Painted Front Door Tips and our new PINK Door

I got an itch or a craving to paint our front door pink! Well actually it has been itching  for a long time. But just recently we got new siding and the question came up if we wanted our black shutters put back up on our house. This might not seem like it relates to the front door but it does. I PERSONALLY like the front door and shutters to be the same color. We once had a navy door and navy shutters. Well, if I back up to the start when we bought this house the front door was hunter green with hunter green shutters. We painted the front door the navy and spray painted the shutters. Then after we sold a navy sofa in our front room I decided that navy really wasn’t anywhere else in the house so we painted the front door black and got black shutters. Now at present day. We decided to go with NO shutters because it simplified the exterior and also gave us the option to change our front door to any color to we wanted! 

BEFORE Front Door Painted in Benjamin Moore Black Knight-

BEFORE Front Door Painted in Valspars Blue Coal-

BEFORE- Front Door Painted in Hunter Green

Front Door Painted in Sherwin Williams Coral Perfection- 

Door Style– is called Therma-Tru and the style is Classic-Craft, this is something you can order at your local Lowes

Don’t you just LOVE it? Because I am smitten….fallen hard for this new pink door! But I did not get it right the first time. The first time could possibly be called a #fail. I found Sockeye in HGTV Magazine and I said YES! Thats the color. This is where tip #1 and mistake #1 happen. I should have gotten at least a sample instead of just going to the store and asking for that color without looking at it more closely. As you can see below the HGTV magazine spread is a totally different color. It went up way too coral. While I loved it from the exterior, I did not like it when the door was open. We have nothing in our home in that bright of a coral. So I popped over to my Nesting with Grace FB group and majority voted I try that Coral Perfection. 

Can you see why I loved the Sockeye? But the sample below is much more orange than pink. And then painted on the front door it lightened a lot but still looked too orange/coral. Not the pink/coral door I was hoping for.

Front Door Painted in Sherwin Williams Sockeye- 

Cute color if you ask me. Loved it from the street, felt very “beachy” for our beach community. You can see how it wouldn’t match the flow of the house. And Coral Perfection feels like a natural, inviting transition. So if I can offer any advice it would be to hold up the sample on your door! You don’t need to necessarily go and get actually paint samples to paint on- just hold up the paint chip.  And for exterior colors going with a darker shade is always recommended. Lighter colors wash out in the bright full sun. If you are questioning between two shades of blue, go with one that is slightly darker. And second tip is to pick a color that you would actually put in your home. This might be a personal preference but I like the front door to be a introduction as to what is going on inside. 

Many of you said that you too want to paint your front door, but were nervous to start or had no idea what to do! So today I am sharing our “Tips for Painting your Front Door”! We have now painted this wood door five times and we previously painted the metal door that was on the house when we moved in once. 

Painting Front Door Tips-

#1- Get the right paint!

Now is not the time to save money on paint. Go with the BEST paint they sell wherever you are buying your paint. Don’t try any paints that have a gimmick- like ” dries in one hour” they are hit and miss. Every time we have painted our front door we used Behr Marquee (we live 5 minutes from Home Depot so that is why we use that brand). It is an Exterior Semi-Gloss Enamel paint that is resistant to dirt and fading. Also if you get the right paint (with a primer) you should only have to do one coat with some touch-ups. And we ended up only using the quart size paint, no need for a gallon size for a regular size front door, if you get the best paint. 

We did try the Sherwin Williams Snap Dry and it was a #fail. We tried this one AFTER we had painted the door in the Sockeye. It was a little frustrating because we loved how well the Sockeye turned out from a painting perceptive, but not color. It was getting later in the day and we wanted the paint to dry quickly so we could close the door! Needless to say the Snap Dry was really sticky and hard to work with. It might be better on a small project. But it was drying so fast that it was really making it hard to smooth out. You can see below what it looked like….

#2- Prepare your door-

You should not need to sand your door before you paint (that was a common question). Like I said we have painted this door several times and not once sanded it. UNTIL we used that Snap Dry that left the door uneven. So if your paint it bumpy or uneven than yes, get a mini sander with a built-in dust collector and sand it FIRST. If you have a smooth door then just clean it with a damp rag. We use painters tape to cover up the door hardware. You could also tape around the glass, but it isn’t really necessary because you can easily clean off the paint that gets on the glass with a rag while it’s wet or with a razor after.

#3- Get out your Roller AND Paint Brush-

We don’t follow any real “pattern” per say. I have seen online where they tell you 10 steps to take and which way and when to paint around every box. Basically we use a roller on the larger, flat sections. We roll over every part of the door we can, then go in with a paint brush and fill in the other sections that are hard to get to. We used a roller that is for smooth to semi smooth surfaces and works with latex paints. 

Painting over the Black Knight then painting over the Sockeye. 

Another question that comes up is- Do you need to paint the interior side the same color as the exterior? That is up to you. But I don’t. The area where our front door is I like to keep bright so I leave it white. Also we leave the part where the deadbolt comes out (the small section of the door) the same color as the interior. If the door is slightly open and you are inside you see the same color as the interior. (You can see in the above picture and below picture it is white). We do paint the small section on the opposite side of the door (where the hinges are) the same color as the exterior, if the door is open and you are standing outside you can see that part too. (You can see in the photo below it is painted black). 

I hope that helps and encourages you to paint your door! It is not scary or hard. Just takes about an hour or two and you have a whole new look! 

I will be back to share the rest of our exterior and the Before and After! 

See how we painted the Black Strips on our Cement HERE

More on our front door and how we changed the metal from porch HERE

Click on an image below to shop anything from our front porch-

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