Painting the Exterior Doors

So after this weekend I am now one little step closer to finally having our exterior paint job finished.  I really can't wait to be totally finished and share all of the details of the project- but until then, every small step forward is a mini victory for me.  We now have one completely painted exterior door and two more almost completely painted.  I squeezed in every once of spare time and hopefully if the weather cooperates I can finish the rest today!  So here's my door painting process, there is really not much to it...

This is our back door, you can see the pretty new paint on the walls and trim (I love it so much) and then we have the orangey red door that I'm just not into.  It really isn't totally awful but it's just not really me.  What color did I decide on?  Purple - yes purple.  I don't think purple will be everyone's cup of tea but I liked the idea and went with it, you can scroll down and check out the final product if you want to just skip ahead.

So the only taping off I did was the actual door knob and lock.  When painting the door I just kept it cracked open so I cook carefully run down the edges and not get paint on the trim.  I also had a drop cloth (well an old beach towel) covering the steps so I wouldn't make a gigantic mess.  I have painted almost every inch of this house, at the point I almost feel like a professional -almost.  

Check out that purple, I'm crazy.  So next I used a brush to get all of the edges and indentions and things that a roller couldn't do.  When deciding on a paint finish I just asked the paint guy at home depot what he recommended and went with that.  It's a semi-gloss durable paint for exteriors by Behr.  Honestly, it may be a little too glossy for my taste but I'm hoping that with it being an exterior door that some of the shine will dull a little over time, but I can live with it for now.

And here's my first pass of the roller.  I did not use any fancy kind of roller or small roller size.  I just used a cheap regular sized one.  After painting our house and trying out different ones I really could not tell a difference on the exterior.  To me, the actual high quality paint was what made the biggest difference.  Some people would probably disagree with me but that's just my experience.  

I still needed another coat, especially to fill in the spots around the edges.  

And here's the final product all purply and stuff.  It actually dries much darker and isn't quite as bright purple as the wet paint looks above - see I'm not that crazy.  I know most people wouldn't go for it but I like it.  It's different and adds a little hint of color.  It really almost looks black from the road, most people probably won't even be able to tell.  So now hopefully I'm off to finish the other two today, if the weather allows me.

The wall paint looks so different in these two pictures- this bottom photo is more accurate to the actual color.  

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  Any of you guys get any looming projects completed this weekend?  What color door does your house sport?  Any other purple doors out there?? Do share!

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