Curb appeal is such an important factor when trying to sale your home. When Andrew and I were first time home hunters, we were in the dark about a few things, the lawn and vegetation being one. After researching landscaping ideas to make our home our own, I realized the previous owners had little care for the landscaping. So, landscaping was the first thing on our list to clean up. Then, we looked towards the ancient metal windows then, skipped to inside the home, then back outside for a new roof, and most recently, the front door. I have been putting off the staining the front door for years all because I was afraid from lack of experience with stain.

Now that I’m in my nesting phase of pregnancy, I could not look at it anymore! The wood was splintering, mold from outdoor temperature change was building up, and only a few places still had previous stain left. Let me fill you in on something about me. I can’t sit still. I’m constantly trying to tidy up or improve something. During the nesting phase of my last and current pregnancy, the anxiousness is enhanced by 1000! I even asked my husband to wash the brick on our fireplace! Bless him, he’s been so patient with me.

Back to the front door. Andrew and I just had our carpet replaced with hardwood floors. Doesn’t it look beautiful?After the workers finished and I bought new rugs, I kept looking back at the front door. I told my neighbor about my upcoming project and she offered to loan me an electric mouser sander. Once I had the sander in hand, it was off to the home improvement store.

This is the first picture after sanding. Clearly I still had a ways to go. I wish I wasn’t to eager to start the project and had a before picture of when I started. 

After building more courage and doing more research, this was my finished product after sanding. I was so nervous once I saw the lighter color showing through from my first shot at sanding, that I thought for sure I was going to sand a hole in the door. After sitting back and looking at the door, I reminded myself that this is my door and the stain would add a refreshing new color depending on the amount of coats of stain I put on. Some of the hardware absolutely would not come off the door so, I had to work around it.

I used a wood stain in the color of red mahogany.  My shutters on the windows are burgandy so I thought the red tint would flow well with the rest of the outside. My door is a 6 panel. When staining, I painted the inside vertical grooves first then, the horizontal grooves. After that, I painted the inside of the panels then, the left, right, & middle vertically. Lastly I swept the brush horizontally on the top, middle, and bottom of the door. I was a bit perplexed how I was going to stain the part of the door where the hardware was, even with tape around it. While giving my door a good quick sweep, I mistakenly got some on the hardware. Luckily, the stain wiped off so very easily. Now, this is the part I nervously sat and awaited for the results. The door looked so dark and this was after only one coat! “Please please,” I prayed, “let the clear satin urethane lighten it up; let the door lighten up after it dried.” Be sure to check the door every 29-30 min for drops. To prevent the door from being too dark, I could have wiped the stain with a dry cloth, but I felt confident it would work out after a little pep talk.

The next morning, I added the clear satin urethane. I chose clear satin because I didn’t want a big shine. This is what I was left with. 

Can you see the nice shine it gave? As the days went on, the door brightened while giving a rich red color. I’m so in love and so glad I trusted myself in the end with all the doubt I had in my head. Now, to figure out how to remove and update my hardware.

Any questions, leave them in the comments. Best of luck to you!

XOX -C