Over time the interior doors of your home will start looking a bit grubby and worse for wear. This is especially true if you have little ones running around all day. If money is flush and you fancy a change, you could invest in new doors from a local builder’s merchant or online from a company like Blacketts Doors.
If your budget won’t stretch that far, the next best option is to paint the doors you already have.
Related: Painting tips.
Here’s an expert guide to painting your doors like a professional. Note that this guide assumes that you are painting panel doors.
Preparing the door
The first thing to do is remove the door off its hinges and lay it flat on a builder’s large workbench. You should also take off any door handles and locks, so all you are left with is the bare door itself.
Next, you will need to get some sandpaper and gently sand the door down so that you have a smooth finish throughout. The point of this task is to ensure that there are not going to be any ‘high points’ when you start painting it, and to provide a key for the paint to adhere to.
Make sure that you sand down the bits between the panels as well, so you end up with a door that has a shabby chic type of finish to it.
Does it need primer?
If the door has a wood stain on it, was previously painted with an oil-based paint or you are wanting to paint a dark-coloured door with a lighter colour, you will need to apply one or more coats of primer as per the instructions on the tin of primer.
Painting the panels
Once you have sanded the door down and have applied any required primer to it, the first thing you will need to do is paint the door’s panels - i.e. the bits in the middle!
Using a paint roller, paint the panels in the same direction as the grain of the wood, or up and down if you imagine you were looking straight ahead at the door. Immediately after that, get a brush and paint the shallow bits, again going with the grain of the wood in a clockwise direction.
When painting doors, never go against the grain of the wood, as you won’t have a very good finish.
Painting the rest of the door
The next step is to basically paint the rest of the door. Using your paint roller, start by painting the middle section with the grain of the wood (not against it) up and down in a vertical fashion, and then paint the horizontal sections of the door from left to right. Note that it is perfectly OK to use your roller across the entire horizontal sections.
Finally, you can paint the border of the door. In this step, you use the roller to paint the left and right borders from top to bottom, and then the top and bottom border sections are painted horizontally.
Use the brush to paint any recessed sections, following the rule of painting with the grain.
Don’t forget to clean your paintbrush and roller when you’re finished.
Image: Emily Snuffer
