I love a bold front door. You can make a huge impact on your house with just a few coats of paint in a stunning new shade. Here’s the color I chose to repaint mine — General Finishes Klein Blue Milk Paint. Isn’t that the most amazing blue?
I also used General Finishes Seagull Gray Milk Paint on the inside of the door and Driftwood Milk Paint for the gridwork.
General Finishes Seagull Gray Milk Paint - Available in Quarts or Pints
But first – here’s the before. Not a great shot of the door, but you can see it’s just a plain ol’ white door. Pretty nondescript.
The first step when painting any project is cleaning, and sanding if necessary. You can clean with a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and water, or use a product like Krud Kutter to get all the grime off. If the door is slick or has any rough spots, sand and remove dust before painting.
I chose to leave the door on the hinges to paint it so I could work on both sides as needed. Some people might prefer painting it horizontally. Tape off anything you don’t want painted, or if you are adept with an angle brush, dive right into painting.
The Klein Blue was a tad bright for inside the house, so for the back of the door I went with a soft gray color, Seagull Gray.
I also painted the window gridwork, which had become yellowed over time. We had to remove the grids and paint the fronts and backs of both pieces because there is a piece of glass between them. Anything that wasn’t painted would have been visible. I gave them two coats of General Finishes Driftwood Milk Paint.
Painting door gridwork with Driftwood
I ended up with four coats of the Klein Blue since it was against white and I wanted good, even coverage. Typically GF Milk Paint doesn’t require that many coats.
A great feature of General Finishes Milk Paint is that it is self-sealing, meaning it doesn’t require a topcoat. However, GF Exterior 450 is an extra protectant that helps minimize fading if your door is in the direct sun. GF High Performance Polyurethane works well also.
AFTER (below) – Front door in Klein Blue and inside in Seagull Gray, with freshened up grids in Driftwood.
The shutters need to be refreshed next. (Yeah, oops, one came off.) What color do should I paint them? The same Klein Blue as the door? Repaint the current Black? Dark Gray? Decisions, decisions.
Stop by your local Woodcraft store or shop online to see the many choices of General Finishes Milk Paint colors for your front door makeover. From Tucsan Red to Persian Blue to Coral Crush...you'll find a color (or two) that you love!
We hope you'll be inspired!
