Short post alert. Ever have a couple French doors that you avoid painting because the scraping part is enough to drive you legit batty?
Painters rejoice! Here is my super easy solution. And it’s way easier and faster than you think.
First – you need some tools. I use a drywall knife (also called a putty knife or a drywall scraper but you can use any sharp edged device – machetes, lawnmower blades and paring knives not recommended), a spray window cleaner (it’s important that it is either Windex brand or I have found Solutions Glass Cleaner and Multi-Surface Cleaner with vinegar at the Dollar Tree will work too!), paper towels (any brand will do).
It’s important that you attempt this before the paint has fully cured. Most latex paint takes about 30 days to fully cure. So after the paint has dried to the touch, it’s best to scrape within that first week (before curing).
So this is the complicated part….spray down the window pane. All of it.
You aren’t attempting to clean here. You are letting the paint on the glass get wet. Mind-blowing, I know.
Now take your sharp edged item (remember – no lawn mower blades), and draw a straight line where your edge will be. Go over it a couple times.
Then comes to the fun part – the scraping. You just simply take the flat part of the blade and scrape up.
The paint literally comes off like butter. Easier than butter if the butter was cold. More like semi-soft butter.
I average about fifteen seconds per pane from start to finish.
Some people asked me if I would ever tape a window or a French door again if I was spraying the painted trim in my house and the answer is No WAY. The scraping takes a lot less time – especially if the paint was thick…because that just makes this easier!
Hard to believe that just some window cleaner makes this chore so much easier but it really works. But don’t take my word for it. Go spend a dollar and find out for yourself 🙂
Mind Blown! I have spent hours scraping panes with a razor blades. THANK YOU!!
This is a great tip!! I spent a ton of time taping off these turquoise windows and spent most of the time cursing. Never again!
http://krusesworkshop.blogspot.com/2013/09/easy-breezy-beautiful-shutters.html
Awesome tip! Not that we have French doors, but we do have plenty of windows and a giant sliding door so it will come in handy when I finally get motivated enough to re-paint. It’s been 17 years, so it’s long past time…
This is a great tip!! I’ve done this a lot…though I utterly despise cleaning those doors when there are little fingers or puppy noses in the house. 🙂
It is amazing how you manage to accomplish so much with three little ones…
Here I have only a healthy toddler, I can get her to help me cook and stuff, but when we get to the cleaning department it always feels like we move one step forwards, two steps backwards…
keep up the good work!!! ^^
I’ve been putting off painting one of our french doors for this reason. Think I’m gonna tackle it this weekend. Thanks!
Brilliant! Amazing how the the trickiest tasks have the simplest solutions. Love it!
V @ Life+1
This couldn’t be better timed – I was planning to go home after work and scrape the windows of my two front doors that I painted over the weekend! Now it doesn’t sound as awful 🙂
Thanks for sharing! I hate taping and avoid it at all costs. No one got time for that!
Ooo good to know! This comes from experiencing over an hour of taping 4 panes on a glass door.
Awesome advice! I shall remember it always. 🙂 Now, some tricks for scraping paint off of beautiful old stained trim (the previous owners were, shall we say, sloppy…you have no experience there, I’m sure ;-))…
Awesome tricks!
Yay! This will make my life so much easier, about to paint some French doors.
I’m curious though, do you have to worry about the overspray? If the windex helps pull the paint off the glass so easily do I need to be careful when I clean up at the end? Or will the trim be just fine?
THANKS!
I get lots of help! And sometimes it is helpful to have the bigger brother to distract Weston 🙂
xo – kb
As long as you score it with that sharp edge and just stay within that with the flat edge, it should be fine. I make sure to score the edge a couple times. And yes, be gentle at the end 🙂
xo – kb
Ahhh! Thank you so much! I cannot wait to try this out. Scratch that, I can totally wait because I still have to paint; but, this is going to make it SOOOO much better! I will be buying glass cleaner by the gallon! And of course, now have more excuses to buy more machetes, I mean putty knives 😉 Thanks again!
xo
Annie
This is awesome… I have a French door in need of a paint job! Does it help to let the windex sit on it for a while or can you scrape it right away?
Thanks for share, i really appreciate your work
Great tip. I wonder if it would work on a uneven surface. The glass in my bedroom door is uneven with bubbles in it. Do you have experience with that kind of glass?
THANK YOU KATIE! I just painted some French doors and have been avoiding this task. Gonna get to it ASAP 🙂
Katie, this is so great. Do you think this would work with mirrors? I spray painted the frame of a mirror once and it took me forever to get the paint off of the actual mirror part. Thanks!
Quick question-how long did you wait after you painted to scrape? Same day? several days? Or shouldn’t make a difference?
This is incredible!! I must try it out!
I wish I had know this about 36 hours ago! I just finished scraping all my front windows. – but I agree with you, no need to tape off windows, the amount of time with a razorblade was still less than taping time. And your method looks even faster.
Love the turquoise color. And your shutters are great.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I actually do have a couple French doors I’ve ignored because of the panes. Now with your great tip I am no longer unwilling to tackle those babies. Woo hoo! My rooms will finally look finished.
simply amazing! This is definitely good info to bank for future use. I won’t be so resistant to tackling some french doors which if taping off is time consuming and less than perfect:)
That week. I didn’t wait long but I painted the ceiling and the walls after the trim was painted…so maybe four days? As long as it hasn’t had 30 days to cure (some take 30, some 60) it should come off.
xo – kb
Well, it should but mirrors show any little scratches easily so be careful with the scraping part.
xo – kb
I don’t! Sorry!
xo – kb
Hey Katie! I am a DIY virgin so I have a very simple question….can I just put fresh paint over the old paint on my French doors or do I need to sand, prime, etc first?
NO!!!! IT DOESN’T WORK ON TEXTURED OR BUMPY GLASS. I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE. It does work great on smooth glass though.
Well it matters what the paint was because if it isn’t latex then you will have adhesion issues. I recommend doing a test spot to see how well it sticks before spending all that time!
xo – kb
Oh no! This tip did not work well for me. I spayed windex, scored with an elfa knife, and gently scraped with a putty knife. The paint did come off like a dream. BUT, the paint also came off where the windex was spayed. I am left with a lot of patchy paint!
If it comes off the window then you didn’t score it quite enough or you scraped the painted window frame. It definitely isn’t foolproof!
xo kb
Will this work on paint thats been on a french door for years
Great method for white on white!
Tips for black paint on white doors?
Did according to directions but white often comes through when scraping close to mullions touching glass.
I think if you wait an extra couple days it should be a little more set…might require a bit more elbow grease but it should work better for you.
xo – kb