How to take your Home from Drab to Fab with Painted Interior Doors

Hi Everyone
Thanks for checking out my blog.  If you read my previous blog I had mentioned how excited I am as we are leaving winter shortly for a couple of months.  Taking my colour consultations online was a big "to do" for me in 2019 as I still wanted to be able to offer consultations while we are away.  If you are interested in an online consultation you can check out my website for more information (and a little incentive)!
Today I wanted to share with you my 💓 for painting interior doors a colour other than white.  When I suggest this to my customers (as I often do 😃) it takes them a bit by surprise but I've had many incorporate painted doors into their home and love the outcome.   One of the many reasons I like this colour application is because it can be a great way to inject colour into what can sometimes be a neutral colour palette.  When you paint your doors it can bring attention to any architectural details that may already exist on your doors.  On the other hand, if your doors are lacking detail, colour can make your doors more interesting.
There are many different options and ways to incorporate a painted interior door into your home.  I will try and show you as many different options as possible.

Photo by Jane Lockhart Interior Design

If you like the idea of painting your interior doors but you aren't sure if you want to commit to painting all of them, just painting the front door is a good place to start.  From personal experience (if you are a type A individual such as myself 😏) if you are painting only the inside of your front door ensure you paint the latch edge of the door as well.  The outside door colour should be brought onto the hinged edge of the door.  If done correctly there is no reason the inside of your door can't be a different colour than the outside door colour.

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Another option if you don't want to paint all your doors is to only paint the inside of your exterior doors.  This can include doors opening onto patios, decks or off a mudroom.

Photo by Michael Robert Construction

Photo by Martha O'Hara Interiors 

Painting your french doors can also make a great statement.  I like how they tied the door colour into the cabinetry for a more cohesive look.

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With barn doors still so popular, it's fun to add colour to the door to make it even more of a feature.  The colour choices are endless but I do recommend when choosing a colour for the door that you have that colour in at least one other place in the room.  It doesn't have to be with
paint - it can be with accents such as throws, pillows or rugs.  I 💙 how they incorporated the door colour onto the ceiling.  That works great in this situation as it's a separate room and not part of the open concept area.

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The next picture is a great example of a colourful barn door where you would want to ensure the colour is brought into your decor in at least one other place (which they did with the pillows).  Otherwise it might seem kind of strange why that colour was used on the door (even as beautiful as that colour may be).

I like this next example as I think it shows how painting your interior doors can take other design elements, like this wallpaper, to the next level.  Now I'm going to be honest 😇 - black or darker doors may require some regular dusting/cleaning so ensure you take that into consideration when choosing a colour.

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The colour choices for interior doors are as endless as there are colours.  While black and navy blue are probably the most popular you can choose a colour that fits best with your style statement.  As I mentioned before just ensure the colour that you choose is brought into that room with at least one other colour application.  We had painted the interior doors in our last home but I had decided not to have the doors painted in our new home while it was being built.  About a year after moving into our new home I decided I couldn't live without them 😉 so my very handy husband painted them for me.  The colour we used was Naval by Sherwin Williams - which is their COTY for 2020!

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You'll notice that when I painted our interior doors we only painted the doors, not the trim.  You can certainly paint both the doors and trim if you prefer that look, it's just a matter of personal preference.
In the next picture you'll notice they painted both the trim and door, which do you prefer?

Photo by Massucco Warner Miller Interior Design 

If you do plan on painting your interior doors it's not a hard process but it does take some time to do it properly - especially if going with a darker colour.  I recommend taking your doors down and laying them on a flat surface to paint them.  If you are using a darker paint colour you will also need to prime them to get the best results - but IMHO it is soooo worth it. 😁

As we get closer to spring I will blog about painting the outside of your front door as this is a way I like to inject personality onto the exterior of your home.

Have you or would you consider painting your interior doors?  If so I would love to hear from you in the comment section.

Have a Colourful Day!