If you follow me on social media you have seen that we have been doing all sorts of home projects!

I have so much to blog, I will get there one day! Since we have recently painted our red brick home, white, we needed to do an exterior paint job on our garage door. It was originally just your classic white garage door. But let me tell you, changing the color of the garage gave our home the perfect pop to complete the exterior.

I recently stenciled a beautiful design on our front porch using Behr concrete and patio paint. I will be making a blog post about that soon and will come back and link it here.

I used the color cracked pepper which is the perfect combo between a black and grey. It’s not solid black, but it’s not grey. I decided to tie in the same color for the garage door. I did go back to Home Depot and purchased exterior paint for garage doors that also had a primer included. I wanted to be sure I purchased a paint that wouldn’t fade in the sunlight.

Before I began painting I gave the garage door a good washing with the hose, a power washer would be excellent too. I then used a towel to dry it. Be sure that you dry the creases of the door too where it folds otherwise water may seep through the cracks as your painting.

You can tape along the edges if you have trim that you don’t want to get paint on, I freehanded and had no issues.

I was able to complete the garage door by myself in about 2 hours. It took about 3/4 of a gallon of paint to do two coats on the whole garage door. I bought an extra gallon just in case and didn’t even need it.

I do recommend putting a drop cloth down otherwise you may get some paint on the ground, it you don’t care about paint on the ground that’s okay too.

I also recommend working in sections because the paint does dry very quick. I worked in panels and worked from left to right starting at the bottom of the door working my way up. I did 2-3 panels then worked up to the last row I could reach. I had to get a stool for the last row and to brush along the top.

I used a paint brush first to go along the wall, then I went along each square in the deeper parts of the door. Then I used my roller brush and brushed paint on each square. This seemed to be the best way to work to stay consistent with the paint drying.

I did a rough brush through in the deeper parts, then went back over it with the roller. If there was a spot that needed more pint I waited until I went back for the second coat.

Be sure to get a decent amount of paint on your brush, just don’t over do it. You want to get a good first coat on. And this paint actually did a great job applying to the door. By the time I was finished with my first coat of paint I was able to immediately start back at the beginning on the second coat. Which I was happy about.

I used a step stool to complete the top row. The last thing you will want to do or don’t do. I actually didn’t do it because one, the door needs to sit and dry a good 24 hours before you open it to get fully dry.

Once the door is dry, you would need to open and close the garage door in increments to paint the openings where the folds are. Our folds are of course white, but you can’t see them once the door is closed and I honestly never pay attention to the door creases as it’s opening or closing. If you are a perfectionist and feel you need them painted just be sure you let each crease dry before you open or close the door to complete each crease.

The color is gorgeous! And if you are needing a change of curb appeal to your home, changing the garage door color might be the perfect change you are looking for!

It truly isn’t difficult and I was able to complete it in roughly 2 hours with two young kiddos right by my side!

I would love to hear if you have painted or plan on painting your garage door!

Before and after!