Outdoor Projects

Front Door Update

The front door update is finally finished! We had a few days of nice weather and I gave the door a quick refresh with some paint – let me show you how.

The front door update is finally finished!  I was hoping to get to this somewhat easy project earlier in the summer, but with the new baby and all – I put it on the backburner until I had a bit more time.  We had a few days of nice weather and I gave the door a quick refresh with some paint – let me show you how.

Let’s just go back in time and remember that we used to have a white door that I painted dark blue last year.  During the winter, for some reason the liner on the front of the door started peeling off, and it looked like a big mess for months.

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I started by peeling the loose liner from the door, and it was pretty easy to get off (on most sections).  See this photo (above) that I took with my cell phone during the process?  Well, that one section in blue along the window is where the liner was missing last year, and I had patched it to match the height.  Glad to see my DIY fix held up!

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Basically, wherever the liner was on the “exposed” part of the door, came off really easily.  Everywhere that was not directly exposed to the elements (under the brass kick-plate and along the edges where the door is closed) was ridiculously hard to remove.

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I had a scraper out and everything, and those sections would just not come off.  I didn’t think any chemicals would work (for example, a paint stripper like Erin from Lemons, Lavender and Laundry used for her front door) because it was the glue/liner that was stuck, not paint.  In the end I decided to just leave the liner there because it would just be concealed again.

Oh, and notice all that rust along the window and top of the door?  I scrubbed everything down with some CLR and then wiped it all clean before I primed.

We also caulked the seam along the window frame and the door (which was larger now that the liner was removed).

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Because I wanted to remove the liner, I had to take off the lock and door knob this time (last year I just painted around them).  I always knew the inside portion of the door was dingy… but I didn’t know how gross it was until I could compare to the original colour!  Yuck :(

(And yes, I accidently closed the door a couple of times, and not having a handle makes it super hard to open again!).

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Anyways, I primed the door again with some Zinsser, and did the inside/house side too.  I taped the window on the inside of the house, but since the outside section was already blue, I just stayed away from that part (the paint was already fine in that area).

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At this point the Husband did NOT like the way our door was looking.  A lot of the rust spots were still visible and he was telling me I was crazy and we needed a new door.

Just wait I said…

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The first coat went on really quickly, and I was reminded how much I liked this Modern Masters Front Door Paint in the first place (it’s supppperrr smooth!).

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I did 2.5 coats and let everything dry overnight.  I could finally put the door knob and lock back on, and screwed in the kick-plate too.  Not being able to properly close the door for a few days was annoying (and lots of flies came in when the paint was drying too!).

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If you look really close, you can still see the liner along the edge of the door frame – and the covered rust section isn’t as smooth as the rest of the door.

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But you know what?  The Husband actually said it looks much better now, and took back the whole “we need a new door” thing.  If this isn’t a lesson in why DIY can save you hundreds of dollars (and prove your husband wrong) then I don’t know what is haha!

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It was much quicker painting the door the second time around (maybe because I didn’t have to be careful around the lock-plates?) and you can hardly tell that the liner is still leftover in some sections.  I did one coat of white on the inside, but until it’s done I’m going to keep that painters tape up as a reminder haha!  And with this front door update (and the crack repair, and flower planting), our front yard updates are done for 2016!

Have I convinced you yet that painting your front door is a great solution to add some almost instant curb appeal?  (Remember to read the original, more detailed front door painting post for a more in-depth tutorial!).

See you next time :)

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2 Comments

  • Reply
    Erin @ Lemons, Lavender, & Laundry
    August 17, 2016 at 8:12 am

    This turned out beautifully Nicole! Total money-saver!

    • Reply
      Nicole
      August 18, 2016 at 8:45 pm

      Right? Now both our doors are lovely shades of blue without peeling paint! Hopefully they last this winter :)

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