Painting wooden doors: step-by-step instructions with photos

Thanks to modern technologies, today wooden doors not only look beautiful, but are also of high quality, which is difficult not to pay attention to.

But not everyone can afford to decorate their premises with high-quality doors, because such a product made from natural wood species costs a lot of money. But, as a budget option, you can purchase a “semi-finished product” - a door made of solid wood, for example oak, wengue or pine (usually sold in standard sizes), without decorative elements, and give the door leaf an original design with your own hands, painting the wood in the most suitable way LMB.

Unfortunately, buying a new interior door block is more problematic for owners of apartments with an old layout, because the “original” doors have non-standard sizes. In this case, you will have to make doors to order, which will cost a pretty penny. Therefore, it makes sense to restore old doors, thereby saving the family budget and making the apartment unique and unique.

Next, we will tell you how to properly prepare the surface, in what sequence the painting work should be carried out and what paint to paint a wooden door so that the final result looks not only good, but also unusual, if the style of the room requires it.

How can you paint wooden doors?

How to paint a wooden door
Today the question is “How to paint a wooden door in an apartment?” is not very relevant, because the market for paints and varnishes is quite diverse. But before you paint an interior wooden door in your house, you need to think about whether you need to preserve the structure of the natural material, or whether you need to completely mask the grain of the wood by painting the canvas with an opaque layer. Taking your own wishes as a basis, pay attention to the following paintwork materials:

Enamels with an opaque base.
Oil based paints.
Transparent or tinted varnish.
Oil based impregnations.
Stain.
Other paints and varnishes that can refresh the color of wood or give it a beautiful, correct shade.

The table below shows the classification of coatings.

Classification:	Varieties:
View:	Varnish.	Dye.		Impregnation.
Chemical composition:	Organic base.			Water based.
Mode of application:	Internal.		Outdoor.	Combined.
Protective effect:	From changes in temperature and moisture.		From mechanical damage.	From chemical and organic irritants.

Of course, how to paint an old wooden door is up to you, but it’s worth listening to the opinions of experienced craftsmen. Many finishers recommend:

Water-based acrylic material (substances containing acrylic have the most optimal consistency, which is important when working with brushes, and also spread well over the surface);
Alkyd material (has a good ability to repel moisture, is not afraid of the sun, frost and sudden changes in temperature, dries quickly).

A wooden door painted with acrylic paint.
If you need to treat the door to a bathhouse, it is better to use alkyd paint for outdoor work, which is less susceptible to adverse factors. Using such material, it will be possible to cover the doors to the house, as well as interior blocks.

Important! Please note that doors can only be painted with alkyd-containing paints on dry surfaces. If the base of the door is wet, the paint will quickly peel and peel. And if you need to varnish the door, do not use drying oil, only stain will help you!

If you are wondering “how to paint a wooden door in a country house or in an apartment?”, you should already understand that applying paint is not carried out in one stage. Sometimes, to get the desired effect, you have to use different formulations. Initially, specialists use impregnation, which can give a certain tone to the door, after which they apply a decorative layer.

Painting wooden doors (video)

Selection of painting material

High-quality paint does not come cheap. Sometimes stores offer discounts on quality paints as they approach their expiration date. If painting is carried out immediately after purchasing the paint and varnish material, then this option will save money without reducing quality.

When thinking about what solid wood doors are coated with, you will need knowledge about paint and varnish materials. The range of paints is divided into: transparent, opaque. The first include impregnations, varnishes, and glazes. When the canvas is treated with a transparent coating, the natural color and wood pattern are emphasized. For solid wood canvases, varnish is often used. It protects the surface from moisture and various influences. Varnishes come in clear and tinted varieties.

Important. When purchasing varnish, pay attention to the drying speed. It is better to take quick-drying paintwork. It does not spread on the surface and is also harmless.

Opaque coatings include alkyd and oil-based coloring materials that have their own characteristics. Most often used:

Paint for doorways

Nitro paint. It has aesthetic properties, a wide color palette that is superior to other types of paints. It has strength and wear resistance. But it is harmful to health, its fumes are toxic.
Acrylic. Suitable for use in rooms. When painting, it applies well and there is no toxic smell. The disadvantages of paint include low strength and high cost. To increase durability, acrylic varnish is applied to the paint.
Alkyd enamel. It is affordable, has a wide range of shades, and forms a durable coating. This paint is suitable for wooden doors, it is wear-resistant, economical, and dries quickly. Significant disadvantage: the unpleasant odor persists for 2 days. This type of paint is not used where allergy sufferers or children live.

Sequence of work

The door structure is not only the door itself, so it is very important to carefully carry out the preparatory process. Of course, you can repaint only the canvas, but this way the jambs will fall out of the overall picture. And so, the process of painting the door should be carried out in the following sequence:

The door structure is removed and placed on a stable surface (optionally, a pair of stools). If alkyd paint is used for work, it is better to move the work to the open air, because such paints and varnishes have a pungent odor.

Preparing a wooden door for painting

Then, without removing the canvas itself, it is fixed with wedges so that the paneled brush has access to all hard-to-reach places. It is also necessary to block the doors so that during the drying process the doors do not slam shut and damage the new layer of paint.

Whatever route you take, you will still have to dismantle the fittings. If there are permanent parts, they can be hidden under paper or foil.

Dyeing process

Further work will not be difficult, you just need to follow the instructions and perform each step correctly. The process itself can be divided into certain stages:

Place the doors that have been prepared in a horizontal position on a surface covered with polyethylene. If the doors have glass, protect them with masking tape.

Prepare the paint according to the instructions on the package.

Take a paint brush and use it to brush all the small elements of the doors, panels and parts that protrude.

Using a roller and a tray, begin applying the first layer of paint.

When the entire wooden door panel has been processed, leave it to dry completely.

Apply a second coat in the opposite direction.

To get a brighter and more saturated color, it is better to paint a wooden door in three layers.

After drying, all that remains is to turn the canvas over and paint in the same order.

As you can see, the process is simple and can be done by any ordinary user. To see everything clearly, we suggest you watch this video:

Preparing the door covering

Well, let's figure it out further, how to paint a door correctly? Preparatory work is carried out according to the following scheme:

Remove all old coating, even primer and putty, until the wood itself remains. For this work, you can use a grinder, a hair dryer, or special cleaning compounds.
Then you need to sand the surface, remove any defects, sand off small paint residues, and degrease. This work cannot be done without a sander, which is best connected to a vacuum cleaner. If you don’t have such a device, you can get by with medium-grain sandpaper.

Plastering a door

When you have completely managed to sand the canvas and prime it, you can move on to puttying large flaws. If you plan to use varnish as a finishing coat, it is better to use a special composition for wood. If the decorative dye is not transparent, you don’t have to worry about the color of the putty. Don't forget about the gaps at the walls and baseboards!
After puttying, after waiting the time specified by the manufacturer of the mixture, you need to sand again, masking the abrasions. You can immediately use a medium-grained cloth, and then finish with a fine-abrasive one.

Please note that if there are large dents on the surface and you plan to use an opaque or dark material for the finishing layer, use auto putty. This mixture does not contain glass fibers.

If the doors under the old finishing materials have darkened, and you would like to simply open them with varnish, preserving the structure and pattern of the wood, problem areas can be lightened. To do this, you can prepare a simple bleach with your own hands: mix bleach with water in a ratio of 1:3. When the surface is completely processed, wiped with a rag and dried (so that the paint does not begin to swell), you can begin directly painting the door.

Tools

The list of necessary tools depends on the type of work performed:

To mechanically remove old stubborn paint, you will need a scraper and sandpaper. You can speed up the process with a grinder or drill with grinding attachments.
The chemical method of removing old coating uses enamel removers. Additionally, you will need a lot of rags and personal protective equipment: goggles, gloves, gauze bandage or respirator.
If the thermal method is chosen, an electric heat gun is used to remove dry paint residue.
To cover panel doors, it is better to use a roller. On paneled doors, paint is applied with a paint brush.
A spatula will be needed if you plan to putty the door leaf, and use a grinder for final sanding.

After preparing all the tools and materials, restoration work begins.

How is a typical door painted?

Painting a wooden door
We told you how to paint a wooden entrance door or an interior door, now it’s time to talk about how to do simple painting to avoid smudges and other problems. If you need to update the outside canvas or paint only the doors, there is no point in buying a spray bottle.

To do this, it will be enough to buy a narrow brush (for hard-to-reach places) and a roller that will suit any canvas (natural wood, fiberboard, MDF, Canadian, etc.). The only drawback of brushes is that they often lose hair, so before work you need to fluff it up so that everything unnecessary and poorly fixed falls out, so as not to spoil the finish.

For panel doors, it is better to use a roller so that the paint applies evenly. Work begins from the end, moving to the right. You will have to paint the canvas in 3 passes, so each subsequent layer should be applied in opposite movements. If painting is done on any other surface, do not allow an excess of paint to prevent smudges from forming.

Review of popular manufacturers

There are many manufacturers on the construction market for the production of interior doors. The most popular are the following:

Doors of the regions.
Bravo.
Framir.

The Framir company works taking into account the European quality standard. The most frequently ordered model is the Dolc Porte. This option has found a great combination of price and quality.

The next place is occupied by the Bravo company (made in Belarus). The company offers a huge range of models and a large number of surface finishing methods. Resistant polyurethane enamel is used for coating.

The Doors of Regions company chose expensive wood varieties as the base. Products are finished with veneer, then treated with enamel. The company harvests the wood itself, which guarantees the production of high-quality material.

How to use stain correctly?

Painting a door with stain
To prevent the wood from absorbing excess moisture and for the paint to apply evenly, the prepared canvas needs to be slightly moistened. All horizontal surfaces are treated with stain along the grain and then across it. The finishing layer is also applied in the longitudinal direction.

The jambs and parts that have not been dismantled begin to be covered from below so that the drops do not touch the still untouched areas. This sequence of actions is followed if the finishing layer is an opaque material. When the surface treated with stain absorbs moisture, the wood fibers straighten, which is why you will need to sand the canvas with zero sandpaper and repeat the procedure.

It is also worth noting that after staining (when the dye dries) the wood becomes lighter. Therefore, you need to coat it as many times as necessary to achieve the desired color. If you want to speed up the process, you can use an alcohol-based stain. The surface treated with this composition will not require re-grinding. But, water-soluble materials are considered safer, will not smell bad and are more popular.

General information

The service life and quality of enamel-coated doors depends on the correctness of their manufacture. During the production process the following stages of work must be observed:

thorough sanding of the blade;
surface treatment with a special adhesive composition with increased dry residue characteristics (this helps to ensure the wood’s resistance to moisture penetration and also to level the surface);
at the final stage, an enamel composition is applied to the canvas, evenly distributing it over the surface of the product.

If you need to create additional decor (for example, stained glass), the manufacturing process becomes more complicated and other technologies are used.

How to imitate wood?

Advice! Today, the design of premises in the Provence style, the laconicism of which few people previously knew, is very popular. Furniture and doors for rooms made in this style are usually chosen in light pastel colors; imitation of antiquity is in great demand.

Adhering to this style when decorating doors with your own hands, a water-based emulsion or other bleached matte coloring composition can help. At the same time, many people wonder whether it is possible to paint wooden doors with water-based paint? Of course you can, why such doubts?

For such substances, you can use both a spray gun and rollers or brushes. However, on the Internet you can find many videos and photos of instructions on how to paint a wooden door white with emulsion, read in more detail, such skills for artificial aging will not hurt you!

How to imitate a tree pattern

And so, to imitate a tree pattern on any base (including metal) you need:

Paint the canvas yellowish, grayish, beige or white and dry.
Get some liquid soap and a brush, and lubricate the desired area.
Take a dark dye and apply it to the surface.
Remove liquid soap.

Also, to create a retro door, purchase a special brush, which is sold at any hardware store. The brush is used to make movements, as if combing hair, over the entire surface in order to touch the soft fibers of the rock. The surface can then be pigmented in different shades.

Thanks to such manipulations, the structure of the surface into which paint of different shades penetrates is disrupted. This will create the effect of aged wood with the necessary curls. When the surface dries, it is sanded and finished. As you can see, it’s not difficult to give even old doors a new lease of life on your own; the main thing is to follow the rules and be consistent in your work.

Features of enamels

The features of the enamel coating are explained by some properties that are characteristic of this facing material:

unlimited choice of colors;
resistance to moisture, thanks to which doors painted with enamel can be used to create an original interior;
You can completely hide the imperfections of the treated base.

Also important properties of enamel are safety and hygiene. Therefore, enamel for windows and doors can be used in children's rooms, hospitals, and public catering establishments.