An Easy, Cool DIY-Home Project You Can Totally Pull Off
Hello from the designers at HomePolish! Turns out Homepolish’s love for HelloGiggles is mutual! When the virtual treasure trove of friendship, DIY projects, beauty, pop culture, pets and everything great told us they needed some help with their new office we said, “YES!” We love HelloGiggles’s focus on accessibility and the building of a creative community; we’re thrilled to share their warm, open mission because it’s just like ours! So, needing a space that reflected their fun and fresh personality while operating as a functionally efficient office, Orlando (our West Coast Creative Director) focused on his crafty side and unleashed his design genius on the Downtown LA space. With amazing products from AllModern, the space is really coming together. The finished product isn’t ready yet but to keep you satiated, here’s a DIY door project from Orlando that you can totally pull off at home.
Dear Hello Gigglers,
Do you have a boring door you’d like to make less boring? Do you stare at it every day and wonder why it’s so boring? Do you give it dirty looks sometimes? If so, I have a fun DIY to share with you. All it takes is a little paint, some tape, and a little brain power.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
1. Black Paint
2. A Measuring Tape
3. A Drop cloth
4. A Pencil
5. A Paintbrush
6. Blue Painters Tape
PLANNING
Start by picking out your design. I based mine on a graphic black and white door I found on Pinterest. There’s a ton of different options! Don’t be afraid to try out your own design (it’s just paint, you can always just paint over it).
MEASURING
I decided to make my stripes 2.5″ and the space between them 3.” I based this on the size of the door (the door at Hello Giggles was 28″ wide). This is the most annoying/boring part of the whole project and requires a bit of math. Believe me, I’m not a math major so I was thankful that I was able to map everything out with blue tape before painting anything (side note: make sure you buy a substantial amount of blue tape!).
PAINTING
Once you have measured out your design and taped off the areas you want to remain white, you can begin painting. Make sure to put a drop cloth down first! Unless you’re the kind of perfect person who NEVER drips when they paint, in which case please come to my house and help me paint my crown moulding. Another thing to remember is to press the tape down firmly before you begin painting. You can use the tip of your finger or a finger nail for this. Just make sure you press hard so no paint will go under!
The trick with painting is to paint in the direction of the tape. Painting against the grain will cause paint to go under the blue tape which will cause your head to explode. Or maybe that’s just me. Paint 2-3 thin layers to make sure the paint isn’t globby and gross and let the layers fully dry before painting another layer.
RIPPING OFF THE TAPE
I have to be honest with you, ripping off blue tape after painting a hard edge with it is maybe the best thing about life as a human being. That being said, DON’T GET CRAZY. Remove the tape slowly and methodically, making sure to pull it at a sharp angle against the door (not straight out).
FIXING YOUR MISTAKES
It’s likely that in ripping your tape off you went crazy (like I did) and pulled off a little black paint. It’s ok, you’re a human being. Don’t lose hope! This is super easy to fix! wait for everything to dry completely and retape the screwed up areas. Then repaint and remove before the paint dries (dry paint tends to stick to the tape). If you have a very steady hand (like I do, WINK!) you can fix your mistakes without tape. And remember, you can always fix any of you mistakes by using white paint (or whatever your under color is).
This is me finishing up the HelloGiggles door:
SHOW YOUR DOOR TO EVERYONE
Now that your door is new and glamorous, make sure to have people over to look at it. You can be like “Welcome to my dinner party LOOK AT MY DOOR!” or “Welcome to my best friend’s birthday party WHAT DID YOU BUY FOR MY NEW DOOR?” Anything like that will get people’s attention.
I hope you liked this informative door painting DIY and that you’ve already started painting a boring door in your home! Hurry!
Love,
Orlando
