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Since I bought this place I’ve had cellular blinds in the bathroom off of my bedroom, but over the years they’ve become dirty and I found that I never opened them, so there was little point in actually having blinds there. With some time off I decided to frost the window instead, eventually settling on using Rust-Oleum Frosted Glass spray paint purchased at Home Depot for $4.39.
I first removed both panes of the windows (they are double hung Wallside Windows-brand and thus easy to remote) and cleaned them up with glass cleaner, 99% isopropyl alcohol, a toothbrush, and some clean rags. I then masked the edges with 3M Scotch-Blue™ Painter’s Tape, then masked everything else off with more tape and newsprint.
Due to the cold weather painting was done in the basement, and I had to be certain to ventilate the house afterwards because the fumes were making me feel a bit funny. Normally I’d paint in the garage, but with the weather hanging around freezing that wasn’t possible.
Painting itself went well with the paint having a 10-15 minute dry time, after which it could be recoated immediately. I did a total of three coats with each applied in left/right, up/down, diagonal crosshatch patterns to try and get as consistent of a coating as possible. Upon application the paint appears wet, but it dries to a nicely hazy, translucent finish.
Twenty minutes or so after the last coat I removed the masking and blew the dust off of the finish. There were some odd white particles of paint left on the surface, but a gentle wipe with a terry cloth rag dislodged them and left a much more consistent surface. With a total cost of around $5 (taking masking costs into account) this seems to have been a nicely effective replacement for the blinds. Total job time was just over two hours, including removing the windows, painting, waiting, and replacing the windows. The paint did what it claimed to do, which is exactly what I was wanting.
Here’s the photos I took while doing this project to document this project and how it came out:
· Masked window set up to paint, next to a can of Rust-Oleum Frosted Glass spray paint.
· Two window panes after receiving their first coat of Rust-Oleum Frosted Glass paint.
· Powdery overspray on the garbage bags and basement floor. Yes, I was dumb and painted indoors, but it was the only option due to the weather.
· Detail of the surface of the glass immediately after painting. Note the white powdery pieces.
· Detail of the surface of the glass again with the white powdery pieces.
· After gently wiping the surface of the glass down with a dry terry cloth rag, most of the white particles were removed.
· This portion of the window lock was removed so that painting behind it wasn’t a problem.
· Window lock reinstalled and detail of the texture on the surface of the glass.
· Window from the outside after painting the inside with Rust-Oleum Frosted Glass spray paint. Note the bottle of window cleaner to demonstrate how the light is diffused.
· Window from inside after painting with Rust-Oleum Frosted Glass spray paint showing the location of the glass cleaner bottle demonstrated in the previous image. This should work well.
