How to Decorate a Door with Disney Characters

Personalize each child's bedroom door with a favorite Disney character.

Disney characters, brightly colored and instantly recognizable, are perfect for decorating children's bedroom doors. Use different characters to identify different doors, such as Snow White for a girl's bedroom and The Lion King for a boy. If you're creative, you can draw and color the characters by hand. If you don't feel confident about drawing, use stencils or decoupage, a French method of cutting shapes from paper and varnishing them for strength.

Things You'll Need

• Pictures of Disney characters
• Ruler
• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Calculator
• Paints
• Paintbrush
• Cloth
• Disney stencils
• Tape
• Scissors
• Glue
• Varnish

Instructions

Drawing

1. Use a ruler and pencil to draw a grid onto the picture of the character. The squares of the grid should be 1-inch square.

2. Measure the area of the door you want to cover. Calculate the scale compared to your paper diagram. For example, if the door panel measures 24-by-36 inches, you need to draw a grid on the door where each square is 3 inches square. Measure and draw the grid.

3. Start at the top left hand square of your paper design. Copy the contents of the square onto the corresponding square of the door grid. Pay particular attention to the points where the lines cross the grid into the next square.

4. Continue to build up the picture, square by square. Once complete, fill in the outline with colored paint. When the paint is completely dry, remove any visible grid lines with a damp cloth.

Stencils

1. Position the stencil against the door where you want the first character and tape it in place. Draw through the holes in the stencil with a pencil.

2. Remove the stencil and join up the lines to give an outline. Fill in the shape with colored paint.

3. Let the paint dry completely. Remove any visible pencil marks with a damp cloth.

Decoupage

1. Cut out the first Disney character from your selection. Spread the back with glue, and place it against the door.

2. Wipe a cloth over the character to remove any air bubbles or wrinkles. Wipe away any excess glue and let the glue dry completely.

3. Repeat the process to add more characters until the design is complete. When the glue is hard, paint the entire door with clear varnish to protect the design and make it waterproof.

Tips & Warnings

• For an instant design, use Disney stickers. However, remember that stickers may be hard to remove when you next want to paint the door.

• Protect carpets and surrounding areas from paint with dust sheets or newspapers.

References

• Art is Fun: How to Use the Grid Method to Enlarge or Transfer Images
• Craft Expert; Getting Starting With Decoupage; Rachel Newcombe; July 2010

Resources

• Disney: Official Home Page