How to Decorate Bedroom Doors to Look Like Apartment Doors
My girls' bedroom doors were absolutely fine, but I wanted to make them special. So in 2021, I decorated them to look like apartment doors and the project went VIRAL multiple times on social media. In this post, I'm sharing how to decorate any kid's bedroom door to look like an apartment door. I'm also sharing photos of how our girls' doors have been decorated over the years for different seasons and holidays. It's such a simple and magical thing to do for your kids!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, there was absolutely nothing wrong with our girls' bedroom doors. They were just a bit boring.
Then, one day in the fall of 2021, I saw a really cute “Letters for Santa” mailbox at Target, and the idea to decorate my twin girls' bedroom doors to look like apartment doors hit me like a bolt of lightning. I was so excited about it I had finished the first iteration of this project only 48 hours later. I have truly never seen more unique hallway decor than this!
As far as I know, I was the first person to come up with and share this idea, which I'm very proud of because it's VERY hard to come up with an original idea in the world of Pinterest and Instagram that we live in, lol. Since I did it in 2021, lots of content creators have done it (many graciously credit me for the idea, which is always appreciated). And so many “regular” people (non-content creators) out there have created “apartment doors” for their own kids and send me photos! Seeing those photos makes me SO HAPPY.
If you have kiddos and have been wondering how to decorate a hallway in your home, I would encourage you to consider this!!! My girls still love everything about this area of our home, even 3 years later. And we have so much fun decorating it for the different seasons and holidays.
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We just finished decorating it for Christmas this year and love how it turned out!
Earlier this year, I decorated their bedroom doors for Halloween for the first time. They weren't home when I did it, so it was a big surprise and they LOVE it.
But let's go back to 2021 when I first tackled this project so I can share how to decorate your kids' bedroom doors to look like apartment doors.
How to Decorate Your Kid's Bedroom Door to Look Like an Apartment Door
Year-Round Items
I think there are a few key things you can add to any bedroom door to give it the look and feel of an apartment door.
- Door-mounted mailbox
- Door knocker
- Door numbers (I made mine with my Cricut machine, but there are tons of ready-made options)
- Wreath
- Doormat
- A lantern with a battery-operated puck light (if you have room for it)
Seasonal and Holiday Items
Those are the “staples” that stay on our girls' doors year-round. To decorate them for seasons or holidays, you can add:
- Garland
- Seasonal wreaths
- Novelty decor
- We added this Christmas Bernese Mountain dog last year because I couldn't resist
- This year we added these gorgeous snowflake lanterns + remote controlled LED lights to the ceiling
When I first completed this project, my goal was to make their bedroom doors look like exterior apartment doors–kind of like brick row homes you see in historic neighborhoods in big cities. So I added this brick peel-and-stick wallpaper and even a street sign holder that I made myself. FYI, the colorful pom pom wreath on Attley's door is a DIY project (you can find the tutorial here: DIY pom pom wreath).
If you enjoy videos, watch the video below to see how this space came together!
Be Sure to Include Personal Touches
There are lots of personal touches in this space, including the nods to our family's firefighter roots. Y'all probably all know that Joe is a firefighter. But you may not know that Joe's dad, who passed away last year, was a volunteer firefighter. That fire department sign belonged to his dad. And I surprised Joe with the antique fire extinguishers that I found at a local antique shop several years ago. We never had a great place to put them until I tackled this project. There are some other special touches that you may not notice at first glance. The address numbers are the times that our twin girls were born :)
A Look Back at Our Girls' “Apartment” Doors Over Time
In 2022, we removed the peel-and-stick brick wallpaper because we installed a DIY board and batten accent wall throughout our entire hallway. So this is how the space looked the past 2 Christmases. We use most of the same decor each year, but switch a few things up to keep it fresh :)
And here is how the space looks decorated for Spring :)
What can I say? My love language is creating special spaces for the people I love 🥰 My girls still LOVE their “apartment doors,” and I hope they will always remember this little spot that I created just for them. The doors are always decorated differently because even though they are twins, they have very different personalities and styles. And their uniqueness should be celebrated.
Are you feeling inspired to create apartment bedroom doors for your kids? If so, I'd love to see what you do! Pleae tag me on Instagram or TikTok if you share photos or videos!
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Hi! This is so adorable. My kids’ doors are in the corner. So their door mats would over lap. Any suggestions?
Thank you, Megan! You may be able to find some small enough that they won’t overlap. The mats I use for Christmas are actually bath mats and they are pretty small. Otherwise, you could just skip the mats and it would still be adorable!
This is so cute! Can I ask where you got the numbers and the number sign symbol for each door? I’m doing an Amazon search and can’t find the exact or similar one’s to what you used. Thank you!
Thank you, Robin. I made their door numbers myself using my cutting machine.
Can you share the blue color you used for your girls’ doors please? It is perfect!
Thank you! Sure, it’s Refuge by Sherwin-Williams.
Hi, I found your amazing blog looking for examples of white walls with dark blue trims. Do you have a post showing the outside vs. inside of doors with different colors? It seems you did that from the kids rooms I could see, but I would love a close up of how the door and doorway look like. It will help to convince two visual people (me and husband) that it can be done. Thank you!!
Hi Ana! Both sides of the doors are painted. The only difference is that we didn’t paint the trim on the inside of their rooms the same blue color :)