans and glued the bottom to the doors. She keeps small things in the cans such as hair rubber bands and keeps bigger things in the shadow boxes. She covered the other door with wall paneling and painted it the same color as the walls in the room. My daughter is 15 and all her friends love the room.
Kelly
You can paint mirrors with chalkboard paint! It says it right on the can. And, you can also first paint a layer of magnetic paint, so you can have a giant, magnetic chalk board. Both paints can be purchased from any big home improvement store… have fun!
Kristina
After reading this, my mind immediately went to a frosted quatrefoil design.
songbirdtiff
If you are completely tired of the doors, you could take them down and put up curtains.
emily p
I use a tension rod to hang sheer white curtains in front of my mirrored closet doors. It looks really pretty :)
Mel
http://www.ehow.com/how_2248576_wallpaper-fabric.html
Liquid starch and fabric!
Ali
A lot of the suggestions mentioned wouldn’t work for me because I’m a renter. I used clear drawer liners from the Dollar Tree to dress up mine.I cut flowers out of the vinyl drawer liner to make my mirrors look etched. When you stick them to the mirror they look frosted even tho they are clear.
Its a subtle detail that makes the ugly mirrors look less boring and plain. Heres the tutorial:
http://foundintheali.blogspot.com/search/label/Decal
rhonda
A couple of suggestions from our Facebook page:
“Contact paper. You can use it to cover the doors, you can cut out desigs so you still keep the mirror, or you can use contact leper to make a stencil and the frost like they did here http://amygregson.blogspot.com/2011/01/frosted-mirror-closet-doors.html” –Kellie
“Vinyl cutouts overtop of the mirror, something like a damask design might look nice, or paint it yourself. If you paint it, you can always change it out for no charge, and add more or less for no cost.” –Michelle
Bren
We have the same thing in two of our rooms and HATED them until I decorated them with self adhesive vinyl die cut designs that I used to find in the Bog Box Stores. Then when Stampin’ Up! (full disclosure – I am a demonstrator!) came out with THEIR line, I went bananas! I love these because they are easy to apply, just as easy to remove, don’t leave a SPECK of residue or damage and are just inexpensive enough that I don’t feel guilty when I want to change them up. They are PERFECT for these gigantic door mirrors because you can decorate all over the mirror and still leave enough exposed so that they can become useful rather than just an eyesore.
You can see them at my website and feel free to ask any questions.
Chris
I hate sliding mirror doors. When I had them I took them down and put up a curtain. It made it easier to get to what was in the closet and actually gave the closet more room.
Stefanie Gott-Dinsmore
We just moved into a new house and the room we put my 5 yo in has mirrored doors. I didn’t like them but didn’t want to put much money into new doors or the like. I got some Crayola glass crayons and let him at it, the result was pretty cool and in a month or so we’ll clean it off and have a go at it again.
-Stefanie
2ndChanceCreations.etsy.com
alkd
contact paper! it comes in all kinds of colors, levels of opaqueness (is that a word?) and patterns. Easy to remove & change as the mood strikes. I’d start off with something bold — find contact paper in your favorite color, cut them into uniform squares (or two different sized, but uniform, squares) and create a checkerboard pattern with the mirror.
That way, you retain some of the better qualities of the mirror (makes room seem larger, reflects light & makes room brighter) but make it your own.
alkd
also – for renters who would like to replicate Christina’s picture frame idea:
use a frosted-look contact paper, trace a frame shape around the picture, but make sure the hole you cut inside (for the picture to see through in the middle) overlaps on top of the photo by a 1/4 or 1/2 inch. Peel off the back of the contact paper & stick the photo in where you want it first, then secure onto the mirror. (for larger photos, you may want to use a temporary adhesive in the middle of the photo, so that it doesn’t “pooch” out over time)
Cathy
Thanks all of you for all of your suggestions! All of them were great! I think I really like the contact paper idea. I have a problem with design permanence haha so maybe switching it up every once in a while won’t be so bad. Thanks again for your help. I’ll let you know how it goes :).