Painting the Front Door

Remember when I was trying to decide on a new color for my front door?  I had already purchased a dark gray color, but I was leaning towards more of a teal color.  With the other door colors in the neighborhood being dark blue and the burgundy on my door that I started to despise, I was a little worried the teal would be too noticeable of a difference.

I came up with a much better compromise and painted both sides of the door.  Now the color that I love is on the interior. I see the exterior door when I pull into the garage, but I see the interior side all the time.  Win-win!

I started by scraping/pushing away an extra burgundy color from the window panes and then taped the windows:

I wasn't interested in waiting another weekend to paint the door.  When the rain moved in, I thought it might move out.  It didn't.  It rained, we pulled the door, and then it rained the rest of the day.  Not a great day to pull the front door.  Luckily, the outside storage closet door is a 3' door, so we removed the storage closet door to hang in place of the front door.  I painted in the garage until 10:30pm with a space heater to help speed up drying times between coats.

The door sat in the garage overnight and was re-hung by 7am the following morning.  I saved the last part for Monday after work

Here is the interior shot of my entry when I moved in 4 years ago.  Stark, cold white.  I had painted the wall to the right to warm the space and changed the color the day before painting the front door.  The hallway seemed to go on forever like a bowling alley.  

Painting 3 coats of Valspar Swim.  I painted 2 coats with a brush and rolled the final coat.  The gray paint was much thinner and just bubbled with the roller, so I only used a brush.  If I lived closer to Lowe's, I probably would have returned the paint and asked them to remix.  I've never had a problem with Valspar paint, but I was not pleased with the consistency of the gray.  A painter friend confirmed that the paint shouldn't have been so thin.

Now with the "swim" door, there is a nice stopping point to the hallway from the kitchen.  The door is bright and cheery.  I love it!

We also replaced the weather stripping on the bottom of the door while it was off the hinges.  Much better!  There was a crazy gap/draft that I should have fixed two years ago instead of using that dumb weather guard thing that just made it difficult to open/close the door over the run.  Here are the two colors I used on the door:

What do you think?  Have you painted an interior door?

I like having the more versatile gray color outside and fun bright color inside.