Faux Six Panel Doors

When you live in the same house for....well, 15 years, sometimes it's hard to identify changes that need to be made.  You just get so used to your surroundings that they become normal.  And until someone points it out or your in a major "redecorating" phase (like I am at the moment) you don't realize all the things you CAN change and update.

For me the thing that has been flying under my "updating-decorating-projects" radar was our lovely bronzey-mirror closet doors.  I think I've had some form of mirrored closet doors in every house I've lived in -- so they were normal to me.  Until I really looked at them and realized how much I hate them. 

Good thing is, I think this trend has passed.

But I'm thinking that they're probably still found in some houses....like ours.  Not that I have anything against mirrors -- just not a full length bronzey-gold door mirror -- that I can do without.

These mirrors hide our wrapping paper/gift/extra doggie toys/movies/video game  junk closet (which is in our TV/Entertainment Room).  So we definitely needed something -- be it a door or curtains, anything to keep that mess hidden.

I couldn't in my right mind just throw away a perfectly good set of closet doors (thanks to my strong don't-throw-anything-away-mentality- upbringing).  So that left me with coming up with a way to modify my current mirrors.


And who wouldn't love six-panel doors???

First I took the closet doors down.  I had to remove the top bar across by taking out the screws that were holding it to the trim.
 
Honestly, that was the hardest part of the whole project.

Then I had to do some measuring and calculating...which I won't go into the boring details on.

First I took a flat piece of trim (found in the Mill-work section of the hardware store).  My particular trim was 2" wide by 3/8" deep.  I measured and glued it smack-dab in the middle of the mirror:

Next I measured and cut six pieces of the same trim to "intersect" the middle section of trim:

I did this until I had six squares:

One thing I thought of (of course AFTER I glued everything down) was that I could have made two large rectangles in the middle and then two small squares on the top and two small squares on the bottom -- but oh well, I made mine all the same size.

After the trim pieces are glued and it's dry, it's time to sand, prime and paint.  I used Rustoleum Satin Ivory Silk (which oddly enough matched our wall colors in the room).  And then you're done! -- easy as that!


And I'll be honest with you, I had attempted to put quarter round lining the inside of each square, but it didn't go so well so I scrapped that idea.  I figured if I liked how it looked already, it wasn't worth my frustration and time to add another element.  Maybe on another project.


The cost breakdown for my redone mirrors:

Trim:  3 - 8 foot boards:  $3.45 x 3 = 10.35
Paint:  (I had some at home already) 3 cans x $2.98 (they're on sale at Menards this week!!) = 8.94
Glue: Left over from another project
TOTAL:  $19.29

At least it's better than the mirrors, right?!?

Also....I want to say BIG thank you to Maryann at Domestically Speaking for spotlighting my Pottery Barn Light.  She has a wonderful blog and I'm so honored that she wanted to feature mine!






Thanks so much, Maryann!!

I'm linking this up to these parties

EDIT:

We liked the idea of our doors, but it just felt like it was lacking something.  We needed to make the doors stand out a little.  Enter our free paint find from last week; and a lot of tedious painting and we have our finished product:

So I have to say if you decide to for a look such as what we ended up with in the end -- paint the wood before it's glued on!  We had to tape off every square and paint  -- not that I don't love painting, but when I kept thinking of how much easier it would have been to paint this before I glued it on -- well, it just didn't add any enjoyment to the project!  This is where changing my mind made for a LOT more work -- but I think this is worth it. : )