Distressed Pantry Door DIY

5 Materials
$100
3 Days
Easy
Our pantry had a typical white panel door just like all the other doors in our home. To add a little pizzazz to the kitchen, I thought maybe we could paint it. Even though it's bold- I decided on red for the color.
I wanted a distressed look to the door as our decor is sort of a fusion of farmhouse and Texas style.
We started with a chalk paint. I love chalk paint since there is not much prep work to do before painting. Just be sure your surface if clean.
The Mean Man painted the door using irregular brush strokes. That's what is so great about this technique- you do't have to be perfect! We started on the inside of the door and allowed it to dry for several hours, then flipped it and did the side that will show.
The next step was putting on a coat of sealing wax. This gives the paint a nice smooth finish.
The wax was applied using a stiff round brush. Put it on in a nice thick coat.
After about 2 minutes, use a lint free rag to wipe off the excess wax. This works great if you have two people, one applying and one removing. Don't wipe too roughly as you will lift off some paint. Just use gentle even strokes.
After allowing the sealing wax coat to dry for 24 hours, you can move on to the final step. To get a nice aged look without sanding and such, went over the sealing wax with a coat of antiquing wax.
Again, you don't have to be perfect with this. You don't want it to look perfect- you want it to look like the door has some age to it. Use the same technique of brushing the antiquing wax on with a stiff brush, waiting about two minutes, then wiping off with a lint free cloth.
The result is amazing. It looked aged and distressed without having to put on a stain, paint, sand, etc.
We added oil rubbed bronze hinges to match the original door hardware. After several days of letting the door cure (we hung the door once the wax was dry after about 24 hours) we added a "Pantry" vinyl cutout as a finishing touch.
I'm really pleased with the results! This is seriously an easy project to do. You just need to be patient and allow the paint and wax to dry thoroughly in between steps. You can check out the entire process with more photos at my blog: Under a Texas Sky.
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Under a Texas Sky
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3 of 25 questions
  • Misty wilson Misty wilson on Jan 27, 2019

    Looks great!! Good job. Can you tell me the name of the red you used?

  • Lyndsey Lyndsey on Feb 26, 2019

    What colour red did you use? Love it

  • Deb Deb on Jul 08, 2020

    Can you use regular paint instead of chalk paint?

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  • Teresa Teresa on Jul 31, 2018

    Beautiful! I know how I will be doing my pantry door now!

  • Lisa Hanley Lisa Hanley on Jan 12, 2020

    I seen this several months ago. I loved it then and I still love it!!!!! Guess it passed the test so I can paint mine now:)

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