Crittall Door Hack - How to DIY Crittall Style Doors for Your Home

When we were extending and renovating our house, the internal doors were the last thing on my mind. They’re just doors, right? I’ll just choose some from our local DIY store and be done with it. Although I knew at some point, I wanted Crittall style doors in my home. They’re just so stylish!

I wanted a glass door in between the utility room and kitchen as it would help distribute light around. We have a large east-facing window in the utility so the morning sunshine pours through and helps bring light into this corner of our kitchen.

However, as the glass door and window in the utility are east and north-facing, by lunchtime, a lot of the light has disappeared.

a white paned door from B&Q through to the utilitu room — The door to the utility. It’s a nice door

utility room with patterened flooring, dark cabinets, washing machine, window and open shelving with baskets — We have a large east-facing window in the utility and the sunshine pours in in the morning

utility room with dark navy kitchen cabinets, vintage style taps, anthracite grey windows, open shelvig with baskets — We also have a door to the left, just seen

Adding a glass door helps to keep the utility bright throughout the day from the huge sun lantern we have in the kitchen next to the utility. This meant we could close the door and still have the light streaming through in the morning.

We went with a plain white glass door from B&Q, to begin with as it matched the door we already had walking into the kitchen. It was a nice door; I have nothing against it. But I knew eventually that I was going to paint all the doors and skirting boards in the kitchen anthracite grey to match the bi-fold doors.

Crittall Style Doors

That’s when I decided to create a crittall style door. Eventually, we are looking to occasionally Airbnb the right-hand side of our home out and the utility will double up as a small kitchen.

I was looking at installing blinds on the door so that we had some privacy when we had guests over but I wanted something a little more permanent.

utility room with monochrome patterened tiled flooring, dark navy cabinets and anthracite grey windows — This utility will double up as a small kitchen for guests.

Thankfully, Glass Films got in touch asking if I wanted to do a collaboration and I knew instantly what to do. By adding reeded glass to the crittall style doors, it would still allow all the light to come into the utility room but give everyone some privacy on either side.

How to Make Crittall Doors

It’s quite simple really. A crittall door is just a door made of steel or dark grey aluminum with slim frames and glass panels. To create a crittall style door, they need to be dark grey or black with a slim black frame going through them.

What you will need to do a Crittall door hack (film optional!)

A door!
Strip wood (depending on the depth of your window frame)
Super glue for all types of material, I used Gorilla Glue
Paint – I used Valspar Satin Anthracite Grey (by using the RAL no. 7016)
Paintbrush and roller
Glass film of your choice (I used Glass Film Reeded Glass)
Complete Window films installation kit which comes with a professional squeegee, trimming knife, and spray bottle.

How I Did It

I was originally going to use electrical tape to create the crittall style door frame but as the frame to the door is quite deep, I decided to go with strip wood instead. I needed to plan where the wooden frames were going, so I used SketchUp to work out the measurements.

I measured the space of the glass and then divided it by 4 to give me the layout of where I needed to put the 3 frames to create a faux crittall style door.

tape measure measuring the width of the glass pane — Measure the glass of the door

measurements for the placement of strip wood on the doors

I cut the strip wood to size using my Mitre saw.

mitre saw cutting strip wood — I do love my mitre saw!

Finally, I cleaned the glass using soapy water spray, and using the Gorilla glue, I stuck the strip wood to the doors. The glue says you have to put pressure on it for at least an hour so I used a large clamp to hold it in place.

Once the wood was secure, I used Polyfilla to fill in the tiny gaps between the wood and the door frame to make it look seamless.

spraying soapy water on the glass — Use a very diluted soapy water solution

I used Gorilla glue on the back of the strip wood

strip wood stuck to the glass of the door — And then stuck the strip wood to the glass

The next job was to paint the door and frame to make a crittall style internal door. In hindsight, it was probably best to paint the strip wood first! I used Valspar Premium Wood & Metal in Satin Paint and they mixed the color for me using the Anthracite Grey RAL no. 7016.

painting the door anthracite grey — Getting the door ready to paint

first coat of anthracite grey paint on the door to the utiity room — First coat going on

final coat of anthracite grey on — I love the Anthracite Grey colour

The door needed 3 coats to give it an even coverage and is the perfect color for that faux crittall look!

Adding the Reeded Glass Film

Finally, I needed to add the reeded glass film to the door. Again, I used some soapy water spray to make sure the door was completely clean and measured out the four sections of the faux crittall style door so I could cut the film to size.

cutting the ribbed glass film in the kitchen — It is easy to cut the film

The glass film is self-adhesive so it takes a lot of patience and precision to apply. Spray some soapy water onto the glass and then put the film into place, slowly peeling off the back of the film so that it sticks to the glass.

Using a professional squeegee, slowly squeeze all the bubbles out from under the film and mop up any excess water.

sticking the glass film to the crittall style door — Using the squeegee to squeeze out any excess air

Once you are happy that the film is vertical and in place, use a very sharp cutting knife and the end of your squeegee to cut any excess film away.

putting the glass film in sections on the door — Using a sharp cutting knife and end of the squeegee, I cut away the excess film

And that’s all there is to it! I am so happy with the results of my faux crittall style door and the reeded film helps give us some privacy if we ever get around to renting out this side of our house.

I just need to paint all our internal doors anthracite grey!

crittall style internal door in the kitchen leading through to the utility room — This corner of our kitchen is coming along nicely.

DIY crittall door in the kitchen with reeded glass — I love the color and the reeded glass film gives us some privacy without compromising on the light

crittall style door in the kitchen with reeded glass — Our crittall style internal door

It’s so easy to do and I love the results. Let me know if you have any questions.

2 Comments

Lauren says:
03/12/2022 at 8:00 pm
I love using the glass film but wonder if you could have covered all the glass and added the wood after? Did you add wood to both sides of the door?
We are downsizing to a Victorian Terrace in the new year and I plan to have exposed beams in the existing extension… so glad to see some in a real home
1. Melanie Boyden says:
  07/01/2023 at 12:03 pm
  In hindsight, it would have been much easier to apply the film first, and then put the wood over the top of it. I was a little worried that the film wouldn’t hold if you stuck wood onto it, but the film is pretty solid so I reckon it would have worked. I did add wood to both sides.

Crittall Door Hack – How to DIY Crittall Style Doors for Your Home