Messed up door copying influencers

[Anonymousfds]

Please be kind I’m really feeling low right now. I’m trying to make my home look better as I feel really depressed that the house had been neglected. I followed the instructions given by this lady on tik tok who has transformed her home. She’s in her 60’s and a novice not professional. She made everything look so easy and I thought I can do it rather than pay someone hundreds.

I spent £55 on a sander which she recommended any electrical cordless one which I got, sanding pads £12, primer £27, door paint £35. Plus painters and rollers. Already I’ve spent more than was quoted to paint door. The door looks awful. Even though I put masking tape around it the paint has splattered onto the brick wall around it. I put sheets down but there’s paint over the patio. The paintwork looks awful. I really feel fed up. Spent a good amount of time yesterday sanding, priming etc. I don’t want to waste today as well. I have young kids so they’ve been neglected whilst I do this. I feel I’ve had no downtime this weekend and back to a bloody stressful and demanding job tomorrow. House is a mess as I didn’t do my usual cleaning on Saturday. I’m so fed up I feel like crying and did last night!

plus youngest has a class party today service parents are expected to supervise at. Why did I even bother trying to make my house look better? I’m a useless loser who can’t even paint a door

I doubt you’ve spent more than you would in someone decent painting the front door - door painting is very expensive. If you can shut the door. Just leave it for now and have a go another time. Like anything it takes a while to learn a new skill and at least you have all the equipment now.

Have you ever painted before ? Masking & protection are really important. It will be tricky to remove splats from the brickwork but it will eventually weather away. I think all you can do is chalk it up to experience and if you try again you now know how absurdly meticulous you need to be with prep.

The influencers make it look easy and edit out all the tedious stuff.

Is it your front door?
If you've only put one coat on it will look a bit rubbish, another coat might improve things.
If you can't face it today then leave it and don't beat yourself up.

If it’s your back door, just leave it for now. When you’ve got more time have another look at it. What sort of paint did you buy?

You can use paint remover to get paint off the brickwork and patio.

I admire you for trying. I’d be terrible at anything like that. I get influenced into buying a lot of things. Dont feel bad 😢

These things often need a few coats before they look decent. When you feel up to it, try another coat. If that doesn’t improve things then leave it be for a while before you pay someone to sort it. Chalk it up to experience, most people wouldn’t give it a go, you were brave enough to try.

It's so frustrating and disheartening when you make a big effort and it doesn't work out the way you expected. DIY usually takes longer than we expect, and are led to believe, especially if we're watching online tutorials, which of course are edited to make the process very clear. It misses out the repetitive, time-consuming nature of so many DIY tasks as well as all the tidying and prepping that often occurs half-way through. Even if the door doesn't look as good as you exoected, does it at least look a little better than before? Will the splattered paint wash off?

You need to be really careful about copying DIYers on social media. DIY can mean a novice, but there are plenty with professional level skills calling themselves DIYers.

Just sort it out the best you can and chalk it up to experience.

It’s back door leading to garden. I used primer and paint from wickes. The paint was runny and awful so I ended up buying another one which was thicker and better called sandtex 10 year exterior satin

Do you have recommendations for a particular brand?

Why don’t you add a picture. It can’t be that bad.

Don't beat yourself up. Everyone has things that don't go according to plan.
You've got the tools now which will be helpful for all sorts of projects.

Every time I mess up a DIY or sewing or cooking project it's always more learning and information going in the bank for the future. We learn more from the stuff that doesn't work than the stuff that does.

Can you show us a photo op?

Dont worry, i'm sure its not beyond repair xx

It’s quite a time consuming job, to be honest I would expect to spend a whole weekend on it to take my time and do it well. Can you post a picture then we can advise if it needs another coat or sanding back. As for paint splashes everywhere it really is just about being careful how much you put on your brush and going carefully. Sounds like you have an awful lot on your plate and not the time to treat this like a project that needs a lot of focused time.

I also agree that maybe stick a pin in the idea until you feel you can dedicate some more time to it. Don’t give up though the only way to become more skilled is to keep practicing.

You’re not useless, you’re learning a new skill, which is fantastic. First time, it won’t be perfect but next time you’ll know more. Good for you trying something new. You should really be patting yourself on the back even if it’s not quite what you envisioned. Walk away from it today and go back to it next weekend if you feel like it. The housework can wait another day or two.

I think rather than influencers for DIY you are better at watching youtube videos from professionals.

Please don’t be mean about yourself. You’re trying to learn something new and make your home nicer, those are good things. Okay it didn’t go as well as you’d hoped but I’m sure there are ways you can improve it when you’ve got the time and energy. Don’t let this stop you from trying new things in future.

I painted my uPVC front last year as I saw someone mention doing it on here and used the advice from Frenchic. It took three coats and I love it. I’d never have thought about it if it wasn’t for posters on MN!

You children were not neglected while you were trying to improve your door. They just saw mum doing something with the door. Part of normal life.
As for influencers as they like to call themselves. Pick carefully. Many are doing what they do to make money out of you. By suggesting branded purchases, those brands probably give them freebies.
Some are very good. Actually for DIY many American YouTubers are really really good. They have no need to ‘make money’ out of their skills. They do it to share expertise. Shame there are very few British ones that do likewise but there you are.

I painted my front door a couple of weeks ago. Took 3 coats to make it look decent and it was hard work.

if your door wooden or pvc? PVC is very hard to paint because the paints won’t stick. And wood needs a LOT of prep work. 90% of a paint job is in the prep and only 10% in the painting.

(I’m also an amateur who has messed up a lot of diy and I’m gradually getting better).

youtube has lots of useful videos of tradespeople showing you how to paint etc properly. More practical than influencers who show off the final look.

I paint fairly often and would put aside x4 days to paint a door properly. If someone quote you less than £100 they weren’t going to be doing it properly and that won’t have included paint. All the sanding and filling/prep takes almost a day depending on the state of it to start, you have to remove partially all the door furniture for a smooth finish. Then prime, then sand more once it’s dry. Then maybe even another coat of primer once you’ve smoothed all imperfections. Then the actual door colour after a full overnight dry, maybe another light sand, then wait, then another coat of the colour, then put all the door furniture back. It’s not something you can really do in between all the other shit that needs doing when you’ve got little kids and a busy schedule. Don’t be so hard on yourself, go back to it when you have more chunks of time and/or do each stage say one day a week for a couple of weeks. That’s how I last did my front door as I didn’t have the time to spend days in a row making it perfect, I spread the job right out

Thank you all. I’ve packed everything away and I’m not even going to look at it today. It’s a wooden door. I’m getting kids ready for the party now but will take a pic when I’m back. Thank you for your suggestions. Is the paint I went with the sandex okay you think?

DIY isnt as easy as it looks. Thats why we hire professionals to do it for us

Also, sometimes good enough is good enough. There's no need to beat yourself up because a job doesn't look professional - you aren't a professional! Getting started, getting the confidence to even attempt a job is part of the way there and you can leave it as it is for a while until you've got more time, then do more coats/paint splash removal/resanding whatever. You know more now than you did when you first started!

Also my DH is a tradesman and very skilled DIYer but he can’t paint for shit! I do all the painting but he does all the prep work which takes the most time. I’m impressed you have tackled this in one go by yourself so give yourself some credit.