Amazing Pantry Door Makeover {by Sarah from Thrifty Decor Chick!}

I have one word for my guest poster today….”lurve”.

I LURVE Sarah!


She’s funny, she’s creative, she loves carbonated beverages like me, she’s thrifty, and she just plain cool!

I am so blessed to call her my friend!

Thank you, Sarah, for helping me during my move!

 

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Hello there! I am SO thrilled to be here guest posting at my friend Traci’s place. I love her so stinkin’ much, for all the reasons I’m sure you know. She is the sweetest and my blog sister from another mother.

I know she is SO BUSY right now – but I for one can’t wait to see her new digs. :) I’m here today to share one of my favorite transformations in our kitchen.

We started out with a builder basic white door on our pantry. I had this vision of a glass paneled door instead, and I love how it turned out after my Dad and I got it up and painted:

I loved it so much, I actually lived with the clear glass for a couple weeks. But then the hives started and I had to figure out a way to cover them, without covering them. Get it? :)

A few of of my readers mentioned using plain old contact paper to get the look I was going for. Brilliant!

I admit I was a teeny bit doubtful – I picked up some clear contact paper at Target, and when I got home I tore it open, I was expecting it to be perfectly clear.

But my readers were right! (I know, I should just believe.) It was exactly what I wanted! A very soft, hazy look – just enough to let light in, yet enough to block the view of the canned goods. :)

What I didn’t know is it was a pain in the booty to install. But it was worth it, so stick with me.

I started with my supplies – not much needed:


I started by cutting out a piece of contact paper, slightly larger than the window pane. When I installed it, I used a razor to trim the contact paper so it would fit perfectly in the pane.

The problem was…1.) the contact paper is supersonic and I tried four razors and not one would cut it easily 2.) when I would push hard to get through the “paper,” the knife would grab at the painted trim around the panel and little itty bitty flecks of black paint were coming off and getting stuck under the plastic:


It was driving me batty. I tried everything possible, and finally gave up. I decided to just cut a piece that was the exact size of each window pane, so I wouldn’t have to do anymore cutting with the contact paper on the window.

It was a lot of trial and error. Lots of cutting, holding it up, cutting, holding it up, cutting, realizing I had cut it too small, starting over. :)

When I would finally get the right size, I’d make sure it was perfect one more time:


Then I soaked the window with window cleaner:


You can try to do this without soaking the window but you will realize quickly it’s next to impossible. :)

When it’s wet, you can move it around and make it fit just so:


Then use a pan scraper (or any flat surface) to push out the bubbles:


You’ll want a paper towel handy to soak up the cleaner as you go. Lots of pushing, wiping, pushing, wiping.

It took a LONG time. Mostly because I would cut it the wrong size, or scratch it when peeling it off the backing. I lost my mind a little more with each window pane. :) I think it took four days of me tackling it whenever I had a few minutes to tackle it. FUN stuff.

But it was SO worth it!!


I LOVED it.

But I wasn’t done yet. :) Part of my vision was to have it “glow” – like a night light for the kitchen:


I used rope lights around the door frame inside — my Dad and I rigged up the electrical for that. I have yet to blog about it but it was easier than I thought. :)

The contact paper idea would be perfect for any smallish window where you want privacy but don’t want to block the light – for cheap! The roll was $5 and even with all of my mess ups, I barely used half of it. This would be a great solution for windows above tubs, sidelights by a front door – whatever!

And here it is all soft and purdy and lit up:

(This is a picture from last year.)

This wasn’t an easy project…but totally worth it. And only five bucks for the privacy! (Which, by the way, is WAY cheaper than the window film you can buy.)


 

Since I finished the door last year, I’ve made a few more changes to the area around the pantry:


I need to clean out the pantry again. Still can’t decide if it’s a good or a bad thing that I notice that through the glass. ;)

And yes, I use the lights all the time! They are on most evenings – whether we’re getting food or not. Who would have thought a pantry door could be so pretty? Love it!

Thanks for having me Traci – love you girl! And thanks to your readers for letting me share one of my favorite projects!

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Thank you, Sarah!  I love this project!

My new home has a very cheap, ugly pantry door in the kitchen.  I knew immediately that I would want to change it, and I thought of this project!

You are always full of great inspiration!

Thanks so much for helping me out during my  move!!!

Love ya!

 

8 Comments

  1. So, O.K…….just remember…..it says, “Speak Your Mind”. Geeeezzzzzeee!! I do like the silver colored spoon and fork over the pantry door.

  2. Hmmm…I havw a tall narrow window next to our front door with a view to our entire house AND everyone and their cousin comes o our neighborhood to solicit and see my eating dinner in my pjs or my toddler streaking. This could be a good good project for us.

  3. This is one of my favorite projects of hers too! I wish I had a pantry like hers. Also wish I had known about the contact paper before I bought the window film for my master bathroom! – Hope your move is going smoothly. At least the weather’s been decent :)

  4. Love how this turned out! I can only imagine the time it took to do this ~ I gave up on my bathroom window and it was only one piece!

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