If you want to refresh an interior door in your home, or give it a more distinctive look, colour and style to complement your décor, for example the door of a child’s bedroom, your own bedroom or your study, you could consider covering it with fabric.
Wallpaper is usually not suitable for this purpose, whereas fabric works perfectly well.
The idea sounds especially useful for older homes, if you don’t have the budget to replace your doors, or for doors that have been damaged (by your beloved pet, for example).
What you will need:
• a thin cotton fabric, with a pattern to suit your taste, in the size you need
• water and powdered glue
• a paintbrush
• scissors
• a utility knife
To attach the fabric, you first need to prepare the adhesive mixture.
Boil 4 cups of water in a small saucepan. In a small bowl, mix 3/8 of a cup of the powder with a little water until it dissolves. Then add the mixture to the boiling water, stirring constantly, and keep boiling until it thickens. Leave it to cool so that you can use it. (You may end up with more than you need, but it’s better to have too much than too little.)
Meanwhile, measure the surface and cut the fabric to size.
Next, brush the glue over the whole surface of the door and start applying the fabric from the top down, taking care not to leave any gaps. The glue lets you make adjustments as you go: if you notice any wrinkles in the fabric, simply peel it back from that spot and reposition it as you work your way down.
If you feel some areas need more glue, you can add it with the brush, without worrying that it will show on the fabric once it dries.
Use the scissors or the utility knife to cut the fabric around the door handle, the lock or any other obstacle.
You can start by making a slit so that you can carry on with the fabric on the surrounding surface, then come back and carefully trim the fabric around the handle and so on, adding glue to stick down the edges of the fabric around each spot.
To finish, go back to the edges of the door and apply a little more glue to smooth out any unevenness where the fabric ends on the surface and to stop it from fraying over time.
If you like, and especially if you have used a thicker fabric, you can also brush a coat of glue over the fabric once you have finished, as in the decoupage technique.
The nice thing about this solution, if what the creator of the project says is true, is that if you tire of the fabric’s design, you can replace it or remove it altogether without having damaged the door.
All you need is a damp sponge to remove the glue. The only thing to watch in this case is that the fabric you use is washable, so that its colours don’t run onto your surface when it becomes soaked with the glue. (See in the photo how easy it is to peel off.)
Source – photos: howaboutorange.blogspot.com
Text: Natasa Lianopoulou
