How to Paint an Interior Door

Want to give your interiors a facelift but don’t have the budget for full interior designer services in Singapore? Look no further than adding a fresh coat of paint to your interior doors!

You can always hire professional painting services to ensure the job is done well and on time. But if you want to tackle this activity DIY style, this post can help you do it the right way.

Decide if you want to remove the door first or paint it in place.

You can choose to your door in place or remove it from its frame first. A lot will depend on the type and number of doors you plan to repaint.

Take note that this will entail more elbow grease and assistance from someone else (as doors aren’t exactly the most lightweight things to tackle).

It’s generally preferable to unscrew a door from its hinges and lay it flat for a more even paint job and less mess. But if you don’t know how to do this properly, you might have to call a door repair service which will cost you more.  

Of course, if you have a sliding door, you’d probably want to paint it in its place because of its more complicated roller tracks system.

Choose what type and colour of paint to use.

Select the colours you want to use on the type of door you have, plus your overall interior theme if you have one. So if your uniform condo interior design is getting too old for you, you can spruce it up with some fave colours and textures.

Also, consider if your landed house interior design has a certain look and feel that can either be enhanced or subtracted by a DIY paint job. For instance, a Scandinavian interior design relies on a minimalist colour palette and decor so it might not do to introduce a brightly-painted door into the mix. 

As a rule of thumb, acrylic or latex paint in satin or semi-gloss is the best to use for interior doors. But you’ll also want to consider if you have customised finishing for your Nyatoh doors which you might want to highlight with things other than paint. 

Gather all materials and prepare the painting area.

Before starting, gather all the tools you’ll need to paint first. Going at it haphazardly with a brush and paint will not just be time-consuming, but can result in a substandard job that you’ll regret doing.

So make a list that includes paint (a gallon of paint can already cover over 350 square feet), brushes, roller brushes, paint pans, painter’s tape, sandpaper, and drop cloths or tarpaulin if you need them. That will save you multiple trips to the hardware stores and help you get the job done in less time.

It’s also important to ensure that your painting area is well ventilated. So open your windows to let air in, or have a standing fan ready to blow away the smell of paint.

Prepare the door and add several coats of paint.

After thoroughly wiping down your door to get rid of every last trace of dust, hair, dirt, and other impurities, you’d want to sand out the uneven parts. Make sure to do this on a covered area with a drop cloth, cardboard, or old newspapers ready to catch all the dirt and splatters of paint.

Don’t forget to vacuum all the debris and dust afterwards and before you start painting. They might float back on your door’s surface while it’s tacky and ruin the paint job.

After covering the hardware, removing the doorknob, and protecting all parts that won’t be painted, you can start priming your door. Use a flat and wide paintbrush to paint all the edges of the door first and take care not to let the paint drip.

Then tackle one side of the door using a foam roller and a paint pan to cover more surfaces in less time. Do this on the other side of the door, as well.

Wait for at least two hours for the paint to dry before applying a second coat, and so on until you’re satisfied with how thick the paint is.