Tips on Painting Interior Doors Black
February 04, 2014
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Helpful tips for painting interior doors black.
Black interior doors add a classy touch to any home! I've always recommended adding black accents to make a room feel higher end.
I’ve always loved the look of black interior doors in a house and started by painting all of our basement doors black:
I figured that would be a great place to start to see if I did indeed love them. Indeed I did. :)
So I’ve put this off for a year now because, honestly, it takes me forever to do one door. I planned to get two done this weekend and just did one because it takes me SO LONG.
I started on the main floor with the powder room door:
Excuse the cat. There’s ALWAYS a cat. She was sleeping on the heating vent. :)
Cover or remove door hardware
So I don’t take the doors off the hinges to paint them. Our doors are crazy heavy and you need to be able to do both sides, so I think it’s actually easier to leave them up. I take the door knobs off but cover the hinges.
You don't have to take the door handles off, but over time they tend to move around with use, so the white will start to show.
This time I figured out an easier way to cover them:
I just put a strip of Frog Tape over each one, then used a razor to cut out around them. You’ll want to kind of push the edges of the tape down around the hinge. I still had to touch up a little bit but it really did make it easier.
Prime or not to prime?
I won’t go through all the steps of painting a door again but I will say you NEED to at the very least do some checking to see if your white door is painted in latex or oil-based first. (You can see how to find out in that post.)
I've found if your home is older than 10 to 15 years, your doors are most likely painted in oil-based paint. (The durability of latex paints has come so far, oil-based isn't needed as often.) So you'll need to prime first with a good shellac primer.
I use this BIN primer:
I usually get it tinted in gray – ultimately I still had to do three coats of black but it does help sometimes. The thing is – latex doesn’t cover oil-based paint well.
Allison over at House of Hepworths shared her DIY disaster because her doors were painted with latex over oil and the latex didn’t stick. Like literally…peeled off.
To be safe, prime. You’ll thank me. :)
Paint with a foam roller and brush
I did one coat of tinted primer and then three coats of black. The paint color is called Graphite from Benjamin Moore and I had it mixed at Sherwin-Williams (a little cheaper) in an eggshell finish.
The Graphite color is really a very dark gray, not a deep black.
But it sure looks black to me. :)
I used the eggshell sheen because these doors have a faux wood texture I didn't want to accentuate. I used a semi-gloss paint finish on our flat wood doors at our current home and love that as well.
An eggshell or satin paint finish will hide imperfections better!
The painting process isn't so bad when you’re working on one side of the door -- but then you realize you have the whole other side to do so it kind of takes a while. :)
I like to take my time because unlike baseboards or even some walls, I feel like the doors are something you really SEE, you know?:
I have noticed in the basement we do see scuffs occasionally, but they wipe right off with a wet or dry rag. It’s nothing that bothers us. I’ll have to see how this door does, since it gets so much use.
Here’s a view from inside the bathroom:
My lovely oil-rubbed bronze hardware gets lost on it a bit but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. I love them so very much. It’s just a classic look to me that makes the white trim stand out even more.
As you can see, I don't paint the door trim black to match the doors. I like the consistency of the white trim with our baseboards, and love the contrast with the black door!:
The painting is not really that bad – sometimes good, mindless work is just what I need.
Next up I want to replace all that trim (there are three doorways right there) with more of the craftsman door trim like on our new back door:
The dramatic paint color and trim goes a long way to updating basic builder grade doors!
By the way, you don't have to use black to create this high end look -- any dark color will create that beautiful contrast.
So have you painted your doors black? Any special paint or color you love? It’s definitely a specific taste but I have fallen hard and love it!
Here are a few of the best black paint colors for interior doors:
- Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore
- Sherwin-Williams Tricorn Black
- Benjamin Moore Mopboard Black
- Benjamin Moore Jet Black
LOVE the black doors! I recently painted the inside of our front door Urbane Bronze after seeing how wonderful your first one turned out. :) Thanks for the tip on priming first!
ReplyDeleteI love the look of black interior doors...it really changes the whole look of a room! Yours turned out beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE them! But I'm so scared to do it!!! :P
ReplyDeleteI love how they look! I did the inside of our front door last year. I liked it but it felt dark. When we replaced our front door last month (with a custom made expensive door), I went back to white. I love it more ;)
ReplyDeleteSo I love seeing black door in other peoples houses but for me (and my hubby who HATED it), it just didn't work out.
I am so thankful for this post...I am about to paint our kitchen island with BM graphite and this reassured me that its the right color! question...you used oil based primer...just to confirm you then used an oil based paint and could you recommend which specific one from SW you had tinted to graphite?
ReplyDeleteblessings,
nancy
Nancy I used a latex in the graphite color -- much easier to work with in my opinion. :) I think that one is in their Harmony line.
DeleteWe have dark doors and I loooove them! This coming weekend we will be adding a coat though to make them glossy. Ours were flat I think and man did we scruff them up!
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan of black but can't see doing it in our home. I LOVE black accents throughout the house and our living room chairs are black with a wild floral--yeah! We (well my husband) just painted the doors white last Spring to freshen them up (1960's house) but we also just added black knobs and hinges to all the doors on the main level and black with glass for the bedrooms upstairs. LOVE that!
ReplyDeleteWe are going to do the same to our interior doors. We have 80's gold door knobs. We thought we'd change them to brushed or a satin nickel but thought it may clash with the lighting throughout which is oil-rubbed bronze. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI think you can mix metals -- especially if it's just two metal finishes. I think it'd be fine!
DeleteThanks so much. I'm excited to get started. I have 6 hallway doors, 2 closet doors and 2 exterior doors. Not sure but may add the closet doors and bathroom door in my room! Guess I better get started! :)
DeleteThey look fantastic!
ReplyDeleteDo you find that you have to scrub your white trim a lot? We have white trim in our house too, but I feel like the doorways always look grungy right at kid height (why do kids feel the need to grab every doorway they walk through? wish I knew). I've wanted to do black doors for a long time, the white doors get grubby too. I feel like I have to scrub them down all the TIME... with not a great result. Any thoughts on either keeping that trim looking clean or another color option? My walls will be a light to medium gray (when I get around to painting them). Your doors look great!
ReplyDeleteYes around the doors I have to wipe them up occasionally but it's not too bad. I only have one kiddo though so that helps!
DeleteThey look great! I'm looking forward to painting my front door a dark grey this spring.
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love the black doors! That is a project I hope to tackle myself this year, but the thought is a bit overwhelming. If I do it like you, maybe I can manage it. ONE DOOR AT A TIME. I am just a tad OCD so I know I will want them all done within days of each other and there just aren't enough hours in the day. Thanks for inspiring me to tackle it one door at a time. That will be my mantra!
ReplyDelete- Tasha @ Designer Trapped in a Lawyer's Body {www.designertrapped.com}
They look really really great. You say it takes a lot of time, but we can easily see on the photos that you have done a fantastic job of it!!! They look so perfect and fresh. Really great job, congratulations :)
ReplyDeleteYou sound like me... things take me forever too! in fact, I'm not "allowed" to start anymore projects till I finish the ones I have going!! :) Your doors look really great though! I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your blog. The projects, the writing, your perspective...just love it all. I'm an Carmel girl so I relate to a lot of what you write about. So glad I found your site!
ReplyDeleteYour doors look great. I did paint the inside of our front door black and it looks great, but it instantly made the foyer feel darker so I am leery about painting the rest of the interior doors. Do you find it makes the rooms/hallway seem darker?
ReplyDeleteYou know I worried about that. It IS disconcerting after you do it -- it's dark and it takes some time to get used to it. But I figured if it didn't bother me in the basement it won't in the natural light. Our main floor and upstairs get pretty good light -- if your house is dark you may not like it. Maybe try one and see what you think?
DeleteYour door looks so pretty! Love black doors, I'm doing them in my house too...one at at time. I found that if I use a mini roller (like the little 2 inch ones you use for trim) it goes much faster. Yours look great!
ReplyDeleteThey look soooo nice! Love, love, LOVE them! I fear it would be an epic long process in my house, and I'm not quite ready to make the commitment! I did paint the door that goes to the garage black - does that count? ;-). The graphite color you chose is great, btw. I love that it's not a "black" black, if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteBracing for more snow here too. I'm done with winter, I tell you!
Congrats on getting another door done! And a kitty on a heating vent is common around my house, too. It's our fattest cat who does it the most. You'd think she would have enough insulation!
ReplyDeleteWe just recently did it! We have 16 interior doors and we borrowed a sprayer from a neighbor and got them all done in a few days, HUGE time saver! And we were able to do one thick coat, versus 3 coats rolled. It was still a major pain but it's good to know if we want to switch it back, a sprayer is the way to go. Here's a link http://ournewhomeflorence.blogspot.com/2014/01/black-interior-doors.html
ReplyDeleteA sprayer is a GREAT idea!
DeleteI just finished painting our 19 interior doors BM black. I had painted the interior of our double entrance doors black 2 years ago and loved it so I decided after thinking about it for 2 years to go for it. It took me 4 solid days of painting but I'm finished. The finished look is dramatic and bold - what I was hoping for. However, I am unhappy with how my oil rubbed bronze levers are lost on the dosoor. After much research I have decided when the weather permits to(spray) paint mine gold - so it looks like a pop of jewellery.Young House Love has a tutorial on painting door knobs with good results.
ReplyDeleteLove the black doors. Most of our doors are stained a really dark brown but most people think they look black. Have you tried Aqualock or Stix? You can use either over oil based paint to prime before using latex. Trust me, I know from experience. We also made the mistake of painting latex over oil. What a disaster.
ReplyDeleteHi, the black door Looks really great, love it! I love BLACK, it makes so a beautiful contrasts to Grey or White! Hug, Barbara
ReplyDeleteLOVE LOVE LOVE the black doors. Now I want to paint mine! I love the white plant pot on the last photo.
ReplyDeleteI do like the look of the black doors. Recently I saw a robin's egg blue door someplace on the web and I loved that too. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! I was just telling my husband that I want to paint our closet doors black and he looked at me like I had 5 heads. Now I have proof to show him how great it looks! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love your black doors...we have the same doors...and all white also....and so many of them....but now I am determined to paint them all black...I have five exterior doors...that also will need painting black...guess I had better get to work...thank goodness they all have glass in them...or maybe not so much of a "thank goodness"...but less painting space...
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for always sharing your wonderful projects...
hugs..
shirley
This is off the subject, but in the powder room listed above, how did you get the corner boards mitered? I was looking to do a treatment like this in my mom's house,the planking and bordering it with wood as you did, but the long boards that meet in the corners..how did you do that?
ReplyDeleteThe long boards on that outside corner I had to have mitered by a friend. You could also just butt them up against each other and fill the space between with spackle, but I wanted them to be equal distance on both sides. On the inside corners I didn't miter, I just didn't put them all the way into the corners. So if you look down from above you'd see a space but since I was putting the trim along the top you would never know. :)
DeleteYour doors look wonderful. I painted a handful of door black last year and this year they have been changed to white again. Just a white interior doors and trim kinda gal I suppose... do like exterior doors painted a fun colour though.
ReplyDeleteWhite is always pretty!
DeleteWow, that color looks AMAZING against the fresh, bright whites in the powder room. Totally beautiful! And what a great thing to have doors that are heavy. Mine are so flimsy that I'm pretty sure even I could punch a hole in them.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I dreamed last night that I house sat for you (random!), so you know, I'm available ;) It was hilarious!
Ha! I'll give you a call!! :)
DeleteI think black interior doors have not crossed the Atlantic yet! All my trim and doors are in a pale colour called Barley White by Dulux, which in fact is a nice cream which looks good against any wall colour at all - but that's not to say that your black isn't smart, it is!! But I do have a little surprise upstairs....... my bathroom door (which is propped open to allow light to filter along the landing) has a shoal of mackerel swimming on it, complete with gold leaf glitter like the fish scales. You never see it unless you close the door from the outside and then "Surprise!!"
ReplyDeleteLove the doors! We just moved to an apartment and have had to find ways to add pops of color in artwork. Check out our customized print giveaway on the blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.createbakecelebrate.com/2014/02/create-gallery-wall-and-giveaway.html
XOXO Holly
question...so did you use oil based paint for the actual door as well. (I think you said that you used an oil based primer). Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSorry about that -- the black paint was latex. :)
DeleteLooks great.
ReplyDelete2 of my kitty-beds are by heater vents. They love it. :)
Great tip on the tape over the hinges, its a pet hate of mine to see paint splashed all over the door hardware.
ReplyDeleteI would also recommend when painting doors in your house to check that the bottom of the doors are sealed with paint, especially in areas such as bathrooms and entrance doors as this will prevent moister from entering the timber and prevent the door from swelling.
we did our doors in dark gray...love them. what color is on your walls??
ReplyDeleteLOVE the doors! That shot from inside the bathroom is my favorite. The black compliments all the wainscoting so well!! I recently painted our back door a nice charcoal grey (it was Ebony Field by Valspar) and we absolutely love it. One tip for anyone who moved into a newish builder-basic house is to check the trim around the window in the door. Ours looked like wood, but was actually plastic (which the builder painted over with latex with NO prep at all) so when I painted over it, the white paint loosened and peeled right off. That Zinsser shellac primer saved the day, but it was frustrating to think that I was almost done and then had to redo it. :)
ReplyDelete