French Door Makeover
Picture this. We were finishing up building our home and I was VERY pregnant with our second child. I was a full-time working mom to a nearly 2-year-old, and ready to get in our new house. There’s another fun story about moving into our new house with no glass because we were that ready to be in. Needless to say, at that point decisions started to give to speed up the process.
We decided on fiberglass french doors for our home—we have three sets along the backside of our house. Because we live in the swamp, this was the best option for longevity. We chose a woodgrain option and intended for them to be stained. In my mind, I wanted them a mid-tone oak color. In reality, they came out very, very dark. At that point, it was something we’d live with, so we could keep the project moving.
Flash forward, I’m still not a fan of the color, and especially on the exterior, the finish has chipped away in many places (Something I knew could happen, but hoped it wouldn’t).
I’ve been kicking around the idea of painting the french doors, both inside and out, black. Some might say, “Don’t do it, girl” but we have a lot of black accents already, I knew it’d be amazing.
So, here’s how it happened.
Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black
Black paint colors can be tricky. It’s a mash-up of all the other colors, and if there’s a little bit more blue in a hue, you’ll see it. If there’s a touch more red, you’ll see it. Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black is a great true black, that’s rich and has a lot of depth to it. It’s a safe choice that won’t pull out unwanted tones surrounding it.
If you’ve ever attempted to paint french doors, you probably didn’t, just thinking about having to tape everything off or scrape away any bleeding paint.
Google to the rescue and I discovered masking liquid.
It’s as amazing as it sounds.A lot of retailers have this stuff—I happened to order mine from Amazon. It’s an extra step to paint it on and peel it off, but if you think about the time you would spend taping and scraping, it’s a wash. The consistency going on is a lot like glue. You don’t have to be precise with it, it’s ok if it gets on the frame of the door.
Next, it’s time to start painting. I went ahead and got a primer + paint since we weren’t making a dramatic color change. The coverage was great and only needed one coat.
After the doors were done and dry, I used a blade to carefully score the edges. You peel off the masking liquid layer and hoo-ray for clean lines. It comes off almost like saran wrap—very sticky. But, as long as you’ve scored the edges, you should have a clean line.