If you’re a regular follower of the blog you may have noticed I’ve been way off my usually posting schedule. For that, I apologize. I have been swimming in projects here around the house. The downside to blogging is that in order to share the projects you’ve got to stop and take the time to write. I could live without the writing portion but unfortunately it’s a necessary part. I kinda wish I had someone to follow me around and type my post as I did the work. Just kidding… maybe.
One project that we’ve been slowly working on the last month is painting the interior doors of the house. We’re really fortunate that we have solid wood doors, none of that hollow paneled stuff. The doors were in desperate need of refinishing. We started with all the doors downstairs and then moved to the upstairs. Painting doors is a labor of love. It contains A LOT of sanding. Which if you’ve been around a while, you know I hate sanding. It’s pretty much my mortal enemy. Why can’t we just skip it? Sadly, that would not be wise. With all trim, doors, cabinets, etc. It’s vital that you properly prep your surface. Sanding is a vital part of that. Once you give it a good go over with your sander, use a damp cloth to clean the dust off.
Here’s what the doors looked like before.
I’ve painted doors on several occasions using just a brush and or roller. This time, because we had so many doors I thought I’d give my Homeright paint sprayer a go. It did a beautiful job! One coat on each side and they were covered. I really can’t say enough about my sprayer. I’ve used it to paint trim, furniture and cabinets. It seems like you’re cheating the process but it really does as good of a job if not better than a paint brush. The best perk, there’s no brush strokes left behind. I’d say that’s a win!
Let’s talk about the color I chose. Yes, they’re black. I remember when I first shot the idea out there to my husband. He wasn’t as thrilled with the idea as I was. My mom was even very apprehensive about it. Because I can be very design stubborn, I stuck by it. Boy, am I glad I did! My hubby and mom also agree that it fits the feel of the house perfectly.
The color I chose is called Graphite by Benjamin Moore. I love the color so much I’ve recently painted my stairs the same color but that’s a post for another day. I don’t know why but I seem to pick mainly Benjamin Moore colors. Maybe it’s just me but does anyone else love their paint colors?
We reattached the original hardware. It seems to be in good working condition. We’ve managed to finish all the doors and I’m relieved, to say the least. I can say this, I’m so glad we took the time to do it. It makes each room look so much cleaner and adds great charm. Never be scared to step out there. Doors are very forgivable. The worst that can happen is you paint a door and hate it. In that case you just paint over it.
Be brave!
The doors look great! Curious about the over spray from the sprayer when you’re doing things like trim work? Contemplating buying one to do our fence, but am a little nervous about accidentally painting the bushes white too! The quote we got to paint the fence was outrageous (almost as much as painting the whole house!) and it’d be much more cost effective to do it ourselves.
Thanks Jenn! You know, the over spray is not as bad as some sprayers I’ve used. There is some. We just used the sprayer in my husband’s office to paint the wainscotting and we held up cardboard where we didn’t want over spray. I would say just work in a small area at a time and it should be fine. It makes the whole painting process go so much quicker! I’ve also noticed that the sprayer does a nicer, thicker coat vs. a brush. You can so do it yourself. We’re going to be getting a quote on getting our house painted. Considering our house is brick on four sides and it’s just trim that needs to be painted, we might do it ourselves… I’m trying to work up the confidence.
I would paint all the 6 panel wooden doors in my home that are now stained. I dread the brush strokes! A Finish Max sprayer would be a dream come true.