Q: When my oldest daughter left home, I decided to turn her room into a small den. I had an entryway made from my bedroom into this room, so I do not need the original door that leads to the hallway I have placed my TV in front of the door, which is just about the only place that it can be placed. Do you have any ideas for hiding the door? My TV sits in the prettiest antique cabinet but the door distracts from all of its features. The original door leading into the bedroom from the hallway has been left just in case I someday decide to sell the house.
A: I'd be more anxious about that daughter leaving home than I would about the door in the new room, but then again, I'm so anxious I won't let my daughter leave home until she's thirty-five!
Actually, there are several good solutions to this decorating dilemma, and it's a dilemma that many share with you how to hide some unsightly door, window or even just a big blotch on the wall from when Uncle Joe moved the cabinet for you.
You could try the opposite approach to the one you've already got going. Instead of trying to hide the door, celebrate it. You could paint it, and the other trim in the room, an interesting color that's lighter than the wall color. Or, you could remove the door and the hinges, storing both in an attic or basement until the time you decide to sell the house. Removing the hinges and re-painting will give a more "finished" look to the new entryway.
However, if you want to use the wall with the door as wall space, or for some other reason you don't want to use that door at all, you could cover it effectively, and not too expensively, with a curtain. Just pretend that it is a window, and you're going to drape it.
You can, of course, find drapery material to match any décor. You could go for a dramatic look with a wrought iron curtain rod and a rich velvety fabric, which would probably go well with the pretty antique cabinet. Or you could achieve a more modern look with a sleek, striped pull-down window shade.
For this project, you can use any covering you would use for a window, from blinds to curtains. You could have a valance over the door as well; just pretend you're hanging a window covering over a window without using the inside of the frame, and you should have no problem.
Just make sure that whatever you choose, it is wide enough so that you can see the curtain on either side of the cabinet. You don't want this to look cheap, as if you skimped on the material. Don't be afraid to cover a few feet on either side of the door, so that you're sure to completely cover it and grant yourself extra space on either side of the cabinet.
Before you know it, you'll have a terrific little T.V. room, just right for you, just in time for your daughter to come home and say that you were right, it is a big scary world out there and couldn't she please come back for awhile.
Reprinted with permission from the Sheffield School of Design
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