The Secret to Updating Your Garage Doors on a Budget

Today I am going to share with you the secret to updating your garage doors on a budget. You will not believe how easy it is. But it does take some finesse!

Wanting new garage doors

When we moved into this house five years ago, we needed new garage door openers. When the company came out to install them, of course, my mind started racing about how I could get a more attractive option of garage door than what came with the house.

I showed the technician a picture of a charming Cape Cod home, like mine, but with windowed garage doors and hinges and handles that made them look like charming carriage doors. He could definitely order the doors for us, but with a price tag of about $12,000 for both insulated doors.

Mine were in great shape, but just average. But I wanted something a bit more classic and pretty. Since we were doing a whole house renovation at the time, I put my garage door wish list on the back burner.

Budget options for updating garage doors

Of course, I couldn’t leave it alone. Before he left, I quizzed him on every possible option to getting the look I wanted.

Couldn’t we just replace the entire top panel for the doors we had? Could we just have single little windows inserted into the panels on our existing door? Nothing sounded even remotely budget friendly, so I let it rest for awhile.

Maybe I could paint them, but that might look weird and homemade. Heaven forbid, any project actually looked like it was DIYed!

Another option to update garage doors

Fast forward five years, to now. When my BFF came to town, we decided to do some projects on the exterior of my home. We love doing projects together. The inside was looking pretty good, and I thought the outside needed a bit of an upgrade to increase curb appeal.

I had heard of magnet pieces that were simply placed on the outside of the garage doors, to give the look that I was wanting. So I jumped online and started reading reviews.

What I read, I took to heart, but also with a grain of salt, if you know what I mean.

Reviews of magnet panels for the garage

I looked on Amazon, and found many reviews favorable. However, there was a warning issued by Amazon:

This item returned often

So I kept reading. I read cautions like:

• “too glossy, not for me” This one made me laugh because if you want them to look like real windows, they should, in fact, be glossy like windows
• “does not fit my doors”
• “looks cheap and homemade”
• “didn’t stick to my doors” Not sure what kind of doors they have, but obvi, you can’t have wood doors. These things are magnets!
• “hated them” LOL

So I hesitated, as we had enough projects going on that week. But I continued to think about it. Maybe I could make it work.

Seeing them in person

On one of our millions of trips to Menards through the week, we ran across the magnetic handles and hinges. They looked pretty good, so I figured, why not? I could always return them, so I bought them.

Note: The ones I purchased were almost double the price of what I found on Amazon. I do not know if they are better quality at all, but I would try the Amazon ones first and see.

When I got home, I ordered the window magnets right away. Gotta love that things show up the next day with Amazon. The delivery dude was busy that week at our house!

When they arrived, we immediately took them outside to see if they would stick, look normal, and generally work out. Right away I could see the problem. The windows ONLY come one specific size, which is 4 x 6″ panels. But garage door panels come in a variety of sizes!

I searched the internet for large sheets that I could cut down, but to no avail. So we started thinking, and DUH. I could just order more.

The secret to updating garage doors with magnet accessories

The secret to the success of having them not look crappy is…(drumroll) they MUST fit your garage door panels. Or they do, indeed, look cheap and like crap.

But since I am one who is never deterred by a challenge, I headed to the basement. For almost three decades of my career I was a professional crafter. I designed product, wrote books, had columns in magazines, the whole nine yards. There is not a classic crafting tool out there that I don’t own.

So I was able to quickly grab a cutting mat, a few quilting rulers, heavy duty exacto, and started doing math.

Purchase the right tools

This is one of those steps you simply cannot skip. Having the proper tools will always make doing the job you’re doing quicker and efficient.

In this case, the multi-lined quilting ruler was a must. It not only allowed me to carefully cut the panels, but also aided in positioning them

Be detail oriented

This is one of those times that tapping into your anal retentive perfectionist nature will really serve you well. If you aren’t like that, then find the freak in your family or friend group to help you out.

I used double the amount of window magnets needed for a two car garage. I also ended up with leftovers, even though I messed up two cuts and had to redo them. I wanted them perfect.

Enjoy your beautiful updated garage doors

It took about 15 minutes to cut everything perfectly with an exacto knife. I DO NOT recommend scissors for this, because the glossy magnet is slippery and doesn’t give you the perfect cut you will want.

After I set the windows, we obsessed for a minute about where the hinges and handle should go. The set gives you two handles, but I only used one. My panels only allowed for the width of one. Then it was all perfect!

I stood back and could not believe how legit it looked. Obviously, anyone driving by your house would never know that the windows were not real. And frankly, even standing right on top of it, you would never know unless you pressed your face up against the “window to nowhere” and couldn’t see inside the garage.

When my hubby came home from a work trip and we pulled up to the house, the first thing he said was, “we got new garage doors?” Hahahaha, yes we did, and they cost around $100!

Now I’m obsessed! What do you think? Would you try this? Because if you are wanting classic looking windowed garage doors, and don’t have them, I really think you should!

For more inspiration, follow along here to see what other projects come up!

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