So I wanted to jazz up my home office a bit, and I thought, “Why not try a tinted glass door?” I’ve seen them in some fancy offices and always loved that sleek, semi-private look. I figured it couldn’t be that hard to do myself, right?
First, I measured my existing door frame like five times. Seriously, measure twice (or five times), cut once. I didn’t want to mess this up and end up with a wonky door.
Next up, finding the glass. I went to a few local glass shops, and man, are there options! Different shades of tint, different thicknesses… It was a little overwhelming. I ended up going with a medium-dark tint, something that would give me some privacy but still let in enough light.
The Tinting Process
I thought about getting the glass pre-tinted, but I figured I’d try a DIY tinting film first. It seemed way cheaper and less permanent if I screwed up. I picked up a roll of window film from the hardware store, along with a spray bottle, a squeegee, and a sharp utility knife.
- I cleaned the glass like crazy. Any little speck of dust would show up under the film, and I didn’t want that.
- Then I sprayed the glass with soapy water. Lots of it. This is key to getting the film to slide around and position correctly.
- I measured and cut tint, the shop keeper told me how to cut the tint a little bigger than the glass panel.
- I carefully peeled off the backing of the film and sprayed the sticky side with more soapy water. Again, lots of it.
- Then came the tricky part: applying the film to the glass. I started at the top and slowly worked my way down, using the squeegee to push out the air bubbles and excess water.
- I used my knife to remove the extra parts that were cut.
It took some patience, and there were a few moments where I thought I’d ruined the whole thing, but I finally got it! The bubbles were mostly gone (a few tiny ones remained, but I’m telling myself they add character). I trimmed the edges of the film with the utility knife, and it looked pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.
Installing the Door
Now for the scary part: taking off the old door and putting up the new one. I enlisted the help of my buddy, because glass is heavy, and I didn’t want to drop it. We carefully unscrewed the hinges of the old door and lifted it out.
Then, we reversed the process with the new, tinted glass door. It was a bit fiddly, getting the hinges lined up perfectly, but we eventually got it. The door swung smoothly, and it looked amazing!
And Finally,I cleaned it for the last time.
The whole project took a weekend, and it was definitely a learning experience. But now I have a super cool, tinted glass door in my office, and I did it all myself! It feels good to look at something and say, “Yeah, I built that.”