Shut The Front Door: Sand, Stain and Seal

With the laundry renovation taking the spotlight over the last few weeks I just realised I haven't shared a proper before and after of our beautiful new front door that we hung a few months ago.

I just want it know that this DIY project was completed entirely by yours truly and I didn't even chip my nail polish :)

Firstly, the door needed to be sanded back to remove the imperfections and marks on it - we paid just $200 for the door which retails at $1400 because of those marks and it only took me 30 minutes to remove them with a bit of sand paper and elbow grease.

Our new front door

Before - Marks on door

After - A bit of sanding and elbow grease!

Door all sanded back ready for staining

Wiped the door over with mineral turps to remove all the sanding dust

Once the door was sanded and the dust all cleaned up it was ready to be stained and sealed to protect it from the weather, rain and sun. For that I used Sikkens Filter 7 in Light Oak which is what we stained our French Doors with. There was enough leftover in the can to do 2 coats front and back on this door which means we didn't have to spend a cent either!

We removed the door handle and weather seal strip on the bottom of the door and taped up the glass panels. Then I started from the top of the door and worked my way down with a large angled paint brush dipped in the stain, making sure I blended each brush stroke and took care of any drips straight away before they stained. Wipe up was easy with a damp cloth.

The tables have turned .... I'm working for once and Mr P is taking the photos!

Progress .... I love the 2 tone affect of the wood

Using an angled brush really helps to get into all the grooves

First coat on the front of the door

Now for the back of the door

Drying time was 16 hours and as this was a Sunday I had to do the second coat on the door the following weekend. The smell was pretty strong too and hung around for about 2 days. Ideally, we should have stained it before we hung it but thought that it might have been knocked about a bit when it was being cut to size to hang so it's probably best that we stained it after it was hung.

Now for the second coat of stain .... after I sanded out any scratches, marks and drips I put on another coat of stain which went on a lot quicker this time around.

After the first coat, I lightly sanded any areas that had drip marks or scratches
.... being careful not to chip my nail polish!

Another coat of Sikkens stain going on ....
This small tin has stained 3 doors with 2 coats each, that's pretty good for just 1 Ltr

The second coat went on a lot quicker than the first

Once the front and back got a good solid coat of stain and was left to dry overnight it was the moment of  truth when I could take the painters tape off the glass panels and admire my hard work ..... yes I can actually say MY PROJECT for this and I'm feeling rather proud that I got to do this project from go to woah!

The finished door

The stain is quite dark and especially after the second coat the Light Oak really came through and intensified and the outer wood is almost as dark as the jarrah floorboards and also matches the new French Doors which is what we wanted to create a flow on of similar wood tones for the doors throughout the house. 

  

The new door before and after stain

The new front door creates quite a statement and impression of what you'll find inside the house too .....  fun and personality await you inside!

What do you think of the new door and stain colour?

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[All images my own]

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