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How to Paint a Metal Garage Door to Look Like Carriage Doors

Carriage doors are traditionally thick, solid wood with wrought iron hardware, giving them an expensive look and a price tag to match. Replacing an ordinary garage door with carriage doors might be out of the question, but there is an artistic work-around that can help. Faux paint techniques can duplicate many textures, including wood. Practice on a scrap board to perfect your style, then take an afternoon to transform your garage door into a focal point of your home.

Things You'll Need

  • Drop cloth
  • Painter's tape
  • Angled trim paintbrush
  • Latex primer
  • Rags
  • 4 paint tray liners
  • Paint roller
  • 4 roller covers
  • Latex paint, medium brown
  • Latex glaze, dark brown
  • Glaze extender
  • Wood graining tool
  • Water-based sealer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Raise the garage door, spread the drop cloth across the garage threshold and lower the door.

    • 2

      Apply painter's tape around the edges of the door and anywhere you do not want paint.

    • 3

      Place a paint tray liner in the paint tray. Fill it with primer. Apply primer to every garage door crevice and in corners where a roller cannot reach using an angled paint brush. Rinse the brush with water, and dry it on a rag.

    • 4

      Roll the paint roller through the tray to soak the fibers with primer. Roll it against the top of the pain pan's slope to remove the excess. Roll the primer onto the garage door using long strokes. Paint top to bottom, and from one side of the door to the other. Let it dry.

    • 5

      Replace the pan liner. Fill it with paint. Paint hard-to-reach areas with the paintbrush. Rinse the brush and dry it. Replace the roller cover. Load the roller with paint by passing it through the tray. Paint the garage door with long strokes and let it dry. Apply another coat, and let it dry.

    • 6

      Replace the pan liner. Fill it with glaze and glaze extender in a mixture ratio recommended by the extender's manufacturer. Extender helps it the glaze dry slower. Apply the mixture around the perimeter of one section of the door using the brush. Replace the roller cover. Load it with the glaze mixture and cover that section with glaze.

    • 7

      Press a wood graining tool against the wet glaze and pull it top to bottom inside the section. Rock it slightly by its handle as you slide it through the glaze to achieve the grain look. Drag the tip of the brush bristles through the glaze around the perimeter of the section. Use horizontal strokes across the top and bottom and vertical strokes down the sides of the section. Complete the wood grain in each separate section of the garage door using the same techniques. Rinse and dry the brush. Let the door dry.

    • 8

      Replace the tray liner and roller cover. Fill the tray with sealer. Apply sealer to the entire door using the brush and the roller. Let it dry and remove the painter's tape.