Painting a front door

[bumbl3]

Our front door is a colour that I really don't like (inherited from previous owner). It's an original Edwardian door with lots of stained glass detail. We're planning to paint it black gloss.

Is this something we can do ourselves? I'm very comfortable with painting with emulsion, and have also painted wood, but feel like the paint dries very quickly, and you can see the brush strokes more easily. Do I just need to work faster? Do you paint the undercoat, main coat, etc. all in a single day?

I'm getting quotes of £300 to do it for us, which seems a bit crazy.

Thank you!

I think gloss looks better too! But I don't know if I can manage it. Sigh. I called up farrow and ball this morning to have a chat about their paint types, and they said gloss is much harder to achieve a professional finish with. I think for an Edwardian red brick, it's gotta be gloss really, right?

Maybe I'll just get someone to do it for me...

I've done our Edwardian door last year with Little Greene oil based eggshell and water based primer, since it's a vibrant colour. It looks good from afar, but close up you can still see some imperfections, because it was impossible to strip the old paint completely.

I would say how good it will look depends a lot on what is underneath. Ours had probably never been stripped and had 10 or more layers of old paint on. Getting rid of that took forever! Painting over it was not possible, since our door no longer shut properly and the old paint was done badly with drips and ugly fillers.

From what I've read eggshell is more forgiving when it comes to imperfections than gloss, but gloss is more durable. So that's why I chose eggshell in the end. If I ever redo it I will spend more time sanding!

Forgot to say that the oil paint was a lot more viscous than the water based paint I'm used to. But even though you see the brush strokes when you paint, once dry it looks perfectly flat. The only issue I had was that I did not manage to remove all the old paint so some parts are not perfectly smooth. But you have to be very close to notice.

£300 for someone to do a professional job in gloss is well worth it.

@bumbl3
I would get it professionally done if you want the best finish. We found getting straight lines around glass a big issue too. I would definitely spend the money next time.

@bumbl3
We have a late Victorian flat with a grey/blue front door. Parma Grey. I think black can be quite dark when you look at a red brick house. I think there are lots of grey/blue/stone colours that are fabulous with red brick and slightly more welcoming.

Do you think we need to strip the door then, rather than just sanding and painting over it? Might it not close if we don't strip it??

It depends on the finish you have OP, if the existing paint is smooth and not flaking or chipping, then just sanding it down should give a reasonable finish.

For the best finish, you would need to remove the door furniture, strip the old paint, fill any dents, sand the wood, etc before masking the glass and applying your undercoat.

The more time you spend on the preparation, the better your result will be. A tradesman would - should! - do all that so £300 seems more reasonable when you consider the time and effort involved.

I think whether you have to strip probably depends how your existing paint looks like. If there's no drips or flakes it might be enough to sand. I would ask what the £300 quote covers. A professional painter might well have a heat gun and be prepared to strip that way. It will take him several days though as stripping is slow and each oil coat has long drying times (mine asked for 14hrs min).