7 Steps to a Beautiful Interior Door Finish

In order to get a great looking interior door, you need to follow a specific process.

The steps we lay out for you will allow you to have beautifully painted doors very time.

1. Remove the door from its hinges You want to start by getting the door free from its hinges. If you paint the door while it is still attached, you can end up getting paint where you don’t want it. It is much easier to paint all sides of the door when it is standing free.

2. Prep the door Next, you want to clean the door of any debris, dirt and loose paint. Scrape peeled paint off and fill any holes with caulking or some other filler. You may also need to sand the door down to get it perfectly smooth. Once the door is completely smooth, you will be ready to paint.

3. Prime the door The paint may not stick very well if the door is not properly primed. You can prime it using a grey-tinted primer. This will allow you to easily change the colour to whatever you want. You can use a primer that is the colour you want to paint in, if it is available, but that’s not necessary. The paint should completely cover the primer.

4. Re-prep the door Once you have applied the primer, then you need to sand the door once more to get rid of any new paint bubbles that might have formed.

That’s fairly common when you are using a primer, so just know that you may need to do some extra sanding to smooth out the door.

5. Paint your door Now you are ready to paint the door, and you can use a foam roller with ease since the door is off its hinges. Be sure to paint from top to bottom in long, smooth strokes. This will eliminate any brush lines and reduce overlapping layers. You can paint the entire door before letting any one side dry, if you like, or you can paint it in parts. Just be sure to paint an entire side before you stop. That way, you get a nice, smooth finish.

6. Let the door dry The door needs some time to dry after you paint it. If the room is well ventilated, then you should only need to let it dry for about two hours, but your results may vary based on where you live and the conditions of the environment you are painting in.

7. Hang the door Finally, you can hang the door back on its hinges. Just be sure that all the paint is dry. Following these steps will eliminate a lot of mess for you and ensure that you don’t have much clean-up to deal with. If you followed this guide, then you should have a beautiful door that you can be proud of with a paint job that will last for a long time.

Posted by Painting & Decorating Blog.