In my own house I’ve only ever painted the internal woodwork white but I love the idea of painting walls and woodwork exactly the same colour for a modern, seamless look.

However at the moment I’m really into the contrasting style and I’m in the process of painting the skirting boards and door in our main bathroom with Farrow & Ball’s Manor House Grey. (The above image is Adam’s bathroom painted in Farrow & Ball Down Pipe).
At my house both the new wall and floor tiles are plain white so I wanted to add some colour to stop the space seeming too clinical. After seeing this glorious image from Pomeli I did consider a blush hue such as F&B’s Calamine but in the end I settled for a cool grey instead.


Blush Pink Painted Door

The skirting boards were finished yesterday and then I’m going to crack on with the door. Statement internal doors painted in all sorts of beautiful colours seem to be all the rage right now but I’ve got myself in a bit of a quandary about the best way to paint mine.
All the doors in our house are oak veneered and I’ve decided to keep the fronts of them this way. This will mean all the doors leading off the landing stay uniform but there’s an injection of colour on the side that sits in the bathroom.
Last year I painted one side of the doors in our living room white and when my Dad, a veteran painter and decorator came round he advised me to get out my paint brush again. According to the expert I should have painted the outside edge too so that when the eye looks down the open door it flows seamlessly.

Becky and I thought it would be helpful to highlight my Dad’s advice with an image which has turned out to be one of the most confusing things we’ve ever attempted to illustrate on RMS. If anyone had tapped into our video call they would have thought we had lost the plot. Here goes:


How to paint a statement door

The long and short of it is, if you’re painting a one-sided statement door and want to paint the hinge side and the outer edge then you jolly well should. Some rules are made to be broken.
If anyone’s interested then I’ll be painting the back of my door and the outer edge (with the lock in it) and leaving the front of the door and the hinge with the oak veneer finish so that from the hallway you’ve got no idea what delight hides inside. In terms of painting technique, I’ll be using eggshell and following all the tips highlighted in my painting furniture feature given the surface and paint are both similar. I may use a stain blocker prior to painting to stop any of the oil from the wood knots seeping through.
Please don’t ask me about the door frame. I think in this instance I’m just going to paint up to the door stop (the inner frame that runs all around the inside of the door frame) and hope for the best. Sometimes you’ve just got to go with what your eye tells you.
Confused? Yes, Becky and I were too. Here’s a nice gallery of painted doors so you can treat your eyes and ease the confusion. This includes a sneaky little gander at the upstairs of Leoma’s gorgeous house which is coming up very soon.

Anyone else painted a one-sided statement door? What are your tips and tricks when introducing a colourful door?