A few weeks ago, I shared the details of one of our major DIY home improvement projects to date, upgrading our doors and hardware with paint. I was (and still am) pretty self-congratulatory. This project allowed us to turn our nine ugly old interior doors into fun and colorful features for only about $100 in materials and supplies. Awesome!
It really took our place from bland to exciting. I was counting on this punch of warm color to go along with the cool tones I picked for the rest of the house.
My how-to post included a whole lot (2400 words lot) of information about what we did and why we did it. So be sure to check that out if you’re interested in doing a similar project! But read this post, too, because what I DIDN’T talk about was what went wrong. Because, trust me, as with any first time DIY, stuff went wrong.
So here are my tips for what you should NOT do if you decide to do this yourself.
1. Don’t skimp on letting the paint cure, and plan to not have any doors for 2-4 weeks.
Given our work schedules, it’s hard to find time for a project like this: one that will take a lot of work and be totally disruptive to the house while it happens. Having no interior doors is a pain, so we planned to do it over a long weekend. We thought we could just let the doors sit for a week to dry, and then we’d easily throw them back up and it would all be over. How wrong we were!
You see, we forgot that drying is different than curing, which is when all of the water or solvents has evaporated out of it and the paint has reached maximum hardness. Even in ideal conditions water-based paints can take 14-30 days to cure!
When our weekend came it fortunately didn’t rain, but it was incredibly hot and humid for all three days and then sustained relatively high humidity for the weeks that followed.
Beyond the unpleasant working conditions, the real issue was that it made painting the doors difficult. The paint took forever to dry to the touch and remained subtly tacky for a very long time. We set them up in our garage to cure, but due to the humidity they were still nowhere near ready even a week later.
At that point we brought them into the house where it wasn’t quite as humid and let them sit for another two weeks before installing. These were better conditions, but it had other effects. Wherever we leaned the doors (up against our interior walls) they either left spots of yellow paint, or took off a little of the paint that was there. You can see one such spot on my freshly painted office wall that I had to go back and touch up. Boo!
Also, all this moving around before they were fully cured led to a few spots of damage in the finish on a few of the doors, where they had bumped into or leaned up against something before they were ready. Eventually I’ll have to go back around to touch this up, also.
Even with all this time, when we went to install it was still a little early, so on one of our doors we have had some paint transfer between the edge of the door and our trim. Not a huge deal, but a bummer given how much work we put into this project.
2. Don’t skip planing the doors.
Think about your doors at the most humid time of the year: do they expand and stick a bit? Ours did, so we knew that we were going to plane the doors (shave off the edges) when we did this project to avoid that problem in the future.
What we didn’t anticipate was that painting doors is actually adding width to them ever so slightly due to the thickness of the paint. We don’t usually think about that when it comes to painting a room because its such a minor difference, but for doors – especially old sticky ones – it can actually make a difference.
So even though we Brad planed all the troublesome ones a little before painting, when we went to install a few of them they were clearly too tight or simply wouldn’t fit. So we had to haul them back down to the garage and plane off some of our pretty, fresh paint job.
We had to do this to two of the doors, both closets. It’s totally hidden when the doors are closed, and they’re rarely opened, but I know it’s there.
On one of the doors that was just a little tight, we didn’t re-plane, so we got some of the paint rubbing off from use. Not the look I was going for.
When I do my touch-ups I’ll re-paint these edges, but then we’ll have to leave these open for another 30 days to cure. I wish we had just planed a little more to begin with!
3. For the love of god, don’t lose any hardware, and be sure to label it clearly.
We were obsessive about labeling which doors went where, and which hardware went with which door. To the point that we even matched the screws to each hinge that they came from. (I don’t know why we went that far. We’re insane. Don’t bother.)
But it’s a good thing that we were so careful. Enough can go wrong with install without worrying about mismatched pieces, or trying to divine why something doesn’t fit the way it used to.
However, we did make one colossal error: we lost one of the hinges.
How? you might ask. Well, do you remember this post Sage and I wrote sharing “the hole truth” about disasters in our home? I shared how we had removed some cheap industrial grates from our air system during the renovation, and have been living with the gaping holes while we figure out replacements.
This hasn’t caused us any problems, except for one time: While we were removing the hardware from one of our doors at the start of this project, one of the hinges went merrily down a vent.
Specifically THIS vent.
Jerk.
Even after bravely sticking MY WHOLE ARM in there to try it get it back, it was still lost. So we had to halt progress and head out to buy a pair of replacement hinges for this door.
Which brings me to my next topic…
4. Did you know that hinges have “depth?” You should.
A hinge is a hinge is a hinge, right? Wrong. Any amateur should know that, so I clearly haven’t yet achieved even amateur status.
I went to our local hardware store and picked up their basic hinge set, which seemed to match up pretty well with our other hinges in terms of size and screw placement. I figured it would work fine, so I took it through the cleaning, sanding, and spray painting along with the other hardware. And it was easy to install the door, because the hinge and screws fit right into place.
Success?
NO. When it came to actually, oh I don’t know, close the door, the problems started. Apparently this hinge was just slightly smaller than the hinge it was replacing, so it couldn’t close all the way unless we pushed pretty hard.
Protip: if you find yourself in that situation, don’t try pushing hard to close the door. OF COURSE we did, and this is what happened to our door’s shiny new paint job:
Now, instead of just finding new hardware that fits, we’ll have to re-do this door, as well.
So if you do need to replace any hinges, be sure that you’re either re-doing the placement completely, or that you buy ones that will fit the depth you need perfectly. And check out this useful resource which can tell you a lot more about door hinges than I can, apparently.
5. Don’t be careless re-installing, or you’ll regret it.
This one is sort of obvious, but obvious things sometimes need to be said: You can do a lot of damage when re-installing the doors and hardware.
Be careful with the screwdriver, as any wrong move will scratch your nice, new spray painting job on the hardware. Small marks will be unavoidable on the screws themselves, so check that you have everything absolutely correct before screwing it in, because it will look 10x worse if you have to take them back out and screw them in again.
Also, be really gentle with the hinges, and finesse them into place rather than banging them with a hammer, or this will happen:
Yeah. Sometimes the obvious needs to be said. Of course, that is quite easy to fix with paint, so we’re not worried.
6. Avoid putting metal in contact with your pretty new door knobs.
I am thrilled to report that the spray paint jobs on all of the hinges and door knobs has held up great, even in high-use areas…. with one exception, which is entirely our fault.
With our ugly old hardware we had gotten in the habit of hanging clothes hangers off of the knobs to lay out our clothes or remember to bring something with us. We KNEW we had to stop this, but change is hard, and we messed up a few times with the door to our basement/garage. This place is just too insanely convenient if we need to remember to bring a blazer to work, or something like that.
Unfortunately, once we had a few nicks in the finish, it kept getting worse from there, and now we’re left with this:
I don’t feel like this is a problem with the paint or methodology because it only happened to this one door which doesn’t even get the most use. So once the weather warms up, I’m going to take this one down, give it a good cleaning and sanding, and re-paint. Hopefully that will solve the problem.
If this keeps happening, I’ll move to my Plan B for this whole project, which would involve giving all the doorknobs a few coats of a clear topcoat. I don’t want to do this because it will change the finish and make them look less authentically ORB, but at least I know it is an option. If you wear a lot of rings or you think your family will have trouble with the “no rubbing metal against the doorknobs” rule, then you might save yourself the heartache and do this from the beginning.
… and if you do, tell me how it works.
So now you think I am this project was a total failure. That just goes to show how you can present a home DIY project two different ways – perfect and successful, and an utter disaster.
The reality is usually somewhere in between. I’m totally in love with the results of this project and I’m glad we did it. But I also learned a lot and would do some things differently if given the chance to start over. And I still have a few things to do to make up for my mistakes.
Hopefully if you take this on you can learn from what I did wrong and not make the same mistakes. Good luck!
(Sharing at I Heart Naptime, Sunday Showcase, Remodelaholic, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Whimsy Wednesday, AKA Design, Tip Junkie, and DIY Showoff – and FEATURED at Remodelaholic!)
Great advice! The biggest problem I’ve had when painting doors involved not thoroughly cleaning off the greasy fingerprint/dirt around the door knob. That lead to poor adhesion of the paint, and a BIG pain in my neck. Pinning your great tips!
Thanks, Kim! Fortunately we haven’t had that problem (yet), but great to keep in mind for those thinking of this project. It’s really so much more involved than I first thought – not like painting a wall. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this advice for painting doors! It is great that you learned from your experience and sharing so others can learn as well!
It was sure a learning experience. Thanks for reading!
So many DIY posts show all the beautiful results, but don’t go into lessons learned or how things could have been done differently. LOVE that you shared this. I wasn’t planning on painting any of our doors at this point, but even after all of these things that went “wrong”, I’m looking at my doors for what they could be. Thanks for sharing all the tips!
Thanks, Leslie! I made so many mistakes it seemed a shame to keep it all to myself – although I did have to go back and read my earlier “success” post to remind myself that it wasn’t all a big failure 😉 Haha, I think most DIYs are actually a healthy combination of the two. Thanks so much for reading!
Naomi, what a great idea to share things that went wrong. My two cents is, don’t be bashful about mistakes/failures! If you aren’t making mistakes/failing, you aren’t doing anything new or challenging! What’s not to admire about trying new things and learning?
On a pragmatic note … it seems like door knobs are going to get a lot of wear … is there a matte finish top coat you can put on?
SO much enjoying the blog!!
Well, fortunately for me, I have a lot of mistakes/failures to share. I must be doing something right! 😉
I am considering a matte top coat on the knobs, but I am hoping to avoid it. Even in matte it would change the look of the finish, and I am trying to make it look as “metal” as possible. Most of them are in great shape so I am hopeful that I am dealing with an aberration with that one.
Thanks so much!
Thank you so much for this post. I always feel like a total failure when I run into challenges and make mistakes when I attempt a home project. Blogs typically make projects seem so effortless. It is awesome that you showed the mistakes you made and how you could avoid them in the future.
Thanks Keri! That’s really great to hear. I feel like you can really “spin” these projects either way, because a lot of it turned out well, but some of it did go horribly wrong! It was fun to try writing it both ways. Thanks for your nice comment 🙂
In my opinion your project was successful. Your doors look amazing. My husband repaint our kitchen door. It took him one week. I can`t imagine repainting all the doors how much time it will take. Thank you for sharing your story. Greetings!
Thanks, Della! I feel good about the project for sure – what a big improvement! – but that doesn’t mean I didn’t make some mistakes along the way. And it certainly took a long time! We had a whole long weekend, and still didn’t put the doors back up until over a week later.
Have you thought about putting a hook on the door that you keep hanging stuff from the handle? I mean if it such a convenient spot for hanging things why not make it official? And save your touch up paint job from getting wrecked again?
That’s a great thought Alexis! I’m worried that it would look odd (this is one of many doors in a long hallway, and its in the middle.). But you’re right that we’ve got to find a better way to deal with the hanging issue so we’re not tempted to keep doing it this way. Maybe something right inside the door? I’ll give it some thought.
I just wanted to let you know that I found this post on pinterest when I was looking for advice about my doors. I just painted and rehung two doors (just rehung them tonight), and I am finding that I made ALL of the mistakes you listed. (sigh. . . ) At least I feel better, knowing I’m not the only one!
Besides that, I’m not a fan of the color. Oh well, maybe after the new year, I’ll start over. Great post, BTW!
Thank you, Tanya! Bummer that you’re not loving the color! That is the worst… doing a big project and then being underwhelmed by the results. But it IS reassuring to hear that others are making the same mistakes. These are pretty common, I think!
after reading your tips, I think I will leave my doors white and just add molding – I did want to say I enjoyed reading the detailed report of how NOT to paint doors, hinges, knobs, etc. and I would like to make a suggestion – on the photo of the bedroom with the beautiful painted doo and fabulous rug -how about adding a bed-skirt to hide the mattress and a little more creative duvet? Seems like you stopped before the decorating was complete.
Thanks! Totally agree on the bed – the house is a work in progress! I’m actually in the middle of the bedroom makeover right now, so I hope you check it out!
Thanks for the “don’t”s on a project like this. Really helpful to have honesty with DIY projects.
Thanks for reading Holly! Don’t worry, I have plenty of “dont’s”! 🙂
Just curious what kind of paint you used. Been painting for 17 years and have only seen this once. It was with some Behr enamel from home depot. We spray all of our doors with either Sherwin Williams Solo or Acrylastic. The carpenters usually hang them within 2 or 3days. Never had an issue, and we get ungodly hot and humid here in St. Louis in the summer. This is typically something you see when using a wall paint on woodwork, curious if that was the case here. The doors look great by the way!
Thanks, James! Yes, it was wall paint. I had no idea that wasn’t standard for doors! They’ve held up great once they dried and cured fully, but it sure was a pain and clearly there must be a better way. I’ll look into those options. However, I’ve also been using Benjamin Moore Advanced paint on furniture projects lately – do you think that would work for doors/woodwork, as well? I hear it is good for cabinets. Thanks!
I know this is an old post, but I’m working on a full home doors and trim project now. And yes there’s a lot of work and a lot of reworking doors back since houses settle and nothing fits back “just right”. Anyway, my actual comment is yes, I’m using Benjamin Moore advance on all our doors and trim and it is wonderful! I let the 2nd coat cure overnight (sometimes 2 days depending on our schedules) and it is ready to hang the next day. No peeling. Just finished our 8th door. I do all my painting in a spare room or the garage depending on weather.
Thank you for sharing these finer points of the painting projects. I just painted my door knobs and of course the deadbolt on the front door would not play nice upon reinstall and I now have scratches and nicks on it after trying to get it back on there before nightfall. So…. at some point, I’ll have to sand and do-over, how annoying! But reading your post helped me deal with my fail with a hearty belly laugh at your comments! DIY is definitely not perfection, but wow the money we save makes it all worth it!
Can you leave the doors on the hinges and paint them? You can mask off the hinges and paint them later. I am thinking about doing this. That way they can hang where they are and cure/dry (we don’t have kids so most of them are not used anyway).
What do y’all think?
Trish
Just moved into our new place a month ago and whilst it’s just a tiny London flat it has so much potential! Everyone seems to think it is fine as it is, but I find the whole place beige and like you want to give it personality and see it as a long project.
I found your website when looking for how to make DIY cat shelves, now I’m gong through every blog post thinking, thats what I’ve been looking to do, or wow thats a great idea! I love how you talk about the issues like with these doors along with the success and how to, and are realistic of the job ahead. I really can’t wait to get the screwdrivers, hammers and paint out.
Id love to know how you started planning after you moved in. As everything takes time and money, I can’t seem to decide where to start, especially as my flat is open plan I can’t even just choose a room, it feels like such a large job ahead.
Thanks for the inspiring blog.
Hi Dani,
So glad you found us and thank you for your very nice comments! I do hope it is helpful! We definitely wanted a lot of “real talk” and “what didn’t work” when we were first starting out, so that is what we’re trying to do 🙂 I agree it doesn’t make the project intimidating – it is empowering to know that stuff can go wrong but it can still all work out!
In terms of what to start with… I think the grim news is that you’ll be living with construction/half finished spaces for a while. (Sage has had her kitchen in demo mode for about a year now.) But you can learn to love it! I try to look at things and see the potential, and also the “fun” of the projects. If this is a good hobby – why rush it! I would say to start with either what you hate living with the most OR what you are most excited about doing. The first thing we did was take down walls… but baring that it was to paint pretty much everything because I COULDN’T STAND the color that was there. Just having good colors made me happy even though the spaces weren’t complete! Then, we did some gardening – not because that was essential, but because we were so excited to have a yard and garden and it made us feel really happy and like we were making some things pretty.
Thanks again for your comment and good luck! Send us pictures of your projects sometime!
I like that you pointed out that there is a difference between drying and curing. I think that everyone should make sure to let any part of a door cure before using it. I tried painting my door handle and it went disastrously bad, so I’m looking for cool door handle designs to replace it.
Totally! Its not intuitive at all, but it makes such a big difference. I put items away in a storage cabinet I painted before it had fully cured, and I’m still regretting it!
I really love your color choices. thank you for taking the time to share your experience!
Found this while looking for something else and thought it was a good read. One thing that might help is using a dehumidifier in the space you are using for drying/curing. As far as using the “convenient” door knob for hanging a clothes hanger off of, I have one door that I started doing that with and and finally stopped doing that by putting an over the door hook on it (wreath hangers also work well).