Painting interior doors: Week 4 of the $100 Room Challenge!

A step-by-step guide to painting interior doors!

Hey guys! We’re at week 4 of the $100 Room Challenge, hosted by Erin of Lemons, Lavender, and Laundry! I’m organizing and updating our master bedroom closet, and I’m at the point in the challenge where I’m starting to get a wee bit panicky with everything left on my list.

One of the biggest things I got done this weekend was painting the ceiling, walls, and the interior doors. I painted the ceiling and doors Deep Twilight Blue, and the walls The Perfect White (both Valspar). The trim is Bunny Ears, also by Valspar. I used all leftover paint from other projects, so that part of the project was free!

I now have three four rooms in our home that have painted ceilings. I just love the drama and impact that they can add in a room, even subtle colors.

The dark ceiling did kind of darken the whole room overall, which of course makes sense. In my other rooms with dark ceilings (the master bedroom and laundry room) there are plenty of light walls, floors, and windows to bounce light around, but not in here.

And, I know a lot of designers say that dark ceilings will cause the ceiling to recede and look higher, but that for sure did not happen in here. It definitely looks darker and lower, and it hits you on the head as soon as you walk in.

I’m not thrilled that that happened, but it’s okay. It does look pretty, even if the room is a bit darker.

I do love how the Deep Twilight Blue looks on the doors!

I’ve read a few places that painting interior doors is super tedious and hard, but I think they’re actually pretty quick and easy to do (omigosh, so much easier than painting around the wire shelves in the closet). The trick to it not being too difficult, I think, is just in technique, so I thought I’d share how I paint interior doors quickly and easily!

Painting interior doors: supplies

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• Good quality paint brush (my favorites are Purdy)- read my love note to Purdy brushes here
• Paint pail– I love the Handy family of products- my word do they make painting projects quicker and easier!
• Paint of your choice- for interiors I usually use latex, but I’ve used chalk paint too.
• Drop cloth
• Painters tape if you need it. I don’t as long as I have my Purdy, but when I do have to use painter’s tape, this is the brand I love.
• Sanding block

Getting started with painting interior doors

Okay, a few disclaimers: I don’t ever remove doors when I paint them. Ever. Maybe I should, but I just never have. The world keeps spinning and the doors look great when I’m done so I think it’s okay. Also, be sure you know the paint your door is already painted with. Covering latex paint with latex paint is fine, but if you are covering oil based paint with latex, then you have some additional steps to take. I think Bob Vila has the best tutorial for this here.

Step 1: Lay down your drop cloth under your door, then if you need to tape around your door knob, go ahead and do that. Honestly I rarely use a dropcloth or tape, but that’s because the Purdy brush gives me so much control that I usually don’t make a mess and I can cut in around the doorknob pretty easily.

Step 2: Give the door a very light sanding. Very light- this is just to give the paint a little grip. Don’t freak out about sanding- this should take you less than 5 minutes.

Step 3: If your door has insets, paint them first. Paint the outer parts of the inset first, then the inside.

For the best look be sure to paint with the woodgrain- for these doors, I was painting up and down for the sides and middle, and side to side for the middle top and middle bottom sections.

For doors especially, I’m pretty careful about how much paint is on the brush- too much and you’ll get drips on any molding or insets for sure. It’s best to load your brush about 1/3 of the way, then be sure to tap off any excess to make sure you have the perfect amount of paint on your brush.

Step 4: Paint the top, then the middle, then the bottom, then the sides.

Here’s a visual of the order that I paint in:

After you paint each section, be sure that you look over your work and go over any drips. Raised insets tend to collect drips, even if you are careful about how much you load your brush, so I always look over each section after I paint.

I can usually knock out a door in less than 30 minutes.

One of my favorites things to do to save money with painting doors, if I’m not using leftover paint, is to buy the already mixed sample pots. Lowes has a pretty good selection of Valspar sample paints which are just the right size to put a couple of coats on a door, and they’re around $5. I’ve found some of my favorite colors by doing this!

I still have SO much to get done! Take a look…

• Repair and paint dressers
• Paint walls, ceilings, and baseboards.
• Buy matching hangers
• Add a shelf above the dresser on my side of the closet. Not needed anymore with the change in design!
• Move linens to the closet in my oldest son’s room (which means I have to tackle that closet as well). I’ve moved the linens but still need to tackle his closet.
• Update the lighting
• Cover the wire shelves (I have an idea for this)
• Organize my jewelry
• Do something to make this space pretty
• paint shoe shelf and line back with fabric

I have actually started on the wire shelf covers, but haven’t made nearly enough progress yet to post any pics. My original idea just didn’t work out, so I’m adjusting.

Be sure to follow along with the rest of the bloggers doing this fun challenge! I promise you’ll be amazed with what they are doing with less than $100! And thanks to Erin for hosting this fun challenge!