Tuesday, January 25, 2011

frosted glass cabinet doors

I have the Ikea Billy shelving in my living room to house all of our books, but now that the TV is mounted above the fireplace instead of sitting on top of a cabinet, I also need a bit of cabinet storage for putting away the things I don't necessarily want on display in the living room (DVDs, Wii games, puzzles, etc.).

Fortunately, Ikea makes doors that can be attached to the shelving units, effectively creating a cabinet. Unfortunately, Ikea doesn't make my color of bookcases any more, so I couldn't just attach some solid doors and be done with it. Instead, I got the metal-rimmed glass doors and went hunting for a solution to get rid of their see-through nature.

Enter frosted glass spray paint! I love a frosted glass look, and I've done glass etching in the past - but that stuff is seriously toxic, and it's a little difficult to get completely uniform coverage, especially on such a big area.

But now I've discovered spray paint (at Hobby Lobby) that will give me the same effect without needing to wear a hazmat suit to apply it.
Before applying the spray paint, I taped off a border on both doors, then followed the instructions on the paint can to apply 3 coats within a few minutes of each other. It goes on looking mostly clear, but then after sitting for about 10 minutes gets this frosted effect.
I'm curious to know if a couple more coats would make it a little more opaque, but even though my stuff isn't entirely hidden, I'm still loving the new effect - makes it look a little more cabinet-like than it did before with just the large plain glass panels.
And now that I've got this spray paint in my arsenal, I've got lots of ideas for decorating glass - vases, jars, etc. More to come!

6 comments:

  1. Ooh, I love that look. I love frosted spray! So far, I have only used it with small candle holders, but I would love to do a design on a large piece of glass someday! Ah, dreams...
    I'm having a giveaway for a FREE gallon of paint...hope you can join! alittleknickknack.blogspot.com

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  2. I have never tryed Frosted spray, but I will now! I love the look!

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  3. what a great idea! this is a great way to add style and personalization to big box pieces.

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  4. What a great find! I haven't tried etching yet, but now I'll just go for the spray paint!

    Would love for you to drop by this weekend and join Passion for Paint!

    http://muralmaker1.blogspot.com

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  5. Wow it's my first time to see to use frosted glass with the closet and it's nice huh! I thought that kind of glass is for bathroom but it's good also for many things.

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  6. Now it looks cool after spraying that frosting spray. Just wondering if it stays permanent in that Frosted Glass and if it safe to handle?

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