Stripping the Paint from our 100 Year Old Front Door

Since we moved in to the house, one thing I cannot stand is the choice of the exterior paint colors. The murky dried blood reddish brown trim mocks me. The sage green is tolerable, the dark green trim is bland. The worst offender, the bright red door!

Why the red?!

Of all the colors, it doesn’t even match any other part of the house. Luckily for us, our friend Ed agreed and knew what to do. He offered to help and teach Jakob and me how to strip paint from a door.

It is time-consuming, but not terrible. I find jobs like this super rewarding. To remove poor decisions and bring back as much of the former beauty, totally worth it. It is what we wake up for in the morning.

We had our hunches about what was below the red but we also had some elements of surprise.

I am so thrilled with the results! Grateful Jakob and Ed could take over much of the chemical work for me, since I was trying to avoid it as much as possible, due to baby.

It is better for me to share the youtube video with Ed’s instructions, than typing out the process.

We used Citristrip, an electric sander with two different grits of sandpaper 150 & 220, then finished with me and a pin going in and picking out some of the remaining paint in the grain. To finish we used Real Milk Paint Co.’s Pure Tung oil.

Enjoy the results as much as I do!