How to Paint Glass on a Front Door
The front door is one of the most important yet most overlooked features of the home. It's an opportunity to give guests and neighbors a taste of your personality and style. The appearance of your front door can be a beautiful reflection of everything inside it. Painting your door's window is an easy, nonpermanent way to show off your creative side and make the entrance to your home pop with color and flair. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Tempera paints
- Paintbrushes in a variety of shapes and sizes
- Small plastic cups
- Razor blade
- Plain paper
- Masking tape
- Pencil
- Bucket
- Sponge
- Dish soap
Instructions
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Determine what kind of design you want for your window. Bear in mind the size of the window---you may not want a design that is too big and obstructs the view or sunlight. Sketch your design on a blank sheet of paper, and using masking tape (which peels off of glass more easily than clear tape), tape it to the inside of the window, facing out. This ensures that you use the window space exactly as you planned.
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Choose a day with temperate weather for painting---even a light rain will wash off any wet paint, ruining the entire composition.
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Prepare your paint by pouring it into small plastic cups. Don't pour too much---windows don't typically require much paint, and pouring it back into the bottle can be messy and difficult.
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Paint the larger areas of your design first in thin coats. Wait until these areas have dried before painting details over or around them, to avoid mixing the colors.
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Wash all your brushes so that they may be reused in the future. Delicately scrape off any excess paint---like drips---with a razor blade. Remove the taped-up sketch from inside,
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Tips & Warnings
When you're ready to clean your window, use a sponge with warm water and a mild dish soap to scrub the glass clean.
Tempera paint is the most common and reliable paint for this project, and comes in a wide variety of colors.
Use caution when scraping off paint with a razor blade---careless scraping may scratch and damage the glass.
Using paint not designed for use on glass, or permanent glass paint, can permanently stain or damage the glass.
Keep razor blades out of reach of children.
