Painting Interior Doors

So you're probably wondering why I'm posting a picture of the door leading into my garage? Well, I'm mixing it up a little today and sharing one of the projects I competed late Spring. 

When we built our home a little more than 10 years ago, I didn't want it to look brand new. I know. Crazy to spend money to build an "old" house, right? But we're way out in the middle of nowhere, and I didn't want it to look like someone just dropped a new construction down in the middle of the woods. 

So one of the ways I accomplished this was that I didn't use anything white. White looks "new" to me. It's hard to tell in the picture above, but all the interior doors and trim (baseboards, crown moulding, etc) is done in Navajo White by Benjamin Moore. It's more of an aged white/off white color. 

Even my cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms are painted Navajo White. I went so far as to distress my kitchen cabinets. You can see the corner of my pantry cabinet on the right in the picture below.

For my interior doors, I chose a style called "Santa Fe" (I think I remember that right). They look kinda like beadboard paneling. Another nod to the old.

However, the doors leading outside are those standard boring six panel metal doors. They just looked "blah" to me. So, I decided I wanted to paint them.

I consulted my local paint shop and chose the appropriate formula for the doors and decided on "Burlap" as the color. It is two shades darker than my wall color which is called "Ecru".

After doing a little research, I found the best way to paint doors. It's demonstrated in the pictures below.

First, remove the door knobs and deadbolt lock. Put them all in a Ziploc bag with the screws to stay organized, then forget where you put the bag to keep it safe. Yep. Moving along.

Lay down a drop cloth to protect your floors and then use your cat as an anchor. If you have a cat, you understand this is not negotiable. He will volunteer his services.

Using a good 1" paintbrush, first tackle the recessed area of the paneling.

Next, fill in the middle of the panels.

Switch to a larger brush and finish the door. I used horizontal strokes on the top, bottom and between the panels. I used vertical strokes on the sides and down the middle of the panels. The first coat (and even the second) will not cover completely. Better to do multiple coats than to try to cover in one. It'll never dry and is more likely to smudge.

Allow to dry and repeat same pattern. It will take about 30 days to "cure" so don't hit is with anything or scrape it with keys, etc. It's dry in a day, but not hard as nails yet.

It took me three coats and about three hours (come and go, not solid work) to complete this project. I waited 24 hours to replace my doorknobs (OK, it took about that long to find them!), but that was not a big deal since this door opens to my garage and could remain unlocked. If this was an exterior door, I would have waited as long as possible and then replaced them before going to bed.

I LOVE the way this looks! It just adds a little character and richness, don't you think? I'm not painting bedroom and bathroom doors, but I do plan to paint the inside of my front door soon. To me, it just adds to that "lived in" look.

I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!

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