DIY Door Transformation
Hi friends! I’m about to blow your mind with the easiest way to go from a painted door to a stained finish!
This is our front entrance closet door. Somewhere along the line of owners, it got painted. I really wanted a stained finish to match the rest of the interior doors, so I set out to strip the paint off!
I started by removing the hardware. It was super simple with just the two screws on the latch plate and the inside of the door knob.
To strip the door, I used a product called Citristrip. I just painted it on thick with a paint brush and then covered it in plastic bags.
After letting the product sit a while, the paint scraped off super easy! This product definitely worked well and smelled like oranges. But….
My door had several layers of paint over the original stain. I did three layers of the Citristrip and scraping until my project ADD kicked in and I got bored. 🙃
I’m embarrassed to admit that our door has looked like this for literally TWO YEARS! 😅
So then the other day I was in my shop and I found this liquid wood that I had collected at some point. The instructions say to just paint it on, let dry and then stain! It was pretty chunky when I opened it, so I had to stir it quite a bit. Once it was all mixed together, it was very thin, like water.
I gave my door a quick sand with a sanding sponge and then I painted one layer of the liquid wood on.
After it dried for a few hours, I stained it with Minwax Provincial. The product didn’t take the stain like a piece of raw wood though. I found that rubbing the stain off pretty much wiped it all off, so instead I just rubbed the stain on lightly and let it sit and then I went back and super lightly wiped at the areas that hadn’t absorbed yet. I like to use cut up old t-shirts or socks with holes for stain rags!
The next day, I applied one coat of Minwax polycrylic in satin and put the hardware back on! Follow me on Instagram for more DIYs!
Comments
Join the conversation
-
I think decorating is going back to basics. And solid wood doors will always be in style.
-
Kind of like everyone painting their beautiful wood cabinets which seems to be a trend... I have noticed a return now to going back to wood again. My husband kept wanting to paint mine white ( they are made of beautiful med oak). Told him if I wanted to feel like I was cooking in a hospital kitchen,I'd go there and make his meals. TOO sterile feeling..no warmth that the look and feel of wood gives. I think it comes down to personal preference, but I'm not about to ruin beautiful oak cabinets just to follow passing in and out " trends".
-
I agree, wood is organic and classic . The gray, green , blue ,white cabinets , will be the avocado , burnt Orange and gold of yesteryear . Gray and white so much like an institution , blah and unfeeling . Lately I see wood beams added for warmth .
-
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Does the liquid wood work on plastic/wood furniture?
Hi. And didn’t you do any sanding? Looks great.
Did you use the retique it on any other doors? Just wondering if you had a better experience using it over a painted door than this one that was sanded.