Painting a Home Inside Door With Panels

Paneled doors are basically those very common doors in most homes that have those recessed square/rectangular panels. Paneled interior doors are fairly easy to paint if you follow the proper technique. Please read on to learn how to Paint A Paneled Home Interior Door

Difficulty:: Moderately Easy; Stuff you'll need

Paint Brush
Paint
Painters Masking Tape
Drop Cloth
Wedge (optional)
Screw Driver (for door knob)

Instructions

- 1
  Open the door and slide a drop cloth under the door. Have the drop cloth stick out a few feet on all sides of the door. We want to keep that floor paint free!
- 2
  Put wedges under the door to keep it from moving while you work on it. If you can't find a wedge, ball up a towel or drop cloth and wedge under the door.
- 3
  Remove the door knob from the door. Sometimes door knobs can be tricky to put back on. If you aren't confident you can do this, instead of removing the door knob, just loosen by loosening (but not removing) the two screws until the knob hangs loose away from the door. Then mask the knob with painters tape.
- 4
  Using painters tape, mask the hinges and hinge plates. We don't want to get any paint on the hinges
- 5
  
  Look at the door. You'll notice each panel has a molding around it. Paint all of these moldings first. If paint runs down onto the door, run your brush over the drip to 'flatten' it out. We don't want any paint drips to dry. We don't want your door to have tears on it.
- 6
  
  Then paint the panel portion inside the recessed panel
- 7
  Paint the cross rails that run horizontally. These are the 'boards' that run horizontally above, below and between the recessed panels/molding. Paint in the horizontal direction.
- 8
- Then paint the rails that run vertically.
- 9
- While doing this, keep in mind that paint will want to drip down the door. Keep smoothing over any paint that drips with your paint brush.
- 10
  
  Then paint the door edges. Paint the inside (hinge side) edge the same color as the 'closing' side of the door. Paint the outside edge (the side with the latch) the same color as the opposite side of the door.
- 11
  Let dry. Check back on the door from time to time to be sure there are no drips.
- 12
  Remove tape and reassemble door knob.