Patio Door Makeover | Before and After

I am so excited about the patio door makeover I’m sharing today!  Hubby and I have finalized all of the decisions for our exterior renovation and now the work begins!  To catch everyone up, we decided to go with the charcoal grey/brown faux bois metal siding (the sparkles, I couldn’t turn down the sparkles), paired with the copper roof I’ve long had my heart set on.  We waffled on the soffit and fascia but decided to replace the current white soffit and fascia with black.  We knew we wanted to replace and enlarge the roadside windows of the house but that left us with a dilemma: replace them with white, to go with the existing lakeside windows, or go black and have mismatched windows?  We ended up getting a great deal from our siding/roofing contractor and because the wood window frames were actually in rough shape, we decided to take the plunge and replace all of the windows.  We were going to have to do it in a few years anyway, but waiting would have meant a higher cost, especially because the metal cladding would have to be re-done.  So we’ve ordered sleek new windows with black frames!  We aren’t replacing the patio doors though (we have to draw the line somewhere), so I wanted to freshen them up with paint.  I contemplated matching them to the siding but there’s something about turquoise I just can’t resist!  I ended up painting them my favorite shade of aqua and it looks really nice because the adjacent guesthouse has the same color on its door and trim, which moves me toward my goal of unifying the million different siding material finishes and colors we inherited on our mismatched house, garage, guesthouse, and shed.  I want cohesion!  (And more turquoise).

The big renovation is scheduled to begin late July, but in the meantime there’s no shortage of work for Hubby and I!  I have definitely felt a little overwhelmed by our looooong to-do list, so I found this patio door makeover to be really satisfying.  Even though this was just a simple weekend project – and I still have what feels like miles of the concrete stonework to paint (which was cleverly cropped out of these photos) – the before and after feels dramatic.  Most importantly, I feel like we’re making progress!

Here’s a look at the before:

With the help of Home Hardware, I gave the factory white doors a fresh coat of paint.  This patio door makeover was actually really easy – the hardest part was finding a nice stretch of sunny, rain-free days!

How to Paint an Exterior Door

For anyone who hasn’t painted a door, it can be a daunting task because it’s the first thing people see (and doors don’t come cheap), so there’s pressure not to mess it up!  For a really great finish, you can bring a door to an automotive paint shop, where they can spray on the paint – or you can do it yourself with the right equipment.  But with a good quality brush and some patience, it’s pretty easy to get a nice finish.

Although I’d love to replace our doors, the doors door are in solid shape, except for the wood trim – which was peeling.

Supplies:

• TSP cleaner
• Bucket
• Garden hose (to rinse TSP)
• Sandpaper
• Chore Boy scrub cloth
• Painter’s tape
• Primer
• Exterior door and trim paint
• Step ladder (it helps so much!)
• 3″ angled brush
• Utility knife

I sanded the peeling wood trim to remove any loose paint and then continued with prep work.

I prepped my doors by washing them with TSP and a Chore Boy scouring cloth to rough up the surface and remove any grime.  After a good scrub, I rinsed it really, really well – the TSP must all be removed for paint to adhere properly.  I let the door dry for more than 24 hours and then taped off the glass and the edges.  Removing the door makes this easier, but I preferred to keep it in place because I have previously had a fox stroll right into my living room so doors around here must remain closed!  As a final preparatory step we removed the door hardware. Hot tip: to keep bugs from finding their way inside, I taped a sheet of paper over the hole on the other side.

With the door prepped and taped, I applied a coat of primer with a 3″ angled brush.  The Home Hardware paint department can help you find the right primer and paint combination.  There are different formulations and I was provided a primer intended for metal, which will work with the paint.  It’s crucial not to mix the wrong kind of primer and paint so definitely chat with the pros!

I waited 12 hours for the door to dry and then applied the paint with a new 3″ angled brush.  I love that size because it’s easy to get into corners, cut a neat edge, but also paint the surface with as few brush strokes as possible.

I applied two thin coats, allowing the paint to dry at least 12 hours in between coats.  It’s better to do multiple thin coats as opposed to a thicker coat because even if it looks like it’s applying smoothly, it can sag later if applied too heavily.

When the paint was dry, I used a small utility knife to score the tape and gently remove it.  Scoring the tape prevents the tape from peeling off a chunk of paint with it.

I’m so thrilled with this patio door makeover.  Look what a difference a cheery door color (and dark paint on the concrete brick) makes!

There’s still a few things I want to do, like paint the metal door frame black to match the new windows, replace the hinges with black ones, spray paint the brass trim around the door stop, replace the ugly outlet covers, finish painting the concrete (that’s a story for another day) and stain the deck black.  But even simple things, like building a new front step to replace the one we removed an embarrassingly long time ago (that’s our thing, apparently) and adding two beautiful modern planters helped this in-progress house exterior feel more polished.

Updates:

• How to Do Shou Sugi Ban Wood Burning (The Step is Charred Wood – Not Stain
• How to Build a Welded Front Step
• Why We Ended Up Replacing These Doors (UGH)
• How We Painted the Exterior Faux Stonework (& Chimney!)
• See ALL of the Exterior Updates Here!

P.S. Don’t Forge to Pin for Later:

My Instagram content for this patio door makeover was sponsored by Home Hardware, but this post is actually all me!  All thoughts and opinions are my own.