For Mother’s Day, Bruce asked me what I wanted. After some thought, I decided it was time to refresh the front door. I like to have up seasonal wreaths to welcome guests (and myself). They brighten up the entrance. Time had come to do a paint job. It has been one of those projects on my long “to-do” list. With beautiful spring weather (and the nudge of a Mother’s Day) I decided it was time. I did this project a few times before at previous homes so I knew it was one that would require being home all day so the door could stay opened.
I first cleaned the door well to remove pollen and dirt. I first used a bristle brush in all of the crevices. Then I followed up with a Mr Clean Magic Eraser. I let it dry for a bit and then taped off the window and hardware. I always hate that part and if I was using latex paint, I wouldn’t have bothered. But the paint I was using is a oil base paint which is a pain to use.
Before After washing Taped off First coat Look at the gloss Professional oil based paint After – it was hard taking a picture with the gloss paint!
I put down a drop cloth and got started. I like to use a throwaway (cheap wooden brush) for oil work. I started at the top and worked my way down. One disadvantage on the cheap brush is that the bristles fall out on occasion and so you have to be on the lookout to keep them out of the paint. I used a 4″ foam roller for the majority of the painting. I like to do the crevices first in an area and then follow with the roller.
I had to wait til the door was dry to put on a second coat. A lesson about high gloss paint is that if you try to touch up spots with a brush where you used a roller, the brush marks show. I made this mistake and wound up putting on an additional 3rd coat the following weekend.
I think it turned out great!
P.S. I used Rust-oleum’s Protective Enamel Gloss in Royal Blue.
