GuideHome Improvement

How To Give Your Front Door A Face Lift

Is the paint cracking on your front door? Has it become an unsightly and ultimately detrimental part of your home? If your front door creaks and moans, it’s time for a face lift!

How to Give your Front Door a Face lift – Materials 

There are quite a few materials we’ll need to give your front door a face lift. If you don’t own all of these, this can easily be remedied by a simple trip to your local home improvement store. First to give your front door a face lift you’ll need an electric sander, safety glasses, gloves, stain and a paint brush, a chemical paint stripper, a shave hook and last but certainly not least, saw horses. 

How to Give your Front Door a Face lift – Dismemberment 

The first thing we’re going to do to give your door a face lift is remove it from it’s frame. Set up your saw horses outside and set your front door on them. Now go ahead and dismember any kind of extraneous equipment from your front door and begin applying the paint stripper to all painted sections of the door. 

 

 

How to Give your Front Door a Face lift – Shave the Door 

After the stripper has had a chance to set on the front door, the paint will bubble up. Now we’re going to use our shave hook and take all the old paint off of the door. If after doing this, some paint remains, go ahead and rinse and repeat the last step to give your front door a face lift. Once the paint is gone, go ahead and rinse the door well with water to remove any paint stripper that is left over on the door. 

How to Give your Front Door a Face lift – Sand, Sand and Sand 

Now comes the fun part to give your front door a face lift, made all the more so fun if you don’t have an electric sander. The entire door needs to be sanded. This may take awhile but is a very worthwhile step to give your front door a face lift. 

 

 

How to Give your Front Door a Face lift – Stain the Clean 

Once your door has been sanded and wiped clean of all the excess wood and other debris, it’s time to stain your clean door which can be done via Facelift Techniques: Upper Facelift, Midface, and Lower Facelift according to the design and the quality of an door or the threshold. Use whatever finish you prefer, and definitely whatever matches your home. Remember to always apply stain with the grain, not against it. Did you think you were done sanding? Get some very fine grit sand paper and lightly sand the entire surface of the door again. Wipe away all debris and put another light coat of stain on the door. Rinse and repeat again, and then once more a third and final time. 

Now re-hinge your door and watch all the envious eyes it attracts! Your newly finished front door will be the talk of the neighborhood. You can do this to any unsightly door in your house by following the steps relatively.