How to paint your front door
How to paint your front door, it sounds like a big project. I’m going to take you step by step of the process and show you how easy it is to do this on your own. You will need some equipment and I suggest you getting the best you can afford, remember you get what you pay for! Here is a list of the things you might want to get before you start on this project. If you want to watch the video go to the end of the post.
1.Wager Home decor Paint sprayer
2. Sherwin Williams Emerald paint
3.Paint brush with angled edge
5. Stucco tape
The first thing you are going to want to do is pick a color for the front door. Oh this sounds like the easiest part but believe me its the hardest part of the job! Sherman Williams has a cool little thing on their site where you can change up the colors of paint in a photo. Its called Color Snap Visualizer this is how i picked my color. It seems like a good idea if you have truly no idea what color to choose like blue vrs. Red, however when you are picking from very similar shades of blue like I was doing, you better grab some paint samples before you paint. I did not grab samples and I didn’t get the exact right color for my front door. So this fall I will be repainting my front door a grayer shade of blue. Please learn from my mistake and don’t be in a hurry like I was and skip this step. I think it might be the most important step in “how to paint your front door”. 
You are going to want to do some prep work before you start painting. Your doors get really dirty hello they live outside, so you are going to have to wash them with lots of soap and water. After they are clean you will will want to make sure you sand them just a bit. My doors have been painted before so there were drip marks and brush strokes that I needed to fix from previous owners. I found about 10 places that couldn’t be fixed like dents and drip marks that just wouldn’t sand off. I’m such a picky person that its hard for me to let things like that go, but hey as a DIY gal I need to learn that nothing will ever be perfectly perfect.
Sanding is messy and will leave a lot of dust so you will want to wipe it down with a tack cloth to grab all the dust. The last thing you want to do is spray paint a dirty dusty door. Then the next step is taping. Tape off everything even if you are a very clean painter. Taping off the stucco was the hardest part until I found this fabulous Scotch Stucco Tape it does a great job of sticking to the stucco and peels off supper easy it reminds me of duck tape. I did use the Scotch blue tape for the windows and the base of the door, Just because its easier to tear and work with, and believe me I do like the easiest way to do things! 
So cleanings done, sanding done, taping done, now its time to get paintings. I used the Emerald paint from Sherwin Williams, mainly because the salesman said it was the best for outside doors but you might want to know what Sherwin Williams web site says about this Outdoor paint.
- Emerald Exterior Paint offers premium performance that stands the test of time, coupled with exceptional beauty and excellent application.
- Emerald Exterior Paint offers resistance to blistering, peeling, fading and dirt pickup, as well as a mildew-resistant coating.
- Emerald Exterior Paint is self-priming with a smooth, uniform appearance.
- Emerald Exterior Paint meets the most stringent VOC regulations and is backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
So there you have it from the source, this paint is going to last for years. My favorite part about this paint is that it doesn’t require priming! Yeah just one less step you have to take. I can tell you that it covered my black door like a charm, I was a little worried about the not priming thing but I went for it and was happy to find that this paint does what it said it was going to do. I started with the brush part, this was the hardest part for me. I had to not only cover the molding but a little side panel as well. This took a bit of time and I was truly baking in the sun for a hour! I did paint two coats just to make sure everything was covered and even, but in truth It looked great after one coat. However I wanted to do a light sanding in between coats and make sure everything was a flawless as it could get. I had my hubby take the door off the hinges and I used a Wagner paint sprayer for the door. 
Hello my new best friend, I have had a paint sprayer before and let me tell you mine was so expensive and didn’t last very long. This Wagner home decor sprayer is around 80$ you can get it from Amazon or any big box hardware store. When the fabulous people from Wagner knew I wanted to do a post on how to paint your front door, they sent me this sprayer. I was a little hesitate to use it becuase it looked so much bigger than my last one and I was worried about how splotchy it would spray. I played around with one at a blogging conference I went to, so I knew it was fun to use, but until you really try something you don’t know for sure how it will preform for you. I’ll tell ya, if you have lots of painting projects this summer I would upgrade to the Wagner Flexio sprayer it can spray in any direction, and it seems to have more options in spray control. But the Wagner home decor sprayer is great for simple projects and my front door did indeed fall in the simple category. I’m not kidding.
Once I tested it out to see what setting I should spray with (lightest coat possible) Then I started spraying, it took me about 10 min a coat. Seriously it takes me longer to eat lunch! It was really fun and my 14 year old kept begging me to use it, however I was having too much fun to let him, I’m such a mean mom. After I was done spraying the front door all I had to do was let it dry and have my hubby put the door back on the hinges. 
That’s how to paint your front door, it was a super fast one day project that transformed my house. Its such a happy door that I’m going to leave this bright color (refresh) on my door this summer, knowing this paint doesn’t fade over time I think that this fall I will try again with a grayer color and I will defiantly be buying samples before I attempt to paint it again. Ha Ha Here’s to a happy bright fun summer front door makeover. The You tube video can be found HERE
I was gifted a can of Emerald paint by Sherwin Williams and a Wagner paint sprayer, but this review is all my own truthful opinions. I was not compensated in any other way. This post may contain affiliate links
