Iron doors are an amazing option for practically any homeowner. They’re secure, visually appealing for practically any home theme if you buy the right one, and most importantly, extremely easy to maintain over the course of a lifetime. They’re simply superior to other options in practically every way.
However, they typically come in plain black unless the customer requests a specific color option from the supplier. Color options are typically limited by many manufacturers, and black doesn’t work for every home exterior.
Luckily, that’s a really easy problem to fix, and you can have a lot of fun doing it. Just customize the door to your liking with a new paint job.
If you’re a little nervous about customizing something you just spent good money on, don’t worry. We’ve got some solid creative ideas ranging from conventional to more artistic options that you can implement, as well as some guidelines you need to follow while choosing how to customize your door.
Read on and learn how to paint iron doors and customize them to your liking!
1: Doing a Basic Color Swap
You can get as creative as you want when you paint your iron door, but sometimes, just a plain color swap will do the trick without going overboard.
This is the easiest way to customize your door, but it still requires a bit of thought.
Essentially, pick a complementary or contrasting color compared to the dominant color of your home, and paint the door entirely that color. This works even better if you match the door to the color of your trim because it helps create a cohesive theme for your exterior design elements.
There’s not much to cover with this option, because it’s literally just painting the door a solid color. However, in many situations, this is perfectly fine, and it’s more than enough to make what was a boring, unappealing door stand out and enhance the exterior appearance of your home.
2: Add Trim
This idea works best with more ornate door designs; specifically, those that are designed to match more elaborate and traditional homes. However, if done appropriately and with a considerable amount of thought, it can work with more modern doors, too.
Adding trim creates a distinct visual look that, when done right, breaks up the monotony of a basic solid door color.
This can be done in a few ways. If you have a steady hand, simply going through the various ornate curvatures of the door with a suitable color can make the door pop and look exquisite. Imagine your plain black door suddenly having a beautiful gold trim highlighting all its details and making them stand out even more. Of course, that wouldn’t work on every home design, but there are certainly various aesthetics that would benefit from such an elaborate paint job.
You can also do the same by inverting the color of your door and trim. For example, if you have a white home with baby-blue trim, making the door baby blue and adding white trim to the details can make a cohesive look that pops.
With more modern doors that take on rectangular design patterns, trimming the inside “lips” of the door with a suitable color can add just enough visual differentiation without making it too distracting or out of place. This is also easy because all you need is a steady hand, some painter’s tape, and the ability to make uniform brush strokes.
Trimming your door is a step above going with a plain color swap, but it’s not quite as elaborate as some of our upcoming ideas. So, it can still be a suitable option for the average home.
3: Decorative Patterns
This is not an idea that is going to work for many homeowners, but if you have a house that already stands out due to eccentric design decisions, or you’re operating a small business with a whimsical flare, this can be the perfect way to add a bit of character and charm to your entryway that entices guests.
You can put your creative skills to the test and paint elaborate patterns on your door.
A good example of this would be a bright home with a native flower lawn and plenty of well-manicured landscaping features. Instead of having a plain door, why not incorporate the natural aspect of the landscaping with the paint job of the door?
You can paint a pattern of wildflowers around various sections of the door’s framing, or you can go all out and paint them all over it with a stark white or brightly colored dominant background color.
The same idea can be used for anything else to incorporate a theme. Such as an Irish-themed pub adding clover leaves to their black iron door, or any other themed pattern you can think of.
This one takes a lot of patience, though. A door might seem like a fairly reasonably sized object, but when you’re adding tons of small artistic features, it can take a while. Luckily, if you’re just doing patterns, you don’t have to freehand the work. You can easily achieve a professional-looking effect using stencils, and that will speed up the process, as well.
4: Multi-Color Patterning
This is another relatively extreme idea, and it’s not going to be appealing to many homeowners, but it can work wonders for homes that already have an eccentric artistic design theme or certain traditional themes such as pueblo houses.
You can drop the idea of a dominant color altogether and paint the door in a multi-color pattern. For example, with some of the home designs reminiscent of pueblos in New Mexico and other southwestern states, recreating the vibrant patterns on Hispanic ponchos and pottery can really add an ethnic vibe to the home that enhances its appearance.
Another reason for this approach would be for a modern contemporary home like the more upscale houses you’ll find in high-end areas where the top architects really let their creativity loose. Creating color patterns that match the eccentric nature of such home designs can really highlight the unique atmosphere surrounding such a home.
Albeit, this approach will usually be better suited to more modern iron door designs instead of the traditional ornate designs many people think of when they imagine iron doors.
Things to Consider When Painting Your Iron Doors
We’ve given you some creative ideas that you can use to add character to your iron door and really make it stand out, but it’s important that you don’t just choose whatever sounds good to you and immediately copy it. The exterior design of your home likely follows a theme, and if you randomly paint your door in a way that doesn’t match that theme, you can create a massive visual disconnect that simply doesn’t look good.
Here are the main factors you need to consider.
1: Overall Design of the Home
If you’re living in an average cookie-cutter home with a fairly standard appearance, you do not want to choose one of the more extreme paint jobs we’ve highlighted. No matter how cool you think it will be, it won’t look good.
You want to consider the overall theme of your home. Is it a fairly standard American design? Is it more reminiscent of the Victorian era with grand design elements worthy of luxurious trim? Are you the neighborhood eccentric or have a home that is unlike any other thanks to unique architectural design?
This is probably the most important factor for you to consider, and you want to match the paint job to the theme of your home.
2: Creating a Cohesive Color Palette
Your home probably uses two dominant colors for its exterior design unless you live in a home that’s a little more unique. There might even be three colors, but that’s less common.
Whatever you paint your door, you want the colors chosen to match the colors on your home’s other features 99% of the time. There are certain neutral options that can work no matter what, but usually, you’ll want to stick with one of the dominant colors of your house.
Take our trim suggestion for example. We recommended using the base color of your home for the trim and the trim color of your home for the door’s base color. This helps match the colors already present in the home’s theme without making the door visually melt into the siding and become unnoticeable.
3: Stand Out Without Being a Sore Thumb
If you don’t live in an HOA, plan on living in your home for the rest of your life, and don’t care what the neighbors think, you can skip this tip for the most part. However, it’s still a good thing to consider. Everyone else needs to take this very seriously.
Sure, having a lime-green door on your baby-blue house sounds like a great way to stand out until your HOA gives you a fine, your home value drops because your exterior design is not what buyers are looking for, and your neighbors look at you like the town nut. You want to stand out, but you don’t want to stand out like a sore thumb that everyone side eyes.
While choosing your paint theme, pick something that is going to complement your home’s exterior, look great, and not stand out from the neighbors too much.
How to Paint Your Iron Door
Once you’ve chosen how you want to paint your door, it all comes down to pulling it off. Luckily, it’s fairly easy to paint an iron door.
You’ll only need a few things:
- All paint required to finish the project according to the plan
- Primer
- Sandpaper
- Brushes
- Painter’s tape
Depending on how many colors of paint you need, you can usually do this for less than $20, and the simpler design options should only take about half an hour to pull off.
First, you want to grab your sandpaper and gently sand down the old paint job. This will get rid of any corrosion, knock off any loose paint, and file down old clumps of paint that built up over the years due to poor painting technique.
Then, you want to apply your primer. Primer is usually purchased in an aerosol can for easy application. So, simply remove the door from its hinges, put it on some cardboard or a ground cover, and focus on getting a thin, uniform, coat with one or two pass overs. Don’t lay it on too thick, or you’ll create clumps and streaks.
This step is only really needed if you’re doing trim or patterns, but you need to use your painter’s tape to mark off the spots not being painted and help create uniform lines throughout the project. You don’t want to free-hand a pattern unless you’re an experienced painter and uniform lines aren’t necessary for your project. Painter’s tape should also be used on the framing of your door if you’re doing a simple paint job and don’t need to take it off its hinges.
Finally, brush on your planned paint job. You can also opt for aerosol cans, but those can be difficult unless you know how to use them properly. Most of our readers should focus on using a brush and applying a thin layer. If you need to do multiple coats, let each coat dry before painting over it.
Where to Buy an Iron Door That’s Great for Painting
Now that you learned how to paint iron doors you know how to make them stand out and match your desired home theme, but the fact is, you need to start with a great door in the first place. You’ll notice a lot of the ideas we mentioned are dependent on the design of the door. So, you need to source a high-quality iron door, and you’ll want one that has a design generally in accordance with your home’s décor style.
For that, you have to check out the stock at Wholesale Iron Doors. We offer a massive selection of iron doors across a variety of design styles, and every product we supply is made to the highest quality standards.
We also offer custom door manufacturing. This means that you can order a custom door with a click of the mouse and our support team will help you with choosing the right dimensions, provide a design rendering for your review, and more. Get in touch with us today and choose the perfect iron door style for your home!
