How to Paint Doors

Painting doors seems like a tedious task, but it's not difficult to do it right and get professional results.  Here are tips on how to paint a door faster and easier.

Painting Smooth Doors

Smooth (or flush) doors are easy to paint with a roller and brush. Those little six inch rollers make it a snap. Always brush first, around the hardware, hinges and bottom edge, before rolling. This avoids unsightly brushmarks. Sand between coats for a smoother finish.

Painting Panel Doors

To paint panel doors with a brush, do them in this order. First, paint each panel, followed by the door edges. Then paint the middle stile (stiles are the vertical pieces.) Paint each horizontal piece (called rails) from top to bottom. Finally, paint the outer stiles. Why do it in this order? Because you are following the grain of the wood and minimizing brushmarks.

You can also use a little roller and brush on panel doors. I don't think it looks quite as nice because even the shortest nap roller leaves a slightly stippled finish which won't be uniform since you have to use the brush for the corners. It's much faster though! Again, do the brush work first and finish with the roller.

Painting Mullioned Doors

There is simply no fast way to paint a mullioned door with lots of little panes of glass. Sorry! Paint from the inside edges out. Inexperienced painters spend a tedious hour taping every edge to protect the glass. It is almost impossible to tape the windows well enough to avoid paint oozing under the edges, which looks awful and it's really difficult to fix. I strongly suggest buying an excellent quality sash brush and concentrating really hard on doing a neat job. Use a razor to remove oopsies on the glass after it's dried.

Tip: Try thinning the paint a little. It's often easier to get straight lines this way.

Painting Colored Doors

What if the doors are a different color on each side?
Here's the rule for the door edges: the edge that faces you when the door is opened towards you is the same color as the side you just opened. In other words, if the outside of your front door is red, the edge that faces you when you are standing outside (usually the edge with the hinges) should also be red.
I don't know why this is a rule, but it just looks funny if done any other way.

More Tips for Painting Doors

I rarely remove doors from the hinges, it's faster to paint them up and they come out just as nice. You can make it go even faster by removing the doorknob.
Always use good quality tools. Forget those cheesy little $5.99 painting kits. Get the good stuff, borrow it even! It's just impossible to paint neat, straight lines with cheap brushes. Cheap roller covers shed little bits of fuzz into your nice fresh paint job.

Buy good paint. Economy brand paint does not adhere or wash as well, and may require more coats.

Sand in between coats, using a flexible sanding pad. (I LOVE those.) Used dryer sheets are awesome for wiping off sanding dust.

Old towels are usually the perfect size for door-painting drop cloths.

Tune the radio to your favorite station. If you have several doors to paint, time yourself and see how fast you can get (without sacrificing quality!)

Have fun!

-Carina MacDonald

Carina MacDonald has been a painting contractor since
1979 and has tackled everything from large commercial buildings and Victorian homes to faux painting a child s room and wallpapering a bathroom. If it stands still long enough, she can figure out a way to paint it correctly!