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Home Decorating Design Dilemma Bedroom

how to camouflage an ugly door leading outside in a bedroom

Karen Chavarria

3 years ago

hello,

i live in a tiny 2 bedroom condo. and we are expecting a baby so I am about to begin decorating her room. However, there is this ugly door leading outside in her bedroom. We cannot change the door for the time being. any ideas on how to hide it? i thought about putting one big curtain from one side to the other but not sure if that would work out.

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Comments (16)

anj_p
3 years ago
yes. just get longer curtains and hang your rod higher.
ratherbesewing
3 years ago
Your baseboard heating element will be in the way if you choose longer drapes..
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The POs put in a slider to the back deck, where a window was. When we had dogs, it was used every night, middle of the night, and morning to let them outside. Our cat used it, as well. So much more convenient than traipsing across the whole house to let them outside. For our purposes it's handy, when coming in from mowing the lawn or gardening, to head straight for the shower and is also a shortcut from our room to the kitchen slider, if we're running back and forth. For our reno, I upgraded to a better version. I'm not any more nervous about this door than the others, or our large windows, and my side of the bed is right by it. All of the houses around us are single story, so a neighbor would have to climb a ladder or tree to look into our room if we forget to adjust the curtains.
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It may be a cultural thing (UK born but lived here for 25+ years) but closed. I'm not nuts about house tours either unless it is family or very close friends. To me bedrooms are private space, however nicely decorated. :-) Sue36, I'd have been livid in your place and that relative would never have been invited back! I do leave the guest room and the upstairs bathroom door open if we are having enough guests to need the coat space and upstairs bathroom. That is to make them easy to find and to discourage people from barging into the other bedrooms and linen closet. For smaller numbers, people use the powder room (door always kept closed*) and coat closet downstairs. * FYI, most Europeans have locks on bathroom doors, use them, and prefer to keep them closed. I'm not sure whether this is a germ control or a privacy thing. I still find it disconcerting if I'm not to be able to lock myself in the loo during those private moments, and to rely solely on the US closed door convention, LOL.
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Thanks for all the comments and suggestions everyone! I was afraid that we would be pretty limited on our options because of the placement of the door. I do like the making it a bookshelf idea, but if we were to close off the outside , I think we would just wall it off completely if we went that route. No railing is sort of a concern for us if we do decide to have children... but when i say "balcony".. its more like it goes out onto the roof of the kitchen. Its odd to say the least. I wish there was an old picture of how they had it set up with the apartment upstairs. It is pretty drafty and we chatted a bit with the renters before, and they had children in the room and they said they had to keep the temp turned up fairly high to keep them warm enough. We live in Minnesota so it can get cold! I never thought of the historical district part... its a smaller city, and the neighborhood we're in has a mix of old an new houses... but this house is definitely one of the older houses on the street. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check up on that.
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Comments (21)
I agree with others that this is a safety problem. But then again, how many two + story apartments have a second emergency exit in a bedroom to begin with? Probably very few. So if this is your only bed position option, I would be placing the bed there, as well. It also appears that there is a sprinkler head above the bed. One solution: Is there enough room to pull the bed forward by two feet? If so, put a curtain between the door and headboard. Leave enough room that the door can be opened enough to slip through if you have an emergency. All you would need to do is to move one of the bedside tables aside. My daughter and husband have a house that has an unused outside entrance to their Master bedroom. It is located in an alcove between their closet and a dressing area. They are hiding it by placing one of those large decorative mirrors in front of the door. The kind that sits on the floor. Perfect! So if you can move the bed to the corner, as suggested, hiding the door that way might work. Plus a mirror could enhance the space.
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freedomplace1
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Paint it a Tiffany blue.
Ellen S
3 years ago
What about a room divider?
freedomplace1
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
You can hang drapes from the ceiling.

https://www.potterybarn.com/m/shop/window-treatments/curtains-drapes-by-style/
olychick
3 years ago
It doesn't look ugly to me, just looks like a door. I'd probably skip the draperies on the window and put some nice roman shades on both it and the door. The draperies will never look great on the window because they have to be too short to accommodate the baseboard heater.

or top down bottom up shades

Or you could do a shade on the window and cover the door with draperies - like this but with the draperies closed over the door:
freedomplace1
3 years ago
Or instead, since baseboard heater is there, maybe do some kind of shade(s).

This Roman shade comes in a bunch of colors.

https://www.potterybarn.com/m/products/riviera-stripe-cordless-roman-shade-porcelain-blue/?cm_cat=Google&sku=9429184&catalogId=84&cm_ven=FreePLA&cm_pla=Windows%20%3e%20Shades
Irene Morresey
3 years ago
I’d just get a nice Roman blind made for window and get a bit extra of same fabric and do curtains on door
Diane
3 years ago
Is this a door you will continue to use? If so what about an old fashioned folding screen on wheels easy to make. If the door is not needed for egress in case of emergency a tall book case
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago
IMO I would make sure the door has no way to be opened and run drapes all across that wall or a roman shade and a dresser infront of the door. There is no way I would want a door in a childs room to the outside.
Gcubed
3 years ago
I would consider the door a "wall" and put a dresser and cover the glass with an opaque film and/or large piece of art. You want to make sure there is NO way that door can be opened from outside or inside if it is a bedroom.
Kate
3 years ago
If you don’t use the door ever I would put a bookcase in front of it. Be sure to fasten it to the wall and you could add some trim to make it look builtin.
PRO
User
3 years ago
Lots of great suggestions above. I would paint the door the same color as the wall and then do roman shades for the door and adjacent window.
ptreckel
3 years ago
I would run a drapery rod across the width of the room. Half way between the top of the door wood work and the ceiling. Then, get full length (to the floor) light blocking draperies and stack them to the far right, completely covering the door and pulled to cover the window casing on the right side of the window. Then, hang patterned Roman Shades on the windows. The long draperies will block the light from the door and mask it completely, leaving the windows with their shades to filter the light and a pattern to the room. They will also not interfere with your baseboard heating units (electric or water?). Check out light blocking draperies at Pottery Barn Teen. I believe they are on sale now!
maire_cate
3 years ago
Is this a door to a balcony or does it provide ground floor egress? Think twice before completely blocking a door that could be an emergency exit. Obviously we all hope that never happens but it;s worth considering.
katinparadise
3 years ago
My thoughts were the same as @maire_cate. If the door is your second door, you shouldn't block it. If that's the case, I would just add floor to ceiling drapes and a matching roman shade on the window.

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