Ive heard that if you paint a metal door and then apply a deeper colour stain, you can create the illusion of wood. Any tips on how to do this and which colours look best? Any other suggestions to improve upon the ugly metal door look? I have about 12 of these in our new home to fix up as affordably as possibly.
Not paint. You can look for some sort of lamination to add to the door. In a place like Home Depot, look for the do it yourself kitchen cabinet refinishing area. They sell real wood lamination that might do the trick. A door is a fairly large area, so it might not be possible to make them line up nice.
It would look like fake wood. I never heard of a house with so many metal doors, but it does sound unattractive. Maybe if you just painted them a light colour with enamel it wouldn't bother you so much, then you could replace them gradually with wood doors when you can afford it.
Clean the metal doors with a degreaser, to take off any oils and try not to touch it much afterwards to prevent new oil from your skin. I used white paint, then you pick out the color of stain you like, or what matches your home. Then you can use a paint brush working long strokes (even coats) they don't have to be even lines. Just so it looks like wood. I love mine and have had many people do the same. Good Luck
There is a wood graining tool that you can use to create the look of wood on metal. You must clean the metal first, prime it with something like Kilz or Zinser to give the wood teeth for the paint to adhere. An easy way to do it is with spray paint. Then you paint on the base color. I created a cherry wood look by using a burgandy base and a burnt umber glaze. Once you get on the base color, brush on 1 part paint, 1 part water and one part Floetrol (a paint extender that will give you more open time). While the glaze is still wet, pull the combing tool through the wet glaze with a rocking motion. I had to practice this a few times on a scrap sheet metal piece first. Then seal it with a non-yellowing polyurethane (again spraying it give a nice even finish with no brush strokes). Another improvement for your doors is to add molding. You can get quarter round, mitre the edges, prime and use wipe on stain to match the color of the doors. Depending on the height of the doors you could probably get in 2-3 boxes of mitred quarter round for dimension. Great project, have fun!
