How to Make an Exterior Door Look Like Wood Interior

You can paint an exterior door to give it an interior wood-grain look. This is a three-coat process: apply a base coat of oil base, flat paint on a new, factory-primed, metal entrance door, then a top coat of gel stain, in which the graining tools ‘stamp’ out the wood grain design, exposing the base coat beneath it. A finish coat of clear lacquer sealant is then applied for protection.

Things You'll Need

• Steel entrance door, factory-primed
• 1 gallon oil-based, flat paint
• 1 qt. gel stain for top coat color
• 1/2 gallon clear lacquer for wood and metal
• Sample jars of oil-based, flat paint colors
• Graining comb
• Graining rocker
• 2 rolls painter's tape
• 6-inch low-nap roller
• 3-inch trim paintbrush
• Cheesecloth
• Lambswool applicator
• Sponge roller
• Dropcloth
• Rubber gloves
• Practice surface

Instructions

How to Make an Exterior Door Look Like Wood Interior

1. Prepare the area by taping over hinges, doorknobs and latches to protect them from paint. Lay a dropcloth under the door to protect the floor.

2. Experiment with base paint colors. Choose base and gel stain colors that resemble the color of wood you wish to simulate.

   Mahogany: Use maroon base coat with mahogany gel stain.
   Cherry: Use red base coat with cherry gel stain.
   Ash: Use dark gray base coat ash gel stain.
   Walnut: Use a medium brown base coat with walnut gel stain.
   Yellow oak: Use a dark gold base coat with oak gel stain.

   Apply patches of different sample shades of flat, oil-based paint to the practice surface. This surface should be as similar to the door as possible; white, oil-based primed. Allow to dry completely. Paint over these patches with the gel stain following the application process in Steps 4 and 5. Continue experimenting with your sample color base shades until you achieve the desired wood color.

3. Apply the oil base, flat coat of paint to the entire surface of the door using a low-nap roller. Paint from top to bottom. When switching to a brush for raised panels, paint in a vertical direction, so that the resulting wood grain effect shows no horizontal brush strokes. Allow to dry overnight.

4. Apply the gel stain with a brush or sponge roller. Very lightly streak with cheesecloth, and immediately glide the graining rocker through while still wet. The graining tool should easily expose the color paint beneath. Ensure that enough gel stain remains on the door to create the grain effect. Start at the bottom of the door and work upward. Since there are different graining tools available, read the directions on the package for each tool.

5. Repeat the gel stain application process for all large, flat areas of the door. For doors with raised panels, use a paintbrush and graining comb for the small areas that make up the sides of the panels. Use a dry brush to eliminate the small pools of stain that get trapped in the corners of the raised panels. Allow to dry completely overnight.

6. Protect the finish by applying the lacquer sealant with a lambswool applicator over the entire door according to the directions. You may need several coats.

Tips & Warnings

• Always work in a vertical motion to accurately imitate the appearance of a real wood door.

• Ensure that the factory finish of the steel exterior door is completely smooth. Any dings or rough spots will negatively affect the wood-graining process when passing over the flaw.

• If creating a faux finish to the exterior of the door, use exterior paint. If creating the faux finish to the interior of the door, use interior paint for the base coat.

• Work in a well-ventilated area for all steps of this project.

References

• O-Gee Paint: Wood Graining Tools