As much as I prefer to decorate the inside of my house, sometimes the outside needs a bit of love. Adding curb appeal is so important and little touches can make a huge impact.
Last winter I painted my front door black and white {click here if you missed it} and received so many compliments from my neighbors that I decided to balance out the black and white on the other side of my house by adding faux carriage doors. This simple DIY project adds ton of curb appeal without a spending a lot of money.
Carriage door accessories can really add up, especially if you don’t have existing garage door windows. You can purchase faux windows from Amazon for $90.00, or you can choose the DIY route and paint them on like I did.
Rather than spending $360.00 on faux windows, I decided to paint them on using black Rustoleum spray paint. Taping off the window panels and adding a protective plastic barrier around the rest of the garage took a bit of time but once completed, the spray painting went rather quickly. I had to touch up the black with a fine paint brush after I removed the tape to ensure my lines were even, but that took a minimal amount of time.
Next I purchased a set of carriage-style door hinges from Amazon. You simply screw those into your existing garage doors. I spent a total of $40.00 on this project as I already had the tape and spray paint on hand. Below is what my doors looked like before the makeover:
Here is what they look like now- not too shabby for a few hours of work!
It is really difficult to tell that the windows are faux. In fact, my neighbor messaged my husband that same evening, inquiring about our new garage doors. I am really happy with the end result and I love how it balanced the front of my house.
Disclosure: I used affiliate links in this post. If you click through these links and make a purchase, we will earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise.
Thanks for stopping by~
MK says
I have added the carriage hardware twice. When we were putting our Atlanta home on the market, I noticed that several neighbors had updated by REPLACING their garage doors w/the carriage house doors. KA-CHING! So I just ordered the hardware and attached it and it looked fabulous. Then when we bought our new home, I added the carriage house hardware here as well. Both of my houses already had windows along the top of the garage doors so I have never attempted to paint faux windows, but adding the hardware is easy and it does add instant curb appeal!
Terry says
Thank you so much for sharing. It is such a simple face lift for garage doors especially if you already have windows (lucky). Thank you for stopping by!!
Michelle says
Ok….I have to be honest even though I am slightly embarrassed to say this. I live next door to Terry and for the last couple weeks have wondered how much she spent on her new carriage style garage doors. As in I thought they were real and actually brand new doors. Amazing”
Terry says
Thanks so much Michelle!! I was so happy to read your name in our comment section and then I started giggling when I read what you wrote! You know better than to think I actually paid for new doors! XOXO
Johnny says
These garage doors look great. Right now the white paint on our garage doors is really faded. I wonder if a finish like this would look good at our house. It looks great on yours. Thanks for sharing.
bryan flake says
Even with a simple black and white garage door, it is astounding how much the black arrows and windows add to the garage door. It is nice to see a garage door that possesses a bit of beauty instead of just standard functionality. In some ways, the arrows help the garage door compliment the brick of your home.
Angie says
They look great! It appears that you painted the manual lock handle in the center, am I right? If so, can you please explain the process and products you used? TIA!
Hazel Owens says
I’m surprised that such minor changes can make such a big impact! I wouldn’t be able to tell that the windows on the garage door are painted on if you hadn’t told us. I don’t blame your neighbor at all for thinking that you got new garage doors. This is a great project for anyone trying to spruce up their garage. Thanks for the idea!
Paul Langley says
Wow, that is a really nice garage renovation. I had never thought of something so simple, but it really does have a huge effect on the look of the house. I may have to look into doing something like this for my garage doors. Thanks so much for writing!
Katie Anderson says
I would love to get this kind of thing on my garage doors at home, it adds such a classic look. My garage doors have been broken for a while, and they have become kind of an eye-sore, at least for me. I wonder if a service that repairs the doors would also be willing to put in a little more effort to get a result that looks like yours. It would surly be worth the investment.