Electrical Tape Sliding Door Grid Hack

Ooooooh, I’ve got a good one to share with you today! A simple, can be done in under 30 minutes hack that turns a lackluster glass door or window into a rehabbed dream! And it all costs under $4. This was one of those projects that made an instant impact and no one is the wiser that this is electrical tape and not a real grid!

Our basement sliding glass door was pretty dingy. Okay, a lot dingy. I don’t think it had been taken care of since its install back in 1985. It was a faded brown, had an old, dirty wood handle, made the most horrendous squeal when you pried it open, and it just lacked any sort of character. It simply served it’s purpose and nothing more.

(And could have used quite the scrub down!)

We’d always talked about putting in a french door in our basement entry because of how beautiful it would be walking out of our basement walkout into our pergola area. Very classical and whimsical. But installing a french door system would require some pretty hefty construction and equally as hefty price tag. It was way down our priority list. But as I kept refreshing all the different areas of our basement, I hated that this door remained.

So I took to it with black matte spray paint, a new door handle, and thoroughly cleaned and lubricated the door slides so the track was in much better shape and the squeal was no more.

To achieve the look of the french doors that I love so much, I got creative and decided that instead of installing a custom grid that would cost quite a bit, electrical tape could achieve the exact same look for a couple dollars!

I’m a huge fan of the modern grid doors and windows a la Cusimano Architects…

or Our How-To Home’s office doors

or Bless This Nest Blog’s sliding glass doors…

So I measured the glass height and width. I decided to achieve the more modern look, I would want larger squares (or in this case, rectangles) instead of smaller ones. I determined that three columns and four rows would fit my aesthetic I was going for. I divided the total height divided by 4 and marked with an expo marker that measurement all down the glass. Then divided the total width of the glass divided by 3 and marked that measurement along the top. With a level, I was able to make small expo marker marks to follow.

I purchased a new roll of electrical tape off Amazon and followed my markings vertically and horizontally on the glass, leaving just about 1/4″ overhang onto the caulking of the door so there wasn’t a gap. If you have a laser level, it would make this a MUCH simpler project but I don’t own on just yet so I went about it the old school way.

The flooring I used for this project were the beautiful adhesive vinyl floor tiles from the Chris Loves Julia line at WallPops. These are so easy to install and make an instant impact! They’ve added so much to this small basement entryway and I highly recommend them for their user-friendliness, for the ease of completion, and the overall look that you achieve for such a great price!

**An Important Note**

Only put the electrical tape on the INTERIOR side of the door as the exterior succumbs to all sorts of weather and would eventually cause the tape to lose some of its adhesive and pull off.

And there’s no need to have both sides covered. The door looks equally as good on the interior as it does from the exterior. There were a few bubbles that I noticed on the outside if I looked very closely to the tape that I smoothed with a credit card to make it not actually look like tape. It now looks flawless and no one is the wiser!

An instant upgrade with only a few bucks. Now THAT is a hack I’m here for!!

Keep following along Growing Up Kemper here on the blog, on Pinterest, and on Instagram for more attainable DIY tips, tricks, and inspiration!

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