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Doors play an important role in interior design. There are many different models in stores, but high-quality ones cost a lot of money, and you usually don’t want to look at cheap ones. There is a good option – to update the old doors with your own hands. There are many techniques, and not the most complex ones, that allow you to correct the situation for little money.
Prepare
Whatever method you choose to update the old interior door, you will need to carry out a number of preparatory work. Usually old painted specimens are going to decorate. Painting is usually amateur, so there are more than enough bumps, sagging and other minor defects. All of them need to be aligned.
We remove the door leaf from the hinges, lay it on a flat surface. You can – on the goats or the table. We take wood putty (even if they are made of chipboard or plywood) and cover all holes, chips and cavities with it. After drying, we proceed to the next stage – grinding.
We take sandpaper with a large grain and with a fine one. We process, achieving a flat surface. If you work manually, it takes a lot of time and effort. With a hand sander, work moves faster. If further painting is planned, we try to achieve the most even surface. If you plan to decorate with wallpaper, fabric, self-adhesive film, you can not bring it to the ideal, but it should be exactly the same.
Next, we remove the dust, wash off the remnants with water and diluted dishwashing detergent. We dry. The next steps depend on the selected update method. If you are going to glue fabric or wallpaper of any kind, you can prime the surface (liquid diluted glue or a special primer). After the primer dries, you can glue the selected type of decor or apply paint. By the way, if you are going to paint the doors, you need to select the paint of the same type that was before, otherwise you will have to remove everything to a clean base, and this is very difficult.
Update old doors with wallpaper
The easiest and most affordable way to make old doors look attractive is to use wallpaper. They do not have to be in the tone of the walls, although this option is not excluded. First, we prepare the canvas as described above, and then you can proceed to the finish.
The procedure for pasting doors with wallpaper is as follows:
- dilute wallpaper glue according to the instructions on the pack;
- apply to the door leaf;
- glue the wallpaper, carefully monitoring the removal of bubbles (using a rubber roller or a plastic spatula);
- we cut the edges with a wallpaper knife and a flat metal strip (it is fashionable to use a large spatula);
- We are waiting for the wallpaper to dry.
Wallpapering old doors is a good way to get new ones out of old ones.
Then you can continue decorating already on top of the wallpaper or leave it as it is. Below are some options for updating old doors with different types of wallpaper.
Photo Wall Mural
Modern photo printing allows you to transfer three-dimensional images to paper. They turn out very nice. And you can print any image of your choice. Generally, any. Photo printing is usually done by advertising agencies, sometimes by printing houses. Contact there, explaining what you need (have a flash drive with the selected pattern and the exact dimensions of the canvas on which you want to print the image). Having received the required image, we glue it on the door according to the method. described above.
Wallpaper with moldings
If you stick foam or polyurethane moldings, sockets on plain wallpaper, the style will completely change. This type of door is suitable for classic interiors or rooms; when using a colorful background and a different form of moldings (with roundings), you can design it in the Provence style.
The work is no different from the sequence prescribed above. We take prepared doors with a leveled surface, spread with glue, glue wallpaper.
Leveling the panels with a rubber roller is not difficult to achieve good results, but some small air bubbles remain. To remove them, they take a special plastic spatula (they are available in any hardware store), and they finally remove the air from the center to the edges. Also, with this spatula, the joint of the wallpaper, if any, is ironed. It is quite possible to achieve that the joint will not be visible.
We cut the edges of the wallpaper with a wallpaper knife. This must be done until the wallpaper is softened from the glue, otherwise then they can “reach out” for the blade and tear. We leave to dry. After 12 hours or a day – depending on the temperature and humidity in the room – you can continue decorating the old door.
Carefully, with a simple pencil, mark up. When everything is drawn, with a tape measure we measure the required length of the molding pieces. Cut off, cut the edges at an angle of 45 °. We take a suitable glue (you can use PVA) and carefully spread the back surface of the cut off elements, glue them according to the markings, leave to dry.
By the same principle, you can update old doors so that the style will be different. Some examples in the photo gallery.
Designer decoration of old doors
If you are interested in designer things, you can try to turn it into an art object. The good news is that you do not need to cook it: bumps and sagging will hide under the design.
The decoration process begins with the manufacture of papier-mâché. Take egg trays, sprinkle with water, knead with your fist, trying to level the surface. In the process, they will tear, this is normal and even good – we need small pieces. These almost flat fragments, on liquid nails or with a glue gun, are glued to the surface in random order.
Next, we glue any rubbish with an interesting structure, unusual or ordinary shape. In our case, we found an old knitted string bag. It was cut into small pieces and also glued.
Lids, rings, a small perfume bottle, a small non-working computer mouse, the remains of a mosaic, everything that comes to hand are used. There will be a lot of trash, you can collect ahead of time.
When most of the surface is “decorated”, we take acrylic silver paint in spray cans (2 pieces are needed) and paint over the decor well. When choosing a paint, it is better to take an expensive one, in particular German, so that it does not crumble later.
Decorating doors using decoupage technique
Romantic or “cheerful” door design can be done using decoupage. For work you will need:
- napkins with a suitable pattern;
- PVA glue (about 200 ml);
- natural bristle brush;
- acrylic lacquer.
We prepare the canvas, as described earlier. We prime and paint in the appropriate color. After the paint has dried, we start decorating. We take a pack of napkins you like, separate the top layer, which is with a pattern.
Tear napkins with a pattern lengthwise into three strips. We tear, we do not cut. We need a slightly uneven edge. Two strips on one side get a smooth edge, put them aside in one direction. The middle part is torn into squares. The best option is if they are with a side of 3-4 cm.
We take glue, a brush, a small container. In it we mix PVA with water in equal proportions.
Next, we proceed to decorate the door with our own hands. We take a strip with a smooth edge, apply it to the area to be decorated (in this case, this is the center of the door leaf). We dip the brush in glue, we begin to smooth the fragment in different directions. Creases form, but this is just not bad – a more textured finish will turn out, so there is no need to align them especially. Napkins when wet are very delicate and elastic, remember this when working, act carefully.
Gradually we make a frame with one even edge. The second is carelessly torn.
Next, fill in the middle with squares. The technique is the same.
When the entire surface is filled, we leave it for a day – we wait until the PVA dries. Next, take acrylic varnish and cover our decor with a soft brush. So that it does not smell, we take a water-based varnish. It’s a little more expensive, but it doesn’t hurt your head.
The beauty of decoupage is that at a meager cost we get beautiful things.
Door decoration with self-adhesive film
Perhaps the easiest way is to update old doors with self-adhesives. All you need:
- the film itself
- a spray bottle containing soap and water;
- plastic spatula or soft cloth;
- sharp knife (you can wallpaper).
This film is available in different versions – there is a single-color matte or glossy, there is a single-color with holographic patterns, under a tree, there are even special doors for pasting with applied photo printing.
Regardless of the type of film, it is glued in the same way. In this case, we decided to update the old doors using the photo printing option. One moment: before gluing, we remove handles, latches and other door fittings.
For the decor to be of high quality, the surface of the door must be clean, even and smooth. If you processed it before this grinder, try gluing a small piece of film. If it sticks well, everything is fine. If it “does not stick”, you will have to prime the doors, and then paint or varnish them to create a smooth surface.
We take a spray bottle and evenly wet the surface of the door.
We shave the film, remove the protective layer from one of the corners, and also spray it. So, wetting, we separate the protective paper from the upper part along the entire width of the film.
You should get a strip 15-20 cm wide. Do not remove any more so that the film does not stick to the canvas. We apply the peeled off part to the upper edge of the door leaf (or the area to be decorated), it quickly sticks. Try to immediately apply evenly, but the situation can be corrected – for this we wetted the surface so that the film could be moved. If you pull it, it moves a little.
After making sure that the canvas lay flat, we take a plastic spatula (for wallpaper) and smooth the surface with it, moving from the center to the edges. The goal is to remove all the air. Since the surface is wet, this is not difficult – water displaces air.
Further, everything is simple. We pull down the protective paper, peeling off the strip, glue it and so on – to the very bottom of the door. If you glued the upper part for a long time, the lower part may dry out, so periodically check if the doors are dry, spray again if necessary.
After the entire film is glued, cut off the excess along the edges with a sharp knife. All that remains after that is to install the fittings.
Door decor with stencils
Old doors can be updated with applied drawings. The only pity is that not everyone has artistic talents. But in this case, the problem is solved with the help of stencils. You can draw them yourself, or you can find the image you like, print it on thick paper, cut out the pattern with a sharp knife, leaving jumpers in places. Here is the finished stencil.
The disadvantage of a paper stencil is that it does not last long. If you need a “long-playing” transfer it must be on a transparent thick film. In more detail, the stencil cutting technology for door decor is shown in the video.
The drawing can be anything. Both geometric and floral, stylized images of animals, birds, cartoon characters are popular.
But they can be on the entire area of the door leaf. It all depends on the style of the room and your desire.
In the same technique, you can decorate doors with glass. Many old doors have an ordinary glass insert. In order not to spend money on patterned, you can apply the pattern yourself.