Quick and Easy Balcony Update

by Valerie Burge

2 Materials

$50

2 Hours

Easy

My mom moved into a condo a few years ago. The apartment is bright and cheerful and the view is nice, but the balconies were awful. It felt like we were standing inside the mouth of a dingy cave. LOL So we gave it a quick and inexpensive update.

After

The building is roughly 50 years old, and I’m guessing the balconies had never been repainted. And the plexi-glass was cloudy and always looked dirty. Not very inviting!

Before

I had recently put up window privacy film on a corner window in my mom’s bedroom, because she was worried the neighbours could see in.

Privacy screen

Mom absolutely loved it, which gave me the idea to try it on her balcony plexi glass. I used a piece of scrap we had left over and attached it to her plexi glass and we left it there for a couple of weeks to see if it would stay in place. And it did! So I ordered more from amazon.

The wrap is so easy to apply! After washing the glass, we sprayed it with water.

Water

We peeled the backing off the wrap. It can be challenging to separate them with your fingers, but the instructions said to use a piece of tape on the front and back and pull apart…and that worked great.

Remove the backing

Then we simply applied the wrap to the wet glass. We went horizontally so there would be less join marks. I used a mod podge squeegee to make sure there were no air or water bubbles trapped under the wrap. A credit card would work too.

Remove bubbles

Once we reached the end of the roll I used a utility knife to trim off the excess wrap at the bottom of the glass.

It was a challenge to get a good photo of how it looks in person. The wrap itself is white and clear, but when the sun hits it, it glistens rainbow colours, similar to how a crystal works. It’s really quite beautiful!

Close up

Better already

It took us about an hour to do the wrap. A week or so later we re-painted her railing, walls and floor, which took roughly another hour. It was an epoxy cement paint that the condo mgmt provided for free to condo owners.

Freshly painted

This was a super quick and easy update and makes such a big difference in the look and feel of her space. Because the entire front of her condo is glass, and faces the balconies, it really brightened up her entire space. And most importantly, momzie loves it. 😊