When we first moved into our house (about 2 years now,) the peach colored garage door I knew needed to be changed. I have envisioned it being white for a long time now, and one day I woke up and decided today was the day I needed to get it switched over! I was convinced that the only practical solution was to buy a whole new garage door. I looked into my options more, and found out that painting the garage door might not be that hard after all. I’m going to reveal my tips & tricks for our simple garage door makeover below.
We wanted to do away with the idea of replacing the whole door and just giving it a fresh, new look. This simple DIY turned our standard garage door into a faux “carriage” door. Our garage now looks like a thousand bucks and saves us the $700 or more on a new garage door, which is a BIG feat in my book! Read on to learn how I did it, and how easy it is to do your own garage door makeover!
Table of Contents
BEFORE & AFTER
Items you will need to paint & add hardware to your garage door:
- Exterior Paint
- Paint Brush
- Paint Roller
- Paint Roller Extender
- Decorative Garage Door Accents
- Painter’s Tape
Some tips for painting your garage door:
- Check the weather before painting
Before grabbing the bucket of paint, make sure to think about the time of day and look at the weather forecast. Painting was definitely a lot more enjoyable in the late afternoon. The sun wasn’t beating down and you can easily see your garage door a lot better. A lot of the day I was wearing sunglasses because I was blinded by the white paint on the door.
- Prepare your garage door for painting
If you want your paint job to last you will need to prep your garage door. This needs to happen mainly if you have rust or peeling paint on any part of your garage door. Start by sanding down the peeling paint or rust on the garage door. This definitely isn’t that fun, but its one of the most important steps.
- Cleaning your garage door prior
Make sure to wash down your garage door before painting. Wash down with a sponge or use a power washer to remove dirt/debris. A lot of dirt accumulates on the bottom of the garage door, so pay extra attention to that area.
- Tape off areas where you don’t want paint
Make sure to take the time to tape off the areas you don’t want to get paint on. I used my Blue Tape to line the whole exterior of the garage door before painting. You also may want to lay down plastic under the door to keep the wet paint from sticking to the ground underneath the door.
- Paint
Allow each coat to dry before you start painting the next. You will want to use a paint roller for the larger areas (I even used an extender – which helped my back out!) and a brush for the edges and corners. Add three to five coats of paint. Be sure to allow each coat dry before you add the next. Review your work as you go, making sure you’ve covered all areas of the door in each layer.
The magnetic hardware is seriously a lifesaver. $40 and it can be added or removed as desired in minutes! You simply place the hardware where you want it on your garage door! That’s it.