Garage door style has evolved quite a bit in the last 15 years. Many of the homes built in the ’90s and late 2000s had wooden garage doors that were wood finished or painted the same color as the house. Now, doors are most typically made of steel and are often a contrasting color to your home. One of the most popular colors to paint your front and garage doors is black in fact! I don’t ever remember seeing black as a door color when I was a kid so this is definitely a new and modern look.
IF you want to freshen up your garage door’s look but you don’t necessarily want to replace the whole door, then this is the post for you! This isn’t a step by step how to, but more tips on how to begin.
- Decide on your color. As I said, big and bold colors are getting more and more popular. We are seeing black doors, green, bright red ect colors. These are fresh and new and beautiful directions to go, but you want to make sure that the color will look good before you go all in. Get a few paint samples and paint large poster board pieces (you can find some at the dollar store). Then you can tape these painted poster boards to the garage door. Step back and decide from a slight distance which color looks best!
- Clean the outside of your door. Make sure to give your whole door a good scrubbing to get all the dirt and debris off your door. If your door is dirty the paint won’t adhere well. A good scrub brush and some warm soapy water will do just fine!
- Sand away any chips! If the old paint on your door is chipped or cracking you’ll want to sand those hard edges down so that the paint goes on evenly. Just make sure to wear a particle mask while you do this, you don’t want to inhale any of that paint dust!
- ALWAYS use a primer. Prime your paint surface before you begin. Your door sees a lot of wear and tear so you will want to make sure that the paint job is as strong as possible. Choosing a good outdoor primer will help the paint stay and go on evenly.
- Use a brush for the details and a roller for the larger spaces. Your door probably has raised panels, and the differences in-depth on the door make is so that a roller can’t evenly coat those areas. Use the brush first and then roll on the paint in the larger areas to blend the paint.
- Make sure to paint in between the panels. You can do this by detaching the opener trolley from the rail so that you can manually open and close the door. Once you do this take a brush to paint the tops and bottoms of each panel. Just make sure to take this part slowly, letting each panel dry before closing or opening the door.
If you follow these simple steps your paint job on your garage door will be a total success! Tag us on Instagram if you decide to paint your door!