We have an ugly air intake vent on the wall in our hallway – I didn’t get a before picture of it in place, but you know the kind… used to be white, metal, dented from years of abuse and ugly! After I painted the hallway, installed new baseboards and carpet, I just couldn’t bring myself to re-install the old vent cover. I looked for a new one, but even to get a new, clean plain one was pricey – never mind the cost on the fancier ones.
As I wandered the aisles of my local Home Depot, I came across some plastic gutter screens with a cool pattern. They were on clearance for $. 78, but even the regular priced ones were only a dollar, so I picked up a few. Here it is on the left, with the old vent cover on the right.
It had some metal mesh screen on it, but it just pulled right off. Then, I made a simple wood frame out of moulding, using the old vent cover as a guide to cut the pieces to size.
I glued it together with Gorilla Glue and used clamps to hold it in place. I put a piece of foil under since Gorilla Glue expands; I didn’t want to end up with it stuck to my table! Don’t squeeze the clamps too tight, or the mitered corners will slide. Once I had the clamps in place and everything lined up perfectly, I put a heavy can on each corner and threatened my family with bodily harm if anyone touched it…
Once that was dry, I turned it over and ran a bead of glue around the edge of the frame on the back,
then centered the plastic cover in place. (The plastic cover was a little too long, but it cut easily with scissors.) I came back every 5 or 10 minutes at first and used my fingers to push the plastic down into the glue. Once the glue began to set, I just left it to dry.
Once it’s dry, you may see that the glue has foamed up and is visible on the front side. I just used a small taping knife to scrape it off, no problem.
Now just spray paint the entire thing in the color of your choice. Personally? I like a layered combination of matte black and metallic copper.
Drill holes in the wood and screw back into place.
