Give Dated Glass Shower Doors A Modern Upgrade With An Inexpensive DIY

If you're looking to protect your bathroom from shower splash damage, glass door enclosures will give you a bigger bang for your buck than managing loose curtains and plastic liners. Glass shower doors have been in vogue since the mid-20th century, with companies like Basco Manufacturing helping to popularize the kind of tempered glass that's designed to fail safely by shattering into much smaller pieces instead of larger deadly ones. There are plenty of styles available for shower glass doors — framed, frameless, and semi-frameless. However, if you find yourself inheriting one of those mid-century doors that has a more outdated steel frame, there are some affordable DIY upgrades that'll bring a modern aesthetic to your bathroom in just one afternoon.

What is it? Well, look around online and you'll find plenty of videos recommending the same general hack, from TikTok users like @rockycanyonhome, @flipitlikefender, and @newbuildtohome – that is, a budget-friendly matte black paint job over the frame, either with a traditional brush or spray paint. This not only captures a sleek, modern look, it also fits perfectly with a number of shower heads and accessories like shower caddies that you can find at any big box store. Now, if you're wondering how to paint your dated shower glass doors, you're in luck. It's an easy process to get started with little more than cleaning supplies, painter's tape, and plastic or paper tarps.

Before you hit the fun part of your new DIY project, you're going to want to give your shower area a thorough cleaning. Moist bathroom conditions are perfect incubators for mildew and mold, which are not only health hazards, they can also get trapped under your new coat of paint to leave an uneven, messy finish. It will be harder and more dangerous to detach your glass shower door and take it outside for the same kind of pool noodle hack that helps spray paint cabinet doors, so instead, you'll just want to take some time covering the areas around the frame with painter's tape — and tucking tarp underneath, so there's a firm cover over the glass door and surrounding walls.

Whether you decide to paint with a brush or spray can (perhaps replacing your spray paint topper with a WD-40 nozzle to get a pinpoint-even coating), the important thing is using the right kind of paint. You'll want to go with epoxy paints, acrolein elasticized paints, or masonry paints, as these are waterproof varieties that, while more expensive, will make sure your DIY work lasts longer and is more resistant to mold. 

Keep in mind that you'll still have to open your shower door at the tail end to paint the inner edge, which will require a defter hand. You can also consider doing some additional work to capture the modern aesthetic of your dreams: For example, you can apply an inexpensive frosted glass film to the door's exterior that will improve your privacy by obscuring occupants behind a nice pattern. It's your shower, after all, so make it your own.