I have read and it has been stated that the garage door is a large percentage of your home’s overall curb appeal. When I was researching this topic, I also found that somewhere around 70-80% of realtors agree that a new garage door can help your home sell faster and can increase the overall worth of your home. This might not be your specific situation, but let’s say you want to spruce up the look of your garage either in general or for a specific holiday, event, or sports season. How would you do that? Adding garage door décor is an inexpensive upgrade that can have a big impact on the look of your garage and the overall look of your home.
From removable magnetic, vinyl and faux window garage door décor, to festive holiday and sports team options, there are numerous ways for you to easily DIY the look of your garage door. Décor and hardware can make any standard garage door pop. Here is how!
Magnetic Garage Door Décor
Magnetic garage door décor and accents are probably one of the cheapest, fastest, and easiest ways to spruce up the look of your garage door. They take only a few minutes to install and since there are no holes drilled to secure them, they will not void any type of warranty that you might have from the garage door manufacturer.
Generally, for magnetic garage door décor, you will see different options of hinges and handles to give your garage a more carriage style look. Another thing that I was able to find was the large decorative nails that you sometimes see on garages and entry doors. Magnetic garage door décor like this will provide a new look, depth, and texture to your garage door that otherwise is just a large flat panel.
Vinyl Garage Door Décor
Vinyl garage door décor is something fun to check if you ever lost on the internet. With the nature of vinyl and the huge canvas also known as your garage door allows for several creative options. You can install subtle upgrades to change the look of your garage, or you can go extreme and make your garage a car eating monster for Halloween. The décor options are nearly endless.
There are several great reasons to look at vinyl for your garage door décor. It is easy to install and remove. There are no lasting holes or damage to the garage door. And just like with the magnets, if you have a garage door warranty, that stays intact since it is simply a vinyl decal. And lastly, vinyl is something that can be easily stored and saved for the next year if it is something seasonal.
Faux Windows
Decorative windows in the garage doors can greatly increase the curb appeal of a house. They look great and are very catching and are pleasant to the eyes. But what if you do not have windows in your garage door? Windows in a garage door can help with the look, but from personal experience can easily double the cost when needing to have a replacement garage door installed.
As I get older and I have a stay-at-home wife and small children, the happier I am that our garage does not have actual windows in the top panels like our previous house did. With now knowing how easy it is to fish a line and grab the emergency release on a garage door, I doubt we will ever have windows in our garage doors again. If you are wanting the look of windows in your garage door, rather than replacing the door, consider faux windows.
With faux window garage door décor, you have basically two options to choose from. There are vinyl options that are simply stick-ons that you add to the top panel of your garage door. They will give you a faux window look, but from what I was able to find, the panel look and texture will still show through once you are up closer to the garage door. The second thing you need to consider if you are going to use vinyl for creating your faux windows is that the windows will be two dimensional. They will not extend from the garage door like a normal window panel will, so again it might look off when you are closer to the garage door.
The second option for faux windows is magnetic ones. As they will be offset from the garage door, this should give it a more natural look when people are closer to your garage. The magnetic option will allow you to remove, relocate, and reuse your garage door décor without the fear of something ripping, tearing, or stretching out of proportion.
Holiday Garage Door Décor
If you are one who likes to go all out for the holiday season, or you are really not, but you are pretending to be, holiday garage door décor is one of best ways to get the most bang for your holiday decoration buck. For Halloween, you can scare the children with a huge monster grin or have a massive spiderweb creeping across your garage door. The impact of the vinyl can make your neighbors a little jealous and leave those impressionable trick-or-treaters talking about their “favorite house” until Thanksgiving. (Provided you sweeten the deal with some massive chocolate bars to match your massive décor!)
For Christmas, the festive ideas are endless with such a large canvas to work from! Have a full-scale nativity scene, complete with wise men and shepherds. Or a massive bow that wraps your garage door like the best gift you’ll give yourself this year. Or you can make it a winter wonderland with snowmen, icicles, snowdrifts, and snowflakes falling. (Don’t judge, I live in the desert. These things are novel and don’t show up unless we work them into our decor somewhere…) Still not grabbing you? Well, there are many people more creative than you who have already thought up the design. All you need to do is choose one and stick it on your house. Voila! Decorated for the season in one fell swoop!
Sports Garage Door Décor
Are you one who yells at the TV because you know your team is listening to your coaching? Are you superstitious enough where your team requires you to don on this ratty apparel, otherwise they will be facing a sure defeat? Well, then how could they lose if you represent your team with some garage door décor?
If you need to declare your love and devotion to a given sports team, a garage door décor and decals are about the equivalent to buying a billboard or shouting from the mountain tops. Afraid the spouse might get upset, who cares? Think the HOA might not approve? Approval be damned… Your sports team needs you!
Most of the team garage door décor options that I have come across and seen are large vinyl decals that take up either all or at least most of your garage door surface area. You will need to follow the manufacturer’s installation guidelines so that the garage door can stay functional and you do not damage the garage door decal, but other than following the guidelines, the vinyl is easy to install and should be something you can enjoy all season long.
DIY Garage Door Décor
For nearly anything you do with garage door décor, it is going to be something that you will be able to DIY. For the magnetic décor, it is simply add and remove. For vinyl work, you will need to clean the surface of the garage door so the vinyl can stick, but then you will just need to work the air bubbles out as you adhere the vinyl to the garage door.
Hardware
If you are looking for something permanent when it comes to garage door décor, you might want to purchase actual hardware that you can use for your garage door. This will generally require you to drill into the door to secure the fixtures, but you will not have to worry about them getting off-kilter or walking off with a new owner.
You will want to look and see if your garage door is still under warranty. By drilling holes into the garage door, you might void your manufacturer’s warranty. You will also need to pay attention if your garage door is insulated since you will need to remove the insulation panel before you are able to install your fixtures. As long as you follow the installation guide with your purchase and determine if and what your garage door warranty covers and requires, installation should be a snap.
Conclusion – Fads Come and Go
With vinyl and magnetic garage door décor, if fads come and go, you can roll with the tide. With the easy add and removal, these types of décor provide, it will only take minutes to put up or take down those accents without any permanent damage to the door. Those carriage handles and studs are trendy now, but in a few years or a few decades, they may become dated. While your neighbors gut it out or drop lots of cash to keep up, you can smile as you pull off your used-to-be-fab magnets, knowing now harm was done to the door or your wallet.
This also means making a big impact with small clean-up for Christmas, Halloween, or any holiday in between. Or if your team is having a losing season and you need to lay low for a while so your buddies will stop harassing you, no worries! Off the decals come, while you lick your wounds, and maybe choose a new team for next year.
Thanks for reading, and as always, be sure to keep it tuned to The Garage Junkie for all of your garage’s FYI and DIY needs!
