Our Front Door Makeover

Hey friends! I don’t do a ton of home improvement posts around here, because… well, I don’t home improve very much. Haha! But that’s not because there aren’t things that I want to change/fix/do to our home. In fact, there is a loooong list, but I just wouldn’t consider myself the DIY type. But recently I’ve seen other people do so many great projects or small face lifts that change a space so much that I thought why not?!

Eric and I have been wanting to repaint our from door for some time now. It was red when we bought the house and I think initially I liked it. But then, as things go, I didn’t! It was too bright, not the right shade, and I wanted a change. So I scoured Pinterest for some front door inspiration and decided I wanted a navy blue door. I went to Home Depot and grabbed a bunch of paint chips in navy blue and then my husband and I examined them on the front porch to get the most realistic lighting. We chose to use a paint + primer in one for exteriors in the color Compass Blue by Behr.

How to Paint Your Front Door:

1. You’re first going to want to decide if you’re going to paint the door on the hinges or take it off the hinges. I went the lazy route and did NOT take it off the hinges or take the hardware off the door and I don’t think it hindered the project at all (like I said, I’m not a DIYer). You might also want to decide if you’re going to paint the side window panel as well. We opted to paint it white because I think it looks so much cleaner having just the door painted.
2. Lightly sand your door. My husband borrowed an electric sander from a neighbor, but I actually think one of those foam sanders from the hardware store would have been better. The point is to scuff the surface, NOT to remove all prior paint.
3. Once the surface has been sanded, clean the door. You’re going to want to wipe off dirt buildup and dust from sanding.
4. Once the door has been sanded, cleaned, and dried you can start to paint! I used a brush for the panels and then a high quality foam roller for the rest of the door.
5. Paint 2-3 coats. It took 3 coats of paint to cover the red but I might consider doing one more coat to even it out a bit.
6. Let it dryyyyy! We left our door open for about 7 hours after painting (we had the opening taped off with garbage bags) to make sure the paint dried and cured before we finally closed it.

I hope this helps if you are deciding to paint your front door or maybe even give you a little motivation to tackle a small home improvement project yourself!

XO,

L