Suggestions for "obscuring" glass on bathroom door

[blueman]

The door to one of our bathrooms is a French door -- which obviously presents privacy issues. The previous owners had hung a curtain on the door and sprayed some type of "haze" on the glass which since has started to peel off. The curtain also looks kind of ugly and doesn't give a "clean" look.

So, I am looking for suggestions that can be used to obscure the glass while still letting as much light as possible through.

- Is there any type of "stick-on" colored diffuser that would look good and not like a hack?

- Is there anything one could spray on?

We are looking for something in the aqua/greenish color family to match the wall color.

Thanks!

[DD_BobK]

frosting but I don't know about colors

[George]

The only permanent and good looking way to do what you want is to have the glass sandblasted. It isn't a big deal or expensive.

[Jim Elbrecht]

The curtain or how it is hung is the way to fix the ugly.

Want a one time, classy, permanent solution, with lots of options?

Replace the panes with stained glass. Choice of colors & textures is mind-boggling.

for ideas- there is probably a stained glass supplies store local to you.

Jim

[Hustlin' Hank]

There is a product that will ETCH the glass. It is permanent. It is an acid and you basically brush it on, let it sit, and then wash it off. You can put stickers where you don't want the glass etched. This is easy to do. Check out Hobby Lobby or some craft stores. This gives the same effect as if it were sand blasted.

Hank

[Doug Miller]

Not true. The glass can also be etched with hydrofluoric acid; various online retailers sell kits for doing this (along with templates for decorative designs).

[Van Chocstraw]

Miniblinds would be good. Something you can open or pull up for maximum light and close for privacy. Why destroy a good window? May people shouldn't be so touchy. Who's looking?

[Lee B]

There was a recent thread here entitled "self adhering window film" that might give you some more ideas.

If you google/bing/whatever for "privacy window clings", there are a lot of sites that sell that type of film. Some are stick on and others are static clings that can be removed if you don't like them, or didn't get them on straight.

[sligoNoSPAMjoe]

How about replacing the door?

[DanG]

Spray on frosting:

Clean off the glass and color each pane with gel sheets:

[auggie]

i used a home depot bought privicy window film , you cut it to size use a spray and squigee it out, it worked great on a window its removable cheap, less than 30 bucks and you can cut designs into it

[aemeijers]

Expensive, and a pain, and OP likes the look. It was a dumb thing for whoever installed it, but any DIY frosting or etching is likely to look, well, DIY. If they can live without the bathroom for a day, they could take the door someplace and have it done, or replaced with stained glass or something. Haven't seen french doors on rooms where privacy was an issue much, but usual solution is those stretchy curtains with lots of folds, and cafe rods top and bottom. Of course, if hallway or other room is dark, those are sometimes not as opaque as they look.

Me, I'd just put two towel bars on door, one at knob height and one at neck height, and put the guest towels there. Good IQ test for any visitors.

-- aem sends...

[norminn]

Go to a craft store, like Michaels or Joann, and check out the craft paint. You can get any color of acryllic paint in little bottles, mix if you like with a medium to make it translucent. I believe I've also seen spray paint for a "frosted glass" look. There is also stick-on stuff with frosted glass illusion.

You can also get narrow rods to fit at top and bottom of a curtain that hold it almost flush against the door.

[hrhofmann]

There used to be contact paper that was translucent.

[clare]

It's called MacTac film - you can get it in many different patterns and opacities. Crystal laquer works good too but doesn't stand up real well - possibly what WAS on yours.

[Marina]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I've seen the "stuff" for sale in a catalog. I think it's a self cling vinyl. A friend had it at her house. I didn't get up close to it, but it looked good in the room.

a site found when I googled:

[Oren]

Look around this site. It has Colored Window Film:

[blueman]

I first tried the peel-on stained-glass sheets. It actually looked pretty good but had two problems:

1. Parts of the stained-glass patterns were too see-through for the females in our family. They didn't fully obscure the view.
2. There were slivers of clear glass between the (non-uniform) edges of the pain and the edges of the stained glass sheets. In fact, the instructions recommended leaving a 1/16" border. However, by putting your eye close to the border, you were able to see clearly into the room.

So, instead I went with the spray-on frosting. I did multiple coats and it ended up looking pretty good and seems to meet the privacy needs of the women in our family.

Thanks for all the great advice!