How to Paint a Door Like a Pro (No Removing Necessary!)

When you’re spending time upgrading the different rooms in your home — creating a new layout for your living room, maybe, or hanging up a gallery wall of your favorite artwork — it can be easy to forget some of the smaller details. But some of those specifics can make your home look seriously pulled together, so it’s worth investing a little time. Case in point: learning how to paint a door.

Walls get all the glory when it comes to fresh paint jobs, but painting your interior doors can instantly make them look brand new for the cost of just a quart of paint (around $30 from most brands). Stick with white, and you can cover up scuffs, smudges, and scratches, making your doors look clean and fresh. Or you can choose a more unusual color to make a bold statement. In any case, you’ll be able to make a huge impact without pulling out any tools besides a paintbrush or roller.

Whether you want to make over all the doors in your home or just give a bold, bright remodeling to a single closet or pantry door, the process is the same. Here’s how to paint a door like a pro, from start to finish. But first, we’ll answer some big questions.

You don’t need to remove your door from its hinges to paint it, though you certainly can!

But I wouldn’t want to add in the extra work of taking my door down, dragging it to an open area, and propping it on sawhorses, so I’m not going to tell you to do that, either. These instructions are made for those who, like me, want to minimize any extra work involved in painting their doors.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to sand away old paint before repainting a door — but you will need to do some light scuffing to help the fresh paint stick.

An important note: If your door was painted before the 1980s, it’s possible that it contains lead. Before doing anything, make sure to test for lead in the paint. If the test is positive, do not do any sanding. Sanding the paint away just lets the lead paint go airborne, which is extremely unsafe. Instead, enlist the help of a pro to mitigate the lead before proceeding.

• Drop cloth
• Sandpaper or sanding sponge in medium (120-180) and fine (220) grit
• Small paint roller
• Angled paint brush
• Painter’s tape
• Utility knife
• Paint tray
• Wood putty
• Putty knife
• Latex paint
• Optional: screwdriver (if you want to remove your hardware instead of painting around it)

Before beginning, make sure to place a drop cloth underneath your work space to catch any drips. You’ll also want to use painter’s tape to protect any areas close to the door — like the casing where the hinges sit — from getting stray paint on them.

To prevent your hardware from accidentally getting the “landlord special” (meaning, sloppily painted over), you can remove the doorknob before beginning using a screwdriver or drill.

I think the easiest way to protect door hardware, though, is to wrap doorknobs, hinges, and latches with painter’s tape. You can use a utility knife to precisely cut away any excess.

Use a putty knife (or, in a pinch, your finger) to squish wood putty into any scratches, gouges, or dings on the door’s surface. Let the putty dry.

Use sandpaper in a medium grit (180 grit is a good bet) to sand away any excess dried putty so that the filled hole is level with the wood around it.

You don’t need to sand away all the old paint on the door you’re working on, but you do need to scuff up the surface enough for the fresh paint to stick.

You can use sandpaper for this, but I think foam sanding blocks like this one are more comfortable to hold. Choose a fine grit for this (220 works great).

Use a microfiber cloth to wipe the door down and remove any dust so that your fresh paint job doesn’t turn out gritty.

Using your small paint roller, start by rolling paint onto the edges of the door. This should be pretty quick work, since you’ll only need a light coat on a small part of the door.

Use a step ladder to reach the top of the door to paint that, too. If your door is completely flat, you can use a roller to paint two coats on the front and back — that’s it! If it’s paneled, continue with the following steps.

Use your roller to paint the flat door panels. For the best finish, make sure to use a light touch with your paint — multiple thin coats are better than one thick one.

Use an angled paintbrush to paint the inset molding around each flat panel. Feather out the edges to help blend this with the later paint you’ll be adding.

Use a roller to paint the vertical strip between the panels. Make sure to go with the grain with your roller (up and down).

Paint the horizontal spaces between the panels with your roller, rolling left to right. Make sure to paint the horizontal spaces at the top and bottom of the door, too.

Use a roller to paint the far sides of the door, rolling up and down.

Follow the same order to repeat the paint process on the other side of the door.

Once the paint is dry enough for a second coat (check the can for the recommendation on your specific paint), repeat the painting process. You might need a third coat, depending on the coverage.

Before the paint is completely dry, remove the painter’s tape. (This helps prevent jagged edges from pulling up freshly dried paint.) Make sure to keep the door open for a couple days to allow the paint to fully cure.

Need a quick reference for later? Save this image and follow the numbered steps for a perfectly painted door every time.