How to make a faux crittal UPVC door for your home for under £25
I really do enjoy the interiors world on Instagram, particularly when so many interior grammer’s are also budget friendly and share brilliant DIY ideas that look great and aren’t too complex.
After seeing the trend of faux crittall (or frittall) doors, – see @theresa_gromski – I decided to revamp our conservatory doors which frankly I have always hated. They’re white UPVC french doors that just don’t look all that amazing.
Taking some inspiration from @linsdrabwell I bought a tin of Frenchic Paint in Black Jack, and ordered some 19mm electrical tape in black.
After cleaning the doors thoroughly and taping around the doors and glass, I took to painting. With two walking little ones (hello Lockdown 3 and homeschooling) I did sections of painting, usually one side at a time until that coat was dry. I did three coats in total across the main parts of the doors, including the handles, and two coats for the inner parts that aren’t on show as much.
Frenchic Paint doesn’t require any sanding or priming ahead of painting on UPVC. I even used the paint on the handles and so far, it is holding up well. Frenchic Paint has a lovely matte finish when dry due to it’s mineral composition, though Black Jack is only available in their exterior paint, which really just makes it more durable. It also doesn’t have any of the stereotypical paint smell so I wasn’t worried in the slightest about painting around the children or needing to have lots of open windows in the middle of winter. I’d definitely recommend this as truly great paint. I did use basically the whole time across both sides of the doors, so do bare this in mind. However that could just be my painting technique. But for under £20 a tin it’s still very reasonably priced.
For the all important crittal affect, I used super cheap electrical tape from Amazon. I know lots of people have used wood edging which they’ve painted to match the rest of the doors, but as our doors are internal, I thought the tape would look tidier from the other side. Plus it would be easier to fix, should little hands decide to take on some DIY of their own (so far, no problems)
To apply, I very simply measured the glass pain and divided by five to get the distance for each tape line. I used a sharpie to add a small dot and then lined up my tape. Cutting the tape to size using a stanley knife. The first window was simple. The second was a tad harder as I had to make sure they lined up with each other as near perfectly as I could. The plus side to tape is it could be repealed off if it didn’t look quite right. But the hassle was absolutely worth it. For 89p I’m pretty pleased with the tape and can do a more permanent look later if we choose to, though I do really like the tape. It’s also good for those that are renting and need to be able to remove it at a later date.
Over all, for less than £25, I’m so pleased with my bargain doors. They look so much nicer than the original white UPVC and would work on any door like this, plastic or wood, interior or exterior. I’m thinking my window above the kitchen sink may get the same treatment. What do you think?
Let me know if you decide to try this at home, either here, or tag me in Instagram so I can see.
