Front Door Project

I am thrilled to post my first project!  I love reading other people's blogs and seeing all their great ideas and projects, and now I get to take part!

I think my husband will just be thrilled that I finished a project (within a week of starting it, no less).

Our house has kind of an odd-looking front entrance, which is a long story we won't go into, but our front door is actually a set of french doors with glass insets.

Before

The previous owner had put sheers over them on flimsy top and bottom curtain rods.  They came loose on the bottom a lot and got stuck in the door.  Since this is our main door for going in and out of the house, and much of our traffic is small children, this was not convenient.

I took the curtains off, but it seemed odd to have uncovered windows where anyone could look into our family room and see us prancing around naked sitting on the couch, so we needed to do something.  Inspired by another person's frosted glass doors she did for a bathroom cabinet, I decided frosting spray was the way to go.

But I didn't want to just spray the whole window--too boring, no personality--I wanted to stencil something.  I debated on several floral or leaf or branch designs, but decided putting our address on the door would be much more timeless.  It reminds me of offices who have names on the glass doors.  Plus it might make it easier for people to find our house and know that these are the front doors (not sure if that will work).

Here's how it came out:

After

I am very happy with it.  The frosting isn't completely even, but it looks different from different angles and is opaque enough that you can't see in at night.  I'd like to paint the front doors now--I'm thinking a nice olive green maybe (any suggestions?).

The cost for this project was only about $5!  I bought two cans of frosted glass spray paint, but only used one, and the only other thing I bought was a contact paper remnant from the thrift store for 50 cents, so if you have some leftovers laying around, you can just use that.

Here's how to achieve similar results:

Print out whatever design or letters you want on your computer.  I ended up using a font called Hiragino Kaku Gothic Std, which I believe was one included with my Mac operating system.  My letters are 475 point in size.  I also used the outline feature when printing to save ink.

I taped them up on the glass and went outside to look them, figuring out where I wanted to align the letters and if they were big enough.  Then, thinking long and hard to make sure they would face the right way once I stuck them on the window, I taped the numbers and letters onto pieces of contact paper.  Since I was spraying on the inside of the doors, I taped the letters face up on the back side of the contact paper, taping in several places so it stayed in place

Then cut out the letter, cutting through both layers.  Take your time to do this well, since the quality of your stencils depends on it.  

After washing the whole window, I used a ruler and a wet erase marker (like for an overhead) to  make a straight line for the bottom of the letters.  Peel the contact paper letters off and stick them on the window.  I used the straight line for the bottoms and eyeballed the spacing between.

Letters taped on to look at them again before peeling the contact paper and sticking.

I also taped the edges of the windows and added pieces of paper from our recycling bin to cover the wood.  I'm not sure how necessary this was, because I'm not sure what this paint would do to it since it seems to spray on clear, but I didn't want to risk it.

Edges masked, letters stuck on, ready to paint.

I chose to open the door to paint to help with the fumes.  I sprayed it completely, waited a couple minutes, then went over the whole thing again--going for slow steady strokes and even coverage.

The can said it can take 10 minutes for the frosted effect to show.  It's hard to see where you've painted because the color doesn't change right away, so it's good to wait for your second coat until you can see where the first one was heavy or light.

Once it's pretty dry (I only waited about 15 minutes), peel your letters off, take off the tape, and step outside to behold your beautiful handiwork!

Finished product

Close up of the letters

View of the house now.

I'm picturing this with a nice porch with a portico above (not in the budget right now), comfy seating, nicer lighting, and a striking front door color.  Green? Maybe red?

Thanks for letting my share my success!

Have a glorious day!

Lynn