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The Turquoise Home

How to Paint an Interior Door: Hale Navy

Last Updated: | By: 73 Comments | Filed Under: DIY Projects, Paint, Paint Colors, Tools & Tips This post may contain affiliate links.

I shared with you on Friday how I am in love with this color: Hale Navy. And I finally painted something navy in my house: my front door! I’ve been intrigued by the paint-all-of-the-interior-doors-black movement for a while now. I think painting interior doors a dark hue creates contrast with the trim and adds drama and interest to your home. It’s yet another simple way to add a layer of personalization and beauty. I love it!

Painted-interior-door-and-foyer

But I’m not into black furnishings or paint. It’s just not me. But navy? I looooove navy and I really fell hard for Hale Navy. So, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to paint my door to the garage in my laundry room and the inside of my front door navy. I knew it was the color for me.

The first step I take in picking out a color is do my research. I search for the color on Pinterest and I google images of it. I love seeing it in different spaces, and used to paint all kinds of things. {{I even have a Colors board on Pinterest.}}

Screen Shot 2013-08-19 at 12.43.10 PM

The great thing about Pinterest is that you can virtually test drive a paint color before you buy it. Fifteen years ago when I was helping my mom pick out paint colors, there wasn’t really any way to “test drive” a paint color without trying it out on the wall first. We came up with some great colors, but we also had some misses too.

{I do recommend buying sample pots of different colors and trying them out when painting a large room or rooms. But it’s not as crucial when painting a door. Check out how I picked the gray color in my open concept floor plan HERE.}

painted-front-door-collage-2

Of course, even with Pinterest, I can still have “misses” when it comes to paint colors. I learned the importance of picking the right color the first time while painting my laundry room door. I’ll share pictures when it’s complete, but let’s just say I may or may not have painted the door two and a half times. Why? Because when I had an opportunity to go buy paint, I couldn’t find my Hale Navy paint swatch to color match at Lowe’s. And so I figured all navies are the same and just picked one up when I got there. {Are you kidding me?!?!} I should totally know better. So I painted it some navy from Lowe’s …. I can’t even remember the color. And it was bad. More like a royal blue. I promise I’ll show all the bad pics when I reveal the laundry room. So, then I painted half of it with some gray paint I had on hand. Another no go. I finally went back and got a new BM Hale Navy swatch, took it to Lowe’s and had them color match it in their Valspar Ultra Paint + Primer semi-gloss paint. Muuuuch better!

how-to-paint-your-front-door

I love how the fanlights in and above the door now stand out.

And I love how the yellow lamp shade pops against the navy blue. Just gives me goose bumps.

hale-navy-yellow-lamp-shade

And really, painting a door isn’t very hard or time-consuming. You just want to make sure you sand it all down a bit. I didn’t want to take off all the paint, just rough it up some. If you really want to be serious, you can use a de-glosser from the hardware store, but I just chose the sanding route.

sanding-painted-front-door

Ignore the very chipped fingernail polish. 🙂

Then I wiped the door down with a wet cloth and taped the heck out of it.

tape-off-painted-front-door

There’s not much to it and the payout is huge! I ended up painting three coats just to make sure everything was coated completely. I didn’t want any white showing through!

how-to-paint-an-interior-door

And I know I already posted this pic above, but you can see the transformation from boring beige entry way to a fun, custom, colorful entry way that we have now.

painted-front-door-collage-2

I still need to find a new light to go in this space. And maybe a rug? I can’t decide on the rug, but I’ll be sure to let you know if I make any more changes.

Would you ever paint an interior door? Leave in a link in the comments if you have!

Would you paint it a dark color like black or navy? Or a bright color?

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Comments

  5. Breighanne says

    Amazing! Your entryway is gorgeous and the door really completes the look! Thanks for the instructions – I have been needing to paint the interior of my back door for awhile, so this is very useful!

    Reply

    • Laura says

      Thanks Breighanne! I’m glad you like it. 🙂 Just a tip I forgot to include in the post – you may want to prime your door before you paint it. Probably wouldn’t hurt. I was in a hurry and didn’t. Thanks for stopping by!!

      Reply

  6. Nicole {Life's Tidbits} says

    Love the door! I’ve been contemplating painting the interior door to the nursery a color. Your post definitely helps me make my decision =)

    Reply

  8. Denise says

    I so need to paint a few doors. Great tutorial. Look forward to looking more through your site. Found you at link party. Check out denisedesigned fb, pinterest and blog as well. Thanks.

    Reply

    • Laura says

      Thanks Kayla! I’ll be sure to come over and link up. Please come by in the morning at 8 am CST to link up to Work it Wednesday with my awesome co-hosts!

      Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!

      Reply

  13. Lauren @ The Thinking Closet says

    I cannot BELIEVE the contrast in your before and after photos. Simply incredible! This gets me really excited for being homeowners someday (maybe soon!) and getting to make simple yet dramatic transformations through DIYs like door painting. (Great color choice with the hale navy, too. Girl, you’ve got an eye!)

    Reply

  18. Debi - Mayor Of Crazy Town says

    I love this! I have a really 1970’s looking front door, on the outside it’s a red color- I can’t change it because the landlord would flip – but oh yes the inside is now getting painted! I followed you on pinterest too because I can’t wait to get even more ideas!

    Reply

    • Laura says

      Aww, thanks Debi! I have to get approved by my HOA to paint the outside of the door, so I’ve been waiting on that. BUT, I’m so pleased with how painting the inside turned out. Let me know how it turns out when you paint your door!

      Thanks for stopping by!!

      Reply

  20. Cathy says

    This looks great! I wouldn’t have thought how much better it looks with the darker color. What a difference when you look at the 3 pics side by side!

    Reply

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