My friend Poodle's all-cream apartment was in need of a little TLC to warm things up, but her strict landlord won't let her change much. With her exotic past addresses including Morocco and Tunisia, (and belly dancing skills like you've never seen) I thought it would be fun to reference North African decor. She had a pile of unused gold frames and a beautiful heavy wooden Moroccan coffee table. I thought a gold door would look great with the frames and really light up the room with the amazing sunlight they get in the daytime.
Instead of just painting it I thought it would be interesting to cover it in gold leaf. The real stuff is way too expensive, so we got some imitation gold leaf, some glue, sealant, and a small bottle of gold metallic leaf paint from Blick. We needed five packs to cover one side of the door and the frame. We first covered the door in a thin layer of glue, and waited about 40 minutes before beginning to apply the leaf.
The gold leaf was challenging to work with. We chose to start at the bottom because I knew that our first few might be a little experimental. It took a few curse words and some interesting collage-like patches to get the hang of it but we finally got the technique down. Make sure all the windows are closed and the fans are off, because any drafts can cost you dearly. I patched up any scars or parts we missed with the gold paint, which I was a little nervous about at first but wound up giving it a really nice finish.
Voila! Less vanilla, more riad. The golden glow of the door adds a great feeling to the room. I'm really excited to have learned how to work with the gold leaf, I know this will not be the first time. Also, a new doorknob is soon to come. Sorry about the terrible quality of the photos. I took them on my iPad.
