A decade or two ago, Woodlet was a happening color. A decade or two ago we were unwittingly happening too, which is how we happened to end up with external doors in that popular shade. Now, that hue is part of the Millennial Collection and must be special ordered. Yet, it was still part of our house’s palette until earlier this year. Is that what led us to finally recoat our doors? Ah, no. It wasn’t dated tones that set us about this task but flaking paint and rusting metal. We did seriously consider repainting in the same out-of-style color, a color we never liked in the first place. However, at some point, we correctly concluded that was a dumb idea. So, here’s how our doors went from brunet to blue and the wisdom we have gained from our brushing experience.

Online DIY websites and the experts at the home improvement store assured us that repainting a door is a fun day project, and our front door would be finished and reattached by evening. Hmmm…. I feel it my duty to bring some reality to the internet. This was no day project, and I’m not sure “fun” applied either. Although we did paint two doors instead of just one, most of the delays were from layers of paint drying. Therefore, adding on an extra door didn’t contribute much to our extended timeline, and my complaints remain legitimate.

After some internet and store searches, Newport Gray from Valspar, a hue which contrasts our stucco, ended up our selected color. I’m sure it will be unfashionable in another 10 years and probably still on our doors. We had two nephews helping us for the first seven-hour stint of this job thinking we would be able to complete it, but we didn’t even come close. Why did it take so much longer? Online authorities said only one coat of paint would be necessary after the primer. Wrong. White primer under blue paint meant two coats were required. It only took an hour for the primer to dry but four hours for each coat of Newport Gray. On a related side note, doors take more time to paint than their size would suggest.

Since it took us a few days to complete this undertaking, the timing turned tricky. We couldn’t just leave our house doorless; one of us had to be home when the doors were off. Also, we had to plan appropriately so coats would be dry by bedtime, and our dwelling wouldn’t be holey overnight.

In the end, we spent 50 man-hours on this endeavor, not exactly a “day” job. However, despite the time involved, it wasn’t a complicated task. It might have taken forever and a day instead of just a day, but it would have been hard to mess up. So, if you are up for a long but easy chore, painting doors might be your thing. For the record, notwithstanding my pseudo-whining, we were happy with how our doors turned out and would do it all over again.

By the way, if you are still wanting to paint your doors after my gentle warning, make sure you pick days when the weather isn’t too scalding. Apparently, wet paint does not mingle well with temperatures above 90. We chose a day when temps were in the low 80s… and then spent two more such days.