I was tired of looking at the ugly, non-complimentary two toned front door that wasn’t very welcoming and not doing any favors to the curb appeal of our home. Before spending a ton of money on a new door, I wanted to try sprucing it up with a liquid wood product I’ve been seeing circulating the internet. Other results I saw were promising so I thought why not give it shot – what did I have to lose?
The Before
The first step of the process was to thoroughly clean the door of any dirt, grease or debris so the primer would adhere to the paint. With this product sanding is not necessary! Of course if you would like to go the extra step and lightly sand to smooth out your surface and allow for a stronger bond, that is totally optional. I chose to go the easy route and just prep the surface with a good clean.
Once my surface was clean and dry I began applying the primer. i used the “light wood’n primer” for my project – they also have a dark wood option depending on what color stain you choose. The primer has real wood particles in it to give it a natural wood like texture. I used even brush strokes throughout the pattern of the door and edges, going in the direction of my desired grain.
After the primer dried I began applying the gel stain around the door frame with my stain brush using long brush strokes. I then applied the same technique to the door, which was quote a bit more tedious given the design. The product dries relatively quickly, so I focused on one section at a time and worked the stain until I got the desired look I wanted.
Next was adding the grain – this part takes some time. Especially when learning to use the grain tool for the first time, it will take some playing around with the stain to get the look you want. The beauty of it is if you don’t like it, you can go back over with stain and try again until you are satisfied. Just like with the brush strokes, I applied long strokes in the direction of my desired grain to try to make it look as natural to wood as possible.
After applying the grain and letting it dry, I lightly went back over everything with the stain one more time to dull down the grain just a little bit and achieve the darker color I was wanting. My door is pretty protected under the front over hang so I didn’t opt to seal it with poly, but may consider this down the road depending on how it holds up. I was pleasantly surprised how well this product worked and what a difference it made to my door. Unless you are looking really up close to it, you really can’t tell it’s not real wood!
The After
This stuff works on many different substrates and surfaces. You can easily change the look of a door, piece of furniture, cabinets, and more with a little time and effort.
Materials I Used:
- Microfiber cloth + degreaser
- Retique It Liquid Wood Gel Stain Kit (Dark Oak)
- (This kit comes with the liquid wood primer, gel stain, stain brush and grain tool)
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Thanks for your support and following along in this project! I hope you found it useful or it sparked some inspiration in your own home.
Cheers,
