One Room Challenge – Bedroom Makeover Week 6 – Painted Doors

It’s week 6 of the One Room Challenge™ and normally this would be the last week of the challenge but they extended it for one more week. With all the natural disasters in Texas, Florida and California, many participants have had to endure unusual circumstances that have impacted their projects in many ways.

We’ve been fortunate not to have those impact us here in the Northeast, but the extra week is appreciated. I didn’t a lot done this week. My excuse is that it was my birthday. Does that work? But I did tackle one project that made a big difference. I painted all the doors in our bedroom a dark gray and replaced the gold door knobs with silver ones.

BEFORE

AFTER

A few years ago I painted all the interior doors on our first floor black. I loved them. I intended to paint the doors upstairs and never got around to it. And as much as I loved the black, the dark gray is my new favorite.

And here’s the view of the entry door:

BEFORE

AFTER

Painting interior doors is an easy and inexpensive way to upgrade those standard, painter-grade doors. And they make such a big difference!

This really changes the whole look of the room and gives it a richer, cozier feel.

And the dark gray against the brown walls really works because the gray works as a neutral and the colors are similar in tone. And there’s touches of gray throughout the room including the rug and artwork, so it ties in nicely.

Painting attached interior doors isn’t a hard project but it can be a little time consuming. I read a lot about different techniques, but here’s what worked for me:

• Remove the handles. I wanted to replace or at least spray paint the hinges, but I was nervous I would get the spray all over the newly painted walls. I’m looking into a solution to refinish them to silver.
• Sand the doors lightly to remove any blemishes and add a little “tooth” for the new paint to adhere to.
• I used a paint brush for all the steps but some places recommend a roller and a paint brush. I find it’s not as consistent and a little more time consuming.
• Paint the panels – starting with the inside top panels, doing the recessed areas first and then the faces of the panels.
• Paint the vertical center stile – If the door has a vertical center stile, paint this next and then blend in the brush marks from the center stile when you paint the horizontal rails.
• Paint the rails or horizontal framing members, starting with the top rail and working your way to the bottom.
• Paint the vertical stiles. Feather the brush marks from the rails while they are still wet.
• Paint the inside and outside edges of the door but be careful not to get any paint on the wall trim.

Each door needed three coats of paint and I used Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron in semi-gloss. Let the paint dry completely between each coat. When the paint is done, attach the handles. I bought these handles from Home Depot.

Here are the items from my makeover wish list:

• DIY headboard – possibly a solution to cover the ugly bed frame
• new end tables
• curtains
• linens
• wall art – gallery wall done, still need art for additional wall spaces
• rug(s)
• task lighting
• add some plants – probably need a few smaller ones
• accessories and additional storage – more?
• upgrade our white painter grade doors

So you see I still have the bed frame to tackle. I have plans. Big pans. But I’m just crossing my fingers it will all come together. Check back next week to see. Thanks so much for following along and have a great week!