No matter how perfectly you have managed to decorate your living space, having interior doors with damaged or discoloured surfaces can easily spoil the look of your home. Well, if you have been facing a similar problem in your home, it means your interior doors are in need of a new paint job. You will be amazed to see how a freshly painted door can make your interior look entirely different and breathe a new life into it. So, if you are ready to undertake this home improvement project but don’t exactly know how to paint an interior door to give it a professional finish you are looking for, we’re here to help. In this blog, we are going to list down and discuss some easy DIY ways to paint a door like a pro.
Let’s get the ball rolling!
Easy DIY Ways to Paint a Door Like A Pro
Here’s a step-by-step DIY guide on how to paint an interior door to give it a professional finish.
- Pick Your Door Paint Colour
- Prepare Your Door for the Paint Job
- Pick a Tool to Paint With
- Paint Your Door In This Order
- Reinstalling Your Door
1. Pick Your Door Paint Colour
There may be an endless number of colours you can choose to paint your interior door but synchronising it with the theme of your interior is one of the best ways to paint a door like a pro. If your interior walls are of pure white colour, then you can paint your door white to give it a flawless look or you can go with pitch-black colour and make it look like a perfect contrast.
Other colours also come into play if you have multi-coloured interior walls as we see in most of the homes these days. Also, you will notice that you do not have to paint the trim with the same color as your interior door, instead, the white trim can create a perfect contrast with any of your chosen door paint and it may look just beautiful. This is also one of the perfect DIY ways to paint doors like a pro.
However, if you prefer going monochrome and your interior has a bit more elegant theme based on colours like charcoal black or gray, then a subtle touch of metallic or high-gloss finish to your interior door could work wonders. Some people also go with semi-gloss paint finish. It is fairly standard and mostly works best for kitchens and bathrooms.
Semi-gloss paint has less shine than high-gloss, and this paint can be a bit easier to work with. Despite all this, it still gives a subtle sheen and also wipes down easily for a clean-up job. On the other hand, satin is also considered one of the best types of paint finishes for an interior door. It is widely known as an eggshell finish. However, you can also paint the trim of your interior door with a satin finish, which helps it to blend into the surrounding walls and other features of the living space.
Key Fact: A satin paint finish has a very little shine element and gives off just a hint of a luster. Keep these things in mind when working on DIY ways to paint doors like a pro.
2. Prepare Your Door for the Paint Job
Now that you know about the best types of paint finishes for an interior door, it’s time to move onto our next step which is to prepare your door for the paint job. If you are wondering how to paint an interior door to give it a professional finish, then the best thing to do in this regard is to prepare it for the paint job. It is said that any paint job can be successful if it starts with good prep work.
It totally depends on you how you feel comfortable carrying out the paint job you can either paint the interior doors in place or remove them for painting purposes. You can either remove or cover the doorknobs and hinges while painting if you don’t want them to get soaked in paint. However, it is recommended to remove them since it’s never easier than painting around them. If you want to decide to leave the knobs and hinges on, you can cover with painter’s tape.
3. Pick a Tool to Paint With
Now comes one of the most interesting steps of your home improvement project in which you have to pick your paint tool. While working on DIY ways to paint a door like a pro, you have to be very careful with every step. The selection of paint tools is crucial, especially when there are many different types of them available. If you don’t have much experience in this regard, ask someone who has.
Well, if you already have some sort of hands-on experience in working with some particular paint tools, it may be in your best interest to choose them to paint your interior door. Some of the most common tools available these days facilitating different types of paint jobs include a utility knife, painter’s tape, damp sponge, primer, paintbrush, paint roller, air compressor, ladder, paint remover, and heat guns.
Key Fact: Utility tools like painter’s tape, utility knife, damp sponge, and ladder may simply be used to facilitate and expedite your paint job. You can go for paint rollers if you are not a big fan of the paintbrush. On a side note, you may also be interested to learn about some essential tools you need in your home for every DIY project.
4. Paint Your Door In This Order
One of the best ways to give your interior door a new paint job is to carry the entire process in order. This will make it easier for you and may also save your time and resources from getting wasted. If you want to know how to paint a door like a pro, just follow this order:
- Start with the Edges: Start by painting the edges of your interior door with either a brush or roller (depending on your suitability).
- Paint the Door Panels: In the next phases of your paint job, you need to paint the door panels. A 4-inch roller or a 1.5-inch brush to paint would do the best job in this regard.
- Coat the Vertical Strips: Now you need to apply your new paint coat on the vertical strips of your door in the top-to-bottom flow.
- Paint onto the Horizontal Rails: In the final step, finish up the paint job you have been carrying out on your interior door by painting its four horizontal rails. This best tool to use for this step is the 4-inch roller.
5. Reinstalling Your Door
Wait for the new paint to get settled and dried before you reinstall your interior door into its position after the paint job. This is one of the most important tips on how to paint a door like a pro. Allow the paint to dry for at least 24 hours and the door over to repeat the process for the other side. Once both sides of your newly painted interior are dry, simply reinstall your door and all of its hardware including doorknobs, locks, and hinges.
This was our complete guide on how to paint an interior door to give it a professional finish. We hope this will help you to fix all your interior doors with discoloured or damaged finish to bring back the charm of your living space. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact us at blog@zameen.com. We’d be glad to hear from you.
On a side note, you may also be interested in reading our DIY home improvement guides such as DIY ways to polish wood, DIY plumbing repairs to save money, DIY bookshelf ideas, DIY hacks to unclog your kitchen sink, quick and easy DIY bathroom cleaning tips and DIY ways to paint kitchen cabinets.
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