I just finished another DIY project and love how it turned out. My downstairs bathroom door was damaged when I moved in. It had a hole/crack in it that the prior owner tried to repair by using caulk. I didn’t want to have to buy a new door so I got the idea of wallpapering the door to give it a unique look and cover the damage. I used a paintable wallpaper that has a damask design. This is a full day project. There was some tedious work with making a pattern and cutting the wallpaper based on the pattern. I also recommend that you have a large open space. I used an unfinished part of my basement where I could lay the wallpaper and the pattern template down on the concrete floor so there was no damage to the floor. I’ve outlined the steps below along with pictures. There is also a product list at the end. I hope you find some inspiration in this!
The pictures above are the before pics. I needed to get the hole and crack even with the door surface so I just used plaster to cover it. It took 2-3 coats and a little sanding. Make sure and remove the doorknob.
The wallpaper roll is standard size and wasn’t wide enough for one piece to cover the door. I needed 2 pieces and I decided that creating a template or pattern would be the best way to get the result that I wanted. So I took newspapers and construction paper and measured and cut it and then taped it together over the door so that I could use it to cut the wallpaper. The pictures should help you see how I did that.
Once the pattern was done I laid the right side of the wallpaper down on my concrete basement floor and then laid the pattern on top of the paper. I used a craft knife and a piece of wood that was about 1 foot long to make sure I had straight cuts. I laid the piece of wood down with the edge where I wanted to cut and then used the knife to get a nice straight cut.
I set the inside panel pieces aside and took the one large piece back to the door. I used a small brush and applied the wallpaper glue directly to the door. I applied glue to the top half first and positioned the wallpaper on the door where I wanted it and pressed down and over it to make sure it was smooth without air pockets. i did use a plastic wallpaper smoothing tool sparingly to remove air pockets. Don’t press down very hard or you will tear the paper. My fingers were useful as well with the process. I did have to do some minor cutting after around the panels after I applied the wallpaper. Then do the same thing for the left side and just make sure you match where the pattern in the wallpaper leaves off so once you are done applying the wallpaper it will look like one piece.
For the inside panels I took the pieces that I cut out and trimmed them with scissors to fit each section. I made sure that the wallpaper pattern matched where the pattern was above and below the panel and then glued them on.
After the wallpaper was applied I did some final tweaks and cut the doorknob hole out and then let the glue dry. It takes about 4 hours to dry. Once it was dry I took a white semi-gloss enamel paint and painted the entire door over the wallpaper. This paint has a sheen/gloss to it when dry which will allow you to wipe clean the door when needed. You don’t want to do all this work and then get the door dirty and not be able to clean it!
Screw the doorknob back on when the paint is dry and that’s it. You are done and it looks amazing and unique. I’ve received many compliments.
Paid Product List
I used Brewster paintable wallpaper. Here is a link to the pattern I used: Brewster Scrolls in Boxes Wallpaper
and here is a link to other patterns: Brewster Paintable Wallpaper
Wallpaper Adhesive: SureGrip Adhesive
Knife for cutting wallpaper: Fine Point Knife
Smoother: Smoothing Tool
Semi-Gloss Enamel Paint: I used Behr that I purchased from Home Depot but you can use any brand.