See how a DIYer transformed her garage doors for $65 - the end result is amazing

A thrifty DIY fan has added huge kerb appeal to her home by transforming the garage doors. Before, they were standard, plain white garage doors you see all the time.

• How to paint a garage door

But with some special paint and magnetic accessories from Amazon, Karissa has made them look like traditional wooden doors. The entire project took a few hours and only cost $65, and now the garage doors match her wooden front door perfectly.

Before

The two key items Karissa used are the Giani Wood Look Garage Door Paint Kit in English Oak, and some black magnetic hardware from Amazon.

Karissa told us what inspired her to spend her free time giving her garage doors a makeover. 'We bought and completely gutted a 50-year-old fixer upper,' she says. 'The outside was in fairly decent shape and really only needed new garage doors and windows, but the inside needed to be torn down to studs.

'I had this vision of gorgeous wood garage doors that would match the heavy wood bespoke double front doors we had installed but didn’t have room in the budget. 

@karissaathome

65$ and 3 hrs= WORTH IT. ##interiordesign ##fixerupper ##housetour ##homediy ##homeremodel ##renovatingourhome ##curbappeal ##QuickerPickerRapper ##decor

♬ Mr Blue Sky - Fiach Moriarty & Various Artists

She explains that most of the budget went on things that made the home safe, liveable, and efficient. 'Not dreamy wood garage doors three times the price of generic insulated steel,' she says.

But, clearly, Karissa had a vision - she just needed to get creative to bring the idea to life. 'I had seen the “wood look” that people had achieved with just paint and read through a lot of the reviews on a garage door paint kit on Amazon,' she says. 

'I figured in the worst-case scenario I could try the paint kit and if I hated it, I was only down a small amount of money and a few hours, and could just paint over it.'

• See also: 31 DIY projects – easy to do in a day and budget-friendly to boot

There was one worrying moment when the base coat turned out to be a coral color, but a couple of coats of brown paint later and the doors were looking great. She says that the finished 'wood look' is so convincing that people have asked her how much her wooden garage doors cost.

'I definitely ended up with the best-case scenario: I LOVE the look of our garage doors. They completely transformed the front of the house.'

After

The magnetic door handles were just $11, and, Karissa tells her followers, they don't fall off! Read our garage conversion design ideas guide for information on costs and planning if you're thinking about converting. 

Plus, a fresh lick of paint does wonders - our guide on how to paint the outside of a house will help you get the job done.

When we're thinking about house exterior design, we usually look at our front gardens, driveway, or front door. But freshening up your garage doors could make all the difference.