Investment

Time | 3 hours working time; 12 hours with dry time

Money | $50ish for paint and varnish

Supplies*

• Existing front door (metal, wood or fiberglass)

• Gel stain of choice, I used Faux Effects Stain & Seal in Rich Brown

• Modern Masters Dead Flat Varish (exterior)

• 4” Chip brush (this needs to be a cheap chip brush; not your nice paint brush you have in the garage.)

• Painters tape

Steps

• Remove door. It is possible, but much more difficult to do this with the door on.

• Remove hardware. No laziness here people! If it’s old and outdated, replace it while you’re at it, including the hinges. Also, look at the health of the weather stripping on the bottom of the door. If it’s old, gross and hardly there, do yourself a favor and go buy a new one for less than $10 to reduce drafts and improve your home seal.

• Prep the door - lightly sand current finish. Wipe well with damp rag.

• Tape off any panels or crevices. Apply statin & seal with the grain to the “big parts” first. See video for more information and details and tips. Be sure to go with the grain, work with a wet edge and move fairly quickly. Not a lot of work time. Small imperfections will show more, not less, after it dries. Be careful and watch the video! :) This is not a hard project, but the technique is key.

• Let dry to touch and remove tape in the crevices. Wait 2 hours and now tape the “finished part.” Don’t press the tape down that hard. because you don’t want to risk pulling it off. This is just to keep your brush marks away from the rest of the door; we’re not overly concerned about little runs underneath the tape. Finish the previously taped areas with the same method by applying with the grain. Going a little heavier here is okay, but don’t go overboard. Remove tape immediately and gently, carefully blend the edge of the wet with the dry a bit.

• Let dry several hours and then flip to do other side if desired. I did both sides of mine and just love it!

• Recommendation to seal this project is Modern Masters Dead Flat Vanish, Exterior with two coats and a two hour re-coat time. So basically, if you took your door off at 8 am in the morning, prepped and taped side one, faux finished, let dry two hours, did one coat of varnish, let dry two hours and then did a second coat and let dry two hours, you could be done by 5 pm. If you are going to do the other side too, I’d only do one coat of varnish while “off,” flip after two hours (very carefully), then do the other side and you’ll still be done by 5 pm. Put the door back on the hinges and give each side a second coat. Make sense? :)

Enjoy the Project

Playlist | This is Taylor Swift by Spotify

Wine | Alamos Malbec

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