We painted the inside of our front door black, and today I’m sharing how it turned out!
For a couple of years now I’ve talked about doing this, but just like a lot of things in my life, I either chickened out or just put it off.
At the end of the winter we had a small leak in the ceiling in our front porch and it had to be plastered and painted. So because of that, we decided to repaint our entire porch. And then we said, why not just paint that door?
And I’m so glad we did!
* The original color of our porch was Shaker Beige by Benjamin Moore.
I really wish I had a photo of the ‘true’ before.
I wanted our front door to make more of a statement, and I think we succeeded. Since we have multiple doors in our foyer (french doors leading into our front porch, french doors to the right side leading into our living room, and other doors to the left leading into our office), having our front door black would help it stand out more. Plus, the black was also needed to help break up all of that white.
What color did we use?
The hardest part was deciding on the paint color. And again, just like everything else in my life, I have to over-think it and research it until I’m blue in the face. But seriously, do you know how many different paint colors are out there in black alone?
We narrowed it down to these choices: Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams, Iron Ore by Sherwin Williams, Onyx by Benjamin Moore, and Black (2132-10) by Benjamin Moore.
And the winner was: Onyx by Benjamin Moore (in the Select line – in the past we would always use Regal but holy price increase!!!). I was told Onyx is a true black with very minimal undertones (but not the blackest on the list – that would be Tricorn black, which also is a smidge cooler than Onyx). It also looks great with White Dove by Benjamin Moore (our porch color), and Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore (our wainscotting color).
Iron Ore by Sherwin Williams came in at a close second because I did love the softer look of that color, but ultimately decided on Onyx because I was nervous Iron Ore would lean more grey.
We’ve had this painted for over two weeks now, and we’re extremely happy with our choice though. Absolutely no undertones or surprises…..yayyy!!!
What finish did we use?
Everything I read beforehand suggested to use either a satin or semi-gloss finish (and to stay away from matte). We opted for a satin finish. For the door, we didn’t love the look of shine that a semi-gloss provides, but we still wanted something that would be durable with fingerprints and scuff marks.
A brush was used to do around the window and hinges, and then a 4 inch foam roller was used all over to get a smoother finish. Three coats were needed.
It turned out exactly as we wanted.
To paint the trim around the door or not?
The second hardest decision was deciding whether or not to paint the trim around the door. After looking at a lot of pictures, we decided not to paint the trim. With the wainscotting, I didn’t think covering up the trim made sense. And overall, I just personally liked the look of it better without the trim painted. This is obviously personal preference (I have seen some instances where a black door and black trim looks great!).
What prep work was needed?
While this may be an unpopular opinion, we did minimal prep work. No cleaning, no sanding, no removing the steel door, and even no removing the hinges. The only thing that was done beforehand was removing the doorknob and the dead bolt, and the inside of the door box was taped to prevent any smudging. I feel like we kind of rolled the dice with this one, but we had zero issues.
On this job, Todd was the painter and I was the…..um, supervisor (I just needed a white hat!). He did all of the manual work, and I just gave some directions and checked in on the progress from time to time! Ha! Don’t worry, I inspected his work when all was said and done, and he passed with flying colors!
It’s funny how doing something as simple as painting can really change the look of a space (I should probably be careful using the word ‘simple’ since I wasn’t the one who did the painting, hey?). Nothing else was done to our porch, and no decorative things were bought. It was only paint.
I’m feeling extremely motivated to tackle more things around the house, and I’m really hoping this lights some fire under us!!
So, what do you think?
Until next time.
Looks great!!