Decor 

Do-it-yourself painting of wooden doors - we bring old door panels back to life

Painting wooden doors with your own hands is a great way to save money during repairs. Now you do not need to spend money on buying new interior doors, because our article will help to revive the old ones!

1

If you are going to paint a new interior door, then the preparation will be minimal. We can say that they do not need to be prepared at all - just remove them from the hinges and you can get to work. But the old doors before painting need to be processed and brought into proper form.

First of all, dismantle the product. First, remove the door leaf from the hinges, twist all the handles, locks and other elements from it. If the doors have glass inserts, you must first remove the glazing beads and then remove the glass elements. Do the same with the door frame. True, if it is very old, it is not a fact that you will be able to dismantle it entirely, but you should not worry - you can buy individual parts of the door frame (or the whole box itself) on any construction market, and this is inexpensive. First you need to remove the old coating - it can be paint, varnish, putty. A spatula will help you, which you need to carefully remove the old layer.

Removing the door frame

After that, the surface of the product must be carefully processed with a grinder or sandpaper. At the end, in order to remove the remnants of dust and dirt, we pass along the canvas with a broom or a vacuum cleaner.

However, there are other ways to remove the old coating:

  • Thermal, which is based on the use of a building hair dryer or blowtorch. Under the influence of high temperature, the old varnish or paint will begin to soften, after which it will not be difficult for you to remove the coating with a spatula.
  • The chemical method involves the use of organic solvents suitable for removing paint. Simply apply the product to the door leaf using a brush or sprayer. After a couple of minutes, the coating should swell and begin to peel off - it will not be difficult to remove it with a scraper.

If the wood has darkened slightly under a layer of paint, the door must be treated with any bleach that contains chlorine. Mix the product with water in a ratio of 1:3 and wipe the door leaf. After the product has dried, inspect, repairing any cracks and dents with wood putty.

2

Not only the appearance of the doors, but also their service life depends on the choice of a suitable paint and varnish product. That is why it is so important to pay as much attention to this issue as possible. First of all, the canvases can be varnished. Varnishes are very different - matte, glossy, colored. Their main advantage is that the tree structure will be visible under them.

Preparing the door for painting

However, this is both a plus and a minus, since all defects will be visible. Therefore, varnishes should not be used - all the flaws will be in full view. If we talk about varnishes, then there are two options - alcohol-based and oil-based. You can also find nitro-varnishes on sale, which are made on the basis of solvents, but it is better to refuse their use, since nitro-lacquer can adversely affect the quality of wood. The highest quality for painting doors can be called polyurethane varnish, which is resistant to mechanical damage.

Also, the door can be covered with paint. And just huge, which will give the products a completely new look. Paints can also be matte and glossy, there are options that can emphasize the structure of the tree. But for interior doors, you can choose only two samples - paints based on alcohol and oils. There is also another more expensive option - the use of oils containing wax. Such compositions give the wood a silky surface.

3

So, you need to decide on the tool. The sprayer can be called the most convenient, but if you have to paint only 2-3 doors in the apartment, buying such a tool will be unprofitable. Therefore, you can use a roller and a panel brush. In this case, the brush should be fluffed before starting work and all poorly fixed hairs should be removed. Thanks to this, after painting, there will be no hairs on the door.

The color scheme depends on the type of structure:

  • Panel doors are painted in 3 steps. It is best to use a roller. They begin to paint the doors from the upper left corner, directing the roller to the right side. So paint over the door to the very end and leave it to dry. The second time we paint the canvas in the longitudinal direction and again leave the door to dry. The last time we paint over from the lower left corner up.
  • Paneled doors begin to paint with a brush. Walk the tool along all the hollows in the door, trying to avoid an overabundance of paint. After that, we take the roller in our hands and paint the product according to the instructions described above.

door painting process

When painting, you can imitate a wood pattern, while the door itself does not have to be made of natural wood. To do this, you need:

  1. Paint the canvas with light beige or yellow paint.
  2. Leave the product to dry until the composition is completely dry.
  3. Cover the canvas with liquid soap with a brush.
  4. Apply a layer of dark paint on top.

If you have to paint a veneered door, you can choose another option. To do the job, you will need a wood brush. Just "comb" the soft surface of the veneer, then paint the canvas with the chosen color. Thanks to the brush, small curls will appear on the product, which will create the illusion of wood. After the varnish has dried, the surface must be sanded.

4

Often, stain is chosen instead of paint or varnish for painting doors. This material allows you to accurately recreate the structure of real wood, which will make even cheap doors more presentable. And to create the effect of antiquity, additionally stock up on antique wax. Before performing work, the canvas should be wiped with a slightly damp cloth - in this case, the wood will not absorb moisture much, and the stain will lie as evenly as possible.

Door stain coating

The stain is applied in a thin layer of no more than 0.5 mm. After treatment, wait a couple of seconds and wash off the stain with a damp sponge. After the canvas is completely dry, apply another layer of the composition, wait for it to dry and cover the canvas with alkaline soil. We apply antique wax on top and use a metal brush to rub it into the canvas along the fibers. After such processing, the doors will retain an aged look for a long time.

Remember that for painting wooden canvases it is better to use velor rollers, the structure of which is ideal for working with varnishes and paints. But the use of rollers designed to work with water-based paints is categorically not recommended. This can lead to uneven dyed canvas.