DIY: Covering Up The Water Heater

Over on our Apartment Therapy LA Flickr Group, Sew Darn Jenny's kitchen is undergoing a revamp (more on that soon)! In the meantime, she wanted to tackle covering up the eyesore of the room--the water heater.

Jenny tells us that she's always wanted to cover up her water heater and didn't have a solution until her friend offered a spare folding screen. She DIY'd the screen to make it her own by spray painting the panels white and then glued vintage wall paper using Mod Podge.

We've also heard of folks using a set of tall windows hinged together and frosting the panes of glass to block out the water heater.
You could also use a tall peg board that could double as storage for kitchen utensils or small pieces of artwork.
Make a found screen your own by attaching a cafe rod and decorative fabric.

Anyone else have a crafty way to cover up the water heater?

Related Water Heater Posts

Comments (19)

How about going tankless? This appears to be electric, very inefficient, and takes up too much space. a tanless could replace this gain tons of floorspace, cost less to run, and give you room for AnOTHER storage cabinet!!!
GET MOVING!!!

I like the idea of the hingeing two panels of peg board together, painting it and using as kitchen storage with hooks. It might also be nice to use a cheap two paneled closet door, which you could paint with chalkboard &/or magnetic paint or attach cork, hooks, for a message center.
I think the best thing is for it to become a functional space in the kitchen rather than just a disguise.

Fabulous! Great idea and execution.

If this is a rental I doubt she could change to tankless, I had one of these in a previous apartment. It was very ugly, I built shelves around it, your solution looks better than mine :)

Hard to get moving if you're in a rental.... And others that own may have budget constraints or other issues that make conversion unpractical. In our case for instance a tankless while saving energy overall has a higher amperage draw while in use and with only a dual 15 amp 115 service to our apartment we don't really have the option of going tankless.

You know what else takes up too much space? Caps lock.

parrishnut, it appears to be a gas water heater also. See the red shut-off valve?

I ended up constructing an enclosure from several louvered folding closet doors that were salvage. I really like the idea of adding storage hooks, I'm imagining that I can make hooks that will clip over the louver slats, from some heavy wire...

Even if you are a homeowner, the conversion to tankless is not always affordable; though it does save money in the long run, it requires a large up-front investment, particularly since there are often additional costs beyond the heater and installation(the flue must often be upgraded, and sometimes the gas lines as well, for one thing)

This is a great DIY - But I agree that in owned housing, tankless waterheaters are an extremely energy efficient solution.

my water heater is in my home office next to my bathroom. i didn't try to hide but integrated it with the art and other stuff in my office. i stuck my obama/biden car magnet on it, put in some american flag pinwheels into the metal brackets, and hung my dodger's giveaway towel from the NLCS onto the thing. the heater's not going anywhere anytime soon so why take up more space covering it up?

What's not to love? Great job. If no friendly-donated screen or old closet doors laying around, I've also seen it done with a simple frame and stretched fabric to make your own screen. Nice and light. Although I like the idea of cork or chalkboard too.

fjorlief -

If it's time to replace the waterheater - Why would you stick w/ technology from the 1950's just because it's easier and cheaper (in the short run) to do so?

With that mindset, perhaps when you needed to buy your family a new car next time you should consider a 1953 Chevrolet BelAir because they were so much cheaper and didn't have all those "unnecessary" things you never use anyway like Laminated Safety Glass, Seatbelts, Airbags, Crumple Zones and Antilock Brakes - despite the fact that the new models get at least 50% better mileage, are easier to drive and much safer...

I replaced my water heater when I bought my house and although it wasn't cheap, it also wasn't very expensive either.

BTW my 1961 buick skylark has been more reliable and economical than my 1996 Toyota 4Runner.

Don't get me wrong bepsf, all of those features you mention are indeed important improvements. It's just too bad automotive makers lost focus on the most important standard of all, "built to last."

I guess no one wants to save the environment by doing their share to save resources, even if in the short run it cost more... Better get on the wagon when we all can,
because "those people" are just going to continue blackmailing us for higher demands in oil and gas. Better yet, I really would have suggested a solar heater on the roof, but knew I would have gotten blasted!

I don't think this is necessarily just an issue of whether people want to or do not want to save the environment. That's as unfair of a statement as if I noted someone drives a car while my girlfriend only takes the bus and then point out that they apparently do not care enough of the environment to make the switch. I think we're all in different circumstances, as noted above by the various responses and we all make different choices of where to compromise or change. I personally want to change out the hot water heater with a tankless model for environmental/energy and space efficiency reasons, but like Jenny I live in a rental and this is currently not an option (not to mention, cost prohibitive). Hopefully the trend in new home constructions, including apartments, implement this upgrade...alongside solar heating technology here in the Southwest.

I'd love to go tankless...one day - my dream. but you could always do like my "cool" neighbor- move yours outside the house and make a very bad looking make plywood box around it-would not believe how bad it looks. Oh-city code has been to their house when they made an addition-said nothing about the outside water heater. Vegas is so cool.