Do you ever just sit in a space and realize that something about it just bugs you? Well this happened to me last month when I was sitting in our family room. I recently changed our dining room into a sitting room so we can enjoy cozy fall and winter nights by the fire, but as I sat there the other day, I stared into the family room at the bright, white French doors next to all of the warm earth tones–it was bugging the heck out of me.
My first thought was, I wonder how these French doors would look if they were painted black. And then I remembered that the grids on the glass were between the glass, which posed a major problem for painting the door—but then I remembered this electrical tape hack from my friend Jessica at Bright Green Door blog.
I jumped up, dug through my tool drawer and found the $3 electrical tape. I haphazardly stretched the tape over the grids and voila—it looked amazing! Then I ran and grabbed my trusty can of black paint (I always keep a can on hand), and began painting! You can see a little video below of the process:
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I used Colorplace paint from Walmart in Black Onyx in Satin. I’ve been wanting to try this for a while now, but my biggest reservation was, wondering what the tape would look like from the outside, and it’s barely noticeable!
If anything, it looks more like a shadow on the grids than anything. Some people on Instagram wondered why I used electrical tape, and that’s because the grids on my windows are between the glass, otherwise, I would have just painted them. With the grids between the glass, I was able to cove the grids with the tape from the inside.
I am absolutely in love with this update. it truly elevates this space and ties all of my black accents in perfectly! What do you think?
The number one question I received on Instagram was:
How do you wash the glass with the tape on it?
- Washing the glass with tape on it is no different than washing the glass without it. We don’t douse the glass with window cleaner so the tape isn’t disturbed, and if it did get disturbed, I’d just re-tape them, since it took minimal effort and its so inexpensive!
and here are a few shots of these areas when we bought the house last year.
Such a big difference, huh? Would you try a project like this?
I have a door and side windows with grids in between the glass. I too wanted black grids, and opted for electrical tape for the grids. I then struggled on how to get the “frame” to look black too. I was going wide with the entire trim, then that didnt look too good and opted to use Washi tape for a small thin “trim” around the window. Leaving the overall door still white, but looks like black windows have bee inserted! LOVE it!! Super inexpensive!
I was thinking of doing this exact same thing to my french doors but I have lacked the courage – thanks for the post – it has given me the guts to proceed!