Earlier this month I moved into my first radiator-heated apartment. The 100+ year old apartment has some interesting qualities… including old paint chipped radiators. Bumps in the road like these less-than-perfect radiators are certainly a design challenge.
Luckily there are a few things you can do to liven up your radiators with little hassle. If you're like me and don't want to give your management company the satisfaction of full-on renovations, there are little tweaks you can make to your radiators to revamp their look!
1. Paint your radiators: HGTV has a great tutorial for painting them, but you can do some truly wonderful things when painting your radiators. Make them look like a focal point rather than a giant design obstruction.
2. Add shelving: I think this is a well-known secret, but it certainly adds a nice touch. Rather than just adding a single shelf to the top of your radiator, why not create multiple shelves or even an entire shelving unit around your radiator?
3. Build a radiator cover: This Old House has an easy DIY for this. It's fairly simple and think about the possibilities! There's such a wide array of colors and textures you could use for your radiator cover.
Images: Wary Meyers Decorative Arts, Covet Garden Magazine via Poppytalk, This Old House
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love the first pic! makes me wish i had one to liven up :)
I can't take credit for this as it was a prior owner of my house who did it, but they had some granite left over when they redid the kitchen, and had a slab cut to sit on top of the radiator which is right next to the door going out to the backyard. Because of the door, there's not enough room for a radiator cover, but I love having the little "shelf" there to stage things when I'm entertaining outside, etc.
For some of the other radiators in the house I have had covers made by Fichman and have been very happy. They are not inexpensive, but they are essentially custom as they'll do whatever you need - I had to have mine notched for some trim and it was no problem. They're also fast and really easy to assemble. http://www.fichman.com/index.html
What about covering hideous baseboard heaters, or making those more functional. I am at a loss.
Thank you for doing this. I have one of those bump and hiss in the night radiators. I put glass over the top of mine and used it to display non flamable things on.
We went to our local builders salvage and picked up a nice piece of live edge wood, ordered some custom hairpin legs, attached, and voila a nice table over the radiator next to our front door.
One apartment in my building has all of their radiators and pipes painted black. It stands out nicely from their beige walls.
geekyfemme, there are covers you can buy for baseboard heaters as well - friends of mine had baseboard heaters where the metal got very hot so when their daughter got to crawling age, they had covers installed that made them both safer and more attractive.
I never really thought about livening up a radiator… but how cool are these radiators!?!? Shows you can make just about anything look attractive!!
I think the use of fire-like hot colors in the first picture is quite clever!
I love that first image.
But I have to say I've never thought of radiators as ugly, I think are charming as is. Oh and they work so well, too--I still miss the one from my old apartment.
I just bought a 1921 house that is chock full of radiators, and, after initially thinking I'd hate them and rip them out, I decided they're sort of cool and sculptural. We haven't covered any of them up, just repainted a few. I'm trying to think of them as sculpture, and a way to force myself to be a bit more minimalist.
i have a pretty beaten up one (actually there are two) both have flaking white paint, and look like they may not be worth saving. Or are they? I don't want to strip more paint (been doing that in my entire bedroom all summer) Does anyone have ideas?
I love the shelving idea. Thinking back to the radiant heat houses I've been involved with (grandma's house, my dorm, my dad's new apartment), this can be such a great way to make them blend in a bit more. Most of the ones I know had/have the shelf on top, but adding more shelves is pretty cool.
Most of the ones where this just isn't possible are when it's under the window: so the single shelf still turns in to a nice picture ledge.
If installing shelves is out of the question (crazy strict landlord), and the shelf is insulated enough, it could be a TV stand or bedside table.
I've always wanted a radiator - what a great place to dry your socks! (Or gloves, or whatever other things need drying). I still think about a beuatiful radiator I saw once that had been cast with scrolling Art Nouveau ornamentation, but I suppose they're not all like that.
Hmm - maybe my utterly non-descript electric wall heater needs a more exciting cover...
Re first pic, if you can tell me. Brooklyn, Court St?? My old bdg but just unfer me? Really, I mean it. I have pics.
@thehealthguru, if your radiators "bump and hiss," they need to be bled to get the air out of the system. It's a simple procedure. Radiator heat is the best.
Wait, that was a "tutorial"? That was like three sentences. How do I strip the flaking paint off my radiator before I can begin? And can I use a metallic-sheen paint instead of a brown (?) base coat and a "glaze"??
Another really cool thing you can do is to clean them up (if they have chipped paint or rust on them) with a high speed drill and a wire brush attachment, it really strips down the paint on them. Then, use Rustoleum Stainless Steel paint and, viola, you now have a very modern yet industrial looking rad. The Stainless Steel paint isn't cheap though ($50 Cdn.) but it does look really incredible and it goes with anything.
The Martha directions indicated Latex Satin- Is latex really the correct paint to use on a working metal radiator? The one I'd like to re-do is in the bathroom near the tub, so I'm wondering if latex on metal would crack and flake.
Woops- HGTV directions, not Martha Stewart.
is it actually *safe* to have shelves over radiators? I've always been told you should keep things about a foot away from them, because of the fire risk.
@ Linky - only if they are hot water. If they are steam radiators, they need to be leveled and pitched correctly (or the valve cleaned or replaced) but some banging will happen when the system heats up from cold and hissing when air escapes from the valve. There's no bleeding with steam, in essence, they are self-bleeding.
Kelly - depends on what you have above them and if they are steam or hot water. Blocking the radiator could also be problem for heating performance.
Be very careful what you use to paint the radiator. (How cool is that first image, btw!) Mine had to be repainted with special heat resistant paint because previous owner used normal paint and it cracked and discolored and was a nightmare. Not what you want! Be especially careful as a renter. Don't want an unhappy landlord/lost deposit or worse...
Choosing the color is critical to control the heat output. If you paint the radiators black, they will generate much more heat than if you paint them a light color, unfortunately. I used Rustoleum's High Heat in Black. If you mask off the area well and ventilate, spray paint is a time saver an can get the in between spots easily.
My company BattyBuilt Custom Radiator Covers specializes in designing and building custom radiator covers to suit any style, any room. We serve Westchester NY, Manhattan and parts of Connecticut and New Jersey.
Check out the website here: http://battybuilt.com