My doors are from a manufactured home, so they’re flat with a layer of paper over some type of pressed board. The trim throughout the house is similar giving it a dull and dated look.
I initially painted the doors and trim a bright white. When painting I discovered that the doors and trim were pretty damaged and warped so I knew the final result wasn’t going to be perfect. Even so, once done, the trim was a huge improvement, giving the hall a much cleaner look. However, the doors just didn’t look right to me.
About a month later, I decided to go for something that I’d been interested in for years but had been nervous about trying. Black doors. I love the way black doors, window frames, and trim look in a house, but I always felt it was best suited for larger homes. I ran across some great ideas for dressing up old doors and became inspired. I found a few images of doors with faux panels and it didn’t look too complicated. The only challenge was making it look right but thankfully I ran across this tutorial from Thrifty Artsy Girl with guidance for measuring your panels out.
What I Learned
- For some reason I was under the assumption that flat hollow doors would require smooth rollers. The streaks and damage to the doors were much more visible with black and after even Floetrol not helping, I was starting to think I’d need to go back to white. It was on my last door when I ran out of flat rollers that I tried a normal wall roller and found it looked 100 times better. At this point I’d already done 5 doors white with the flat rollers, given up on perfection and did 5 doors streaky black. Yes, I was pretty mad at myself for not trying the regular roller (which I had a ton of and had been doing walls with).
- Even clear glue is tough to hide on black. You will want to use the clearest wood glue you know of. I used clear liquid nails. Once the glue was dried, I needed to touch up some visible glue spots.
- Black shows everything and doors collect dust. Don’t get me wrong, I love the final look, but you can see every speck. Having pets that shed doesn’t help either. I highly recommend a semi gloss so that dusting and wiping them down is easier.
Results
Even though they’re a bit streaky and the doors are hammered, I’m pretty happy with them. The black with white trim looks great. The dust may drive me nuts eventually, but right now, I’m super happy with them, even with the walls not yet painted.
*The before picture was with tape up as I played around with different panel ideas.
It completely changed the look of my hall. My next step will be painting the hall a light grey.
The Bad
As you can see, dust and dog hair is clearly visible. Fortunately, a quick swipe with a rag to the semi gloss paint clear it away.
