painting fire door of flat in a converted Victorian building

[WanderleyWagon]

Dear interior decor hive mind,
I have had a fire door installed as my 'front door' in my flat, which gives onto the stairs (top flat in an old Victorian building.) The door needs painting and I have a painter, but he's asked me to specify the specific paint I want on the outside of the door. I'm a bit embarrassed to say I know nothing about paint, and don't really know where to start.

Has anybody had a similar paint job done on an 'internal-external' door like this? I want to paint it a nice forest or leaf green gloss paint, with ordinary white paint on the frame and inside. Can any one recommend a type of paint, brand of paint, etc.? ideally, suitable for a fire door?

All suggestions (pathetically) gratefully received :)

You want a paint for woodwork so the options are gloss, which noone really uses these days but I think might be just about to come back into fashion, eggshell, which is slightly less shiny, silk, which is less shiny and I think that's it. I would go for dulux because you can't realky go far wrong and get a premixed colour because the paint it thicker than the mix your own colour ones. Have a look on their website and see what you fancy.
I reckon eggshell is probably what you want.

F&B Studio Green is nearly black and looks classy on doors.

What kind of mood do you want to strike when you come home? I always think I want classy and grown up, but moved in with my partner who has a sunshine yellow door which is very cheering to come home to, even though I would never have picked it.

I love gloss on a front door. If your front door is inside the house - you can just use an interior wood paint. I agree that studio green is a lovely colour very dark though so if your hallway is dark it might be darker than you'd imagine. Do a tester on your door - especially if you are paying someone to paint it for you. You won't believe how different paint can look depending on the light. Basic rule of thumb is the brighter the light the less intense your paint will look.
If you have a Brewers shop close to you - they are brilliant.

If it's a fire door don't you need some kind of specialist paint? Ask AI?

Just ask the professional if there is a brand/range they prefer and pick a colour.

Do you need fire retardant paint for a fire door?

You need to be careful due to fire regulations. Where did you get the door? I would go back to them and ask about paint .

Fire doors shouldn't be painted. As far as I understand it anyway.

Residential fire doors can be painted with any normal paint.

No suggestions for colour etc but as others have said, make sure you have checked as to if there is a particular paint / anything you need to do to ensure the fire door remains functioning fully as intended so can give the protection it needs to.

Thank you all for your suggestions! Yes, the fire door company have left list of dos and don’t but were unfortunately not able to choose a colour for me! 🤣