If you've walked past the Artisans at 1975 Queen St. East in the Beaches recently, you may have noticed its storefront has had a bit of an upgrade.

That's thanks to the Painted Doors of Toronto — an initative that gives residential and commercial doors in the city an artistic makeover.

On top of offering a business or home a fresh and unique design, 15 per cent of the commission goes toward charities fighting homelessness in Toronto.

Founder Lee Romberg first dipped his toes into the art world as a kid, attending classes at the AGO and even becoming an instructor for one summer as a teenager.

While he ended up going to TMU for broadcasting and working in the film industry, by the pandemic he decided to commit fully to his love of art and making it work as a living.

Not long after that, by the end of summer 2022, he got the idea for the Painted Doors of Toronto — although the initiative didn't truly take off until the next year.

Arkanoid (aka Brickbreaker) garage, residential St. Clair West.

"I said, 'Okay, enough is enough. I have to do what I'm the best at instead of sort of halfway there with this field or that,'" Romberg told blogTO. "Which I loved dearly, but this is (where) my talent is."

Since then, he's painted about five doors across the city.

Outside of the doors, Romberg paints all sorts of interior rooms for clients, including hand-painted, epoxy stained floors featured on his website. He also offers certain canvas paintings for sale.

Lee Romberg is the man behind Toronto's painted doors.

He offers to paint a unique mural or design on residential or commercial doors or garages. The pricing depends on the nature of the design and how much work is involved.

His latest project was at The Artisans jewellery shop where he was commissioned to create a "love mural" to the British rock band Dire Straits.

The mural features guitarist Mark Knopfler and characters from their 1985 music video 'Money for Nothing.'

 "I WANT MY MTV: A 'love mural'" to Dire Straits. 

Some of the organizations he donates to include Seeds of Hope on St. Joseph St., Good Shepherd Ministries in Riverdale, Haven on the Queensway in Etobicoke and The Stop Community Food Centre in Davenport.

 "I WANT MY MTV: A 'love mural'" to Dire Straits. 

He told me he tried to pick a range of charities that represented different neighbourhoods in Toronto. He singled out Good Shepherd Ministries as one he regularly donated clothes to in the past when he worked in fashion.

"I just wanted this to be sort of an inspiring win-win for everybody," Romberg says. "That someone can get beautiful original art on their door and at the same time, in some small way, help to fight this problem that is so prevalent."

Cactus on Queen, feat. Marshmello in the Beaches.

The reception has been positive across neighbourhoods. Romberg told blogTO he's heard from multiple people that they're looking forward to a future map of all the painted doors across Toronto.