How To Make A Door Look Bigger With A Simple Paint Trick
Paint is a powerful tool. With paint, you can make a smaller room feel much larger just by choosing the right shade. You can also ‘hide’ ugly items, such as radiators, by painting them in the same colour as the wall behind it. In my hallway, I wanted the reverse side of my front door to feel much grander. It’s a beautiful door and I wanted to draw as much attention to it as possible! Apart from just painting it an attention-grabbing bright teal, I also tricked the eye into thinking it is bigger by painting over the door frame and onto the wall.
Creating this paint illusion is super simple. All you need is a pencil, a ruler or a tape measure, some Frog Tape (if you have recently painted your walls then use the low-tack version), an old credit card, eggshell paint and a good quality paintbrush.
This was my door before: cream, commonplace and characterless. Before I painted the door I sanded it back to get rid of any sheen (if your door has been previously glossed, make sure you get rid of all shine before applying any new paint.) Clean the door after sanding with a damp cloth and wait for it to dry. If your door has any holes or cracks fill them with polyfiller and then sand with sandpaper until smooth. For a top-quality job you may want to give your door a coat of good quality primer beforehand, especially if the door has any stains, or if you want to make the paint as chip-resistant as possible.
Using a ruler or a tape measure, work out how much you want to increase your door size by all around the door. For my door, I increased it by 7cm all around from the edge of the frame. Using a pencil, make small marks about 10cm apart on the wall:
Using the pencil marks as a guide, apply your Frog Tape to the wall so you get a straight line. You’ll be applying your paint on the inside of the tape line:
It is really important that your paint does not bleed under the tape otherwise you will not have a sharp, straight edge. Using an old credit or store card, press down on the tape towards the door, pushing any air bubbles out of the tape and making sure the tape is firmly stuck down to the wall.
It is crucial that you paint AWAY from the tape line and not towards it. Painting in the direction of the tape means you may push paint under the tape and create a bleed. By painting away from the tape, you reduce the risk of the paint getting under the tape.
Give your door, door frame and outer wall a good two coats of eggshell and wait for the paint to completely dry. Once dry, carefully peel away the tape! You should have a perfect straight line, but if there are any bleeds use a tiny make-up or artists paintbrush to fix any problem areas.
