Give Me A New Coat

Nice? I’m so glad it’s finally over! I gave my doors a nice coat of glossy paint.

 

Many tell me painting the door is tough and it’s different from painting the walls. Door paints (for wood and metals) for the fact is oil based, which also means:

• You need to handle it faster than water based paints. Once it reaches the semi dried state, you won’t want to brush through it.
• It “bleeds” at the corners (I’ll show you how to minimize that).
• It’s messy and sticky
• The fumes are suffocating (it’s best you work in a well-ventilated place).
• To clean off any stains, you’ll have to use turpentine, which I find it quite damaging to my skin (advisable to use gloves handling this)

Well, it is tough, because I had to paint all 11 doors… :(

I can only manage 3 doors + frame in one day. Plus I took breaks in between before completion. I tried painting 2 days in a row, I ended up with muscle cramps in my fingers and a sore wrist!

In short, if you have newly polished parquets like mine, you’ll avoid all cost to step on the drips of paint from your prepared surface onto your floor. Cleaning it when it has fully dried is quite a time consuming task. Amidst the chaos, you’ll have to act fast to reduce visible brush strokes setting on your door… a lot to juggle right?

Let’s begin…..

Tools you’ll need:

Super must haves:

1)      Short haired roller sponge

See the sponge next to the gloves? This is the number #01 must haves in my list of door painting. Make sure it is the short haired types. It’s quite hard to find and most hardware shops sell only the standard ones. Also, buy a bunch of them. I never wash and reuse them because you’ll need to use a lot of turpentine to clean it, plus it’s a hassle to dispose the turpentine.

2)      Plenty of disposable gloves

3)      Natural haired paint brushes (works better than nylon ones)

4)      Odour-lite door paint (I’ve tried using the standard wood paint. I’ve not seen odourless types in the market though. Boy, the fumes were unbearable & I feel dizzy after breathing in the fumes for the whole day)

You’ll need lots of prep work as well:

Make sure you tape vital areas and protect the surface of your floors.

Take note if you use newspapers, have it thick enough so that the paint won’t seep through. Remember, it’s not like wall paint.

Get rid of any peeling paint, stickers, and stains by sanding that off lightly. If you want, you can also give your door a wipe before painting (I did for mine).

After painting, make sure to leave the tape 1-2 days at the corners to completely dry and stop the “bleeding” process. Look at the screw up of my first painted door. I didn’t expect the “bleeding” to continue after 1-2hrs of painting, but it seems like it did. It’s still there and I’m having a hard time removing it.

Some pointers when painting doors:

1)      Take out excess paint from your brush before painting

a.       This will reduce dripping paint onto the floor

b.      It reduces “bleeding”

2)      You’ll need 2 coats to have an even colour. If the base of your door is a dark colour, you may need 3 or more coats. It’ll be better is you can sand down the door a little, but I’m too lazy to do so. Just make sure that coat 1-2 is completely dried before putting on the 3-4 coats.

3)      While painting the 2^nd coat, check on “bleeding” at corners & brush them off lightly before it dries.

4)      Always wear gloves! In my first attempt, I didn’t despite my mum telling me. I had paint all over my hands and soles of my feet! Best part was, I forgot about it and touched other things in the house!!! It became a mess!

5)      If you accidently drip/ stain places where you don’t want the paint to be, get a ragged cloth and quickly clean it while it’s still in its liquid form. (In the picture above, I’m really having a hard time as the paint has already dried. Smart me thought I could use the scrapper to scrape it out… I just made it worse!)

I always paint the areas which my roller sponge cannot reach with a brush first. Like the frame, patterned areas of the door and corners. My record is painting 3 doors a day, so I’ll make sure to maximize the use of my sponge rollers.  I didn’t wait for the paint to dry before painting on the second coat. The roller sponge is good as it doesn’t leave brush patterns on the door. It also gives an even coat of paint without much dripping and splashing droplets of paint out (provided you roll out the excess).

I’m pretty happy with the results. It feels like having a new shiny door now!

If you’re attempting it, try out my method and take note on the pointers. I screwed up 2 doors before getting it right. Lastly, you really need a lot of patience. In my opinion, painting the doors take more effort than the wall.

Good luck!