How to Paint a Flat Panel Door | 3 Easy Steps

Hi, I'm Jeremy Vassar. I've been painting homes for over 20 years, and I want to help you with your painting projects. My brother Josh and I work together to make painting easy for DIYers and homeowners like you.

I've painted everything—from small rooms to entire houses—and I've tested tons of different products. On this channel, I'll show you all my tips, tricks, and honest reviews.

I know anyone can say anything online, so here’s my story to help you see what I can do.

Jeremy Vassar's Painting Journey
Age 15-21: I started painting schools in the summers with my brother Josh. This is where I learned the basics.
Age 21: I graduated from Temple University and started painting full-time with Josh.
Age 21-27: I worked up to 60 hours a week, painting high-end homes and a large retirement community—up to 60 units a year.
Age 24: Josh and I became co-owners of Handyworks Painting LLC, making our painting business official.
Age 24 (also): We started working with Danken, a company that does kitchens and baths. We still work with them today.
Age 25: We began working with Gemmi Construction, a high-end company. We still work with them too.
Age 28: I learned how to stain wood like newel posts, handrails, and steps
Age 28-38: I kept getting better, learned to work faster, and delivered even better results. We were also able to charge more for our work because of the quality.
Age 34: I started this YouTube channel to help DIYers and homeowners with painting projects.
Age 38: I launched "Paint Your Home Now," a community to help people paint their homes quickly and easily.

How many rooms I've painted (Best Guesses):
Bedrooms: 2,000+
Bathrooms: 1,000+
Kitchens: 300+
Exteriors (partial and complete): 300+
Family Rooms, Living Rooms, Foyers, Hallways: 2,000+
Closets: 3,000+
Wallpaper Removed from Rooms: 100+

I hope I can help you make your home look amazing with paint!
- Jeremy Vassar

[debbieallen]

This was really good and I needed to know everything you suggested as mostly watching would be amateurs. Thank you, by the way I love your response to the negative post😊

[nikkiinthed]

great video! love the various tips. i recently tried using a wooster cup with 4" roller & brush and loved that set up for 6panel style doors. wood grain showed thru great and paint smoothed out well like u said using proper pressure. i also use a rubber door stop on the toe of door to prevent it from swinging. seems to help.

[douglasshackett]

Don't forget to dust the top of the door and around the door knob, the roller will grab loose particles and deposit them in your paint job.

[GabRock]

This is exactly how it should be done. Anyone saying you should take off the door clearly doesn't get that as a professional painter, you pretty much won't get paint on the hardware. Plus its a lot easier and faster to paint while the doors hung, you get to do the whole thing without having any drips or finger marks afterwards.

[laurahunter]

THANK YOU! This video was helpful and inspired me to DIY my doors.

[thegreat]

Very educational. Im going to be painting 90 doors tomorrow

[JamesRoss-ks]

Appreciate the video. Came trying to see if we could paint doors while hung. We painted one side of each door twice (after having someone hang them), and didn’t want to pull them again to do the other side.

1: plenty for a newbie
2: never thought the door behind was messed up
3: why paint the top? Seems like a waste of time (suggested by someone else).
Hoping our SW emerald comes out as good.
Appreciate you.

Oh and F the douches that just have to complain about something.

[sheribeaudin]

Thank you for the video! We have solid wood doors that were a very dark stain. I painted them white, but did not prime first. What a huge mistake! So now I have to do it over. So I'm assuming I sand a bit, prime and paint again correct? I've heard to do a light sand in between coats to get a really smooth finish Is that necessary? Thank you!

[jennifermcnuttmusic]

Great video! Ugh. Trying to fix to slight marks on beautiful door similar to this one. Guy at Sherwin-Williams told me to use a foam roller and it turned out like crap. I’m moving and it’s my friends door so I’m going to sand down the one panel, maybe the whole thing and do your process. I’ve painted a ton but not these really smooth doors. Should I just use 150 grit or something else then 150?

[catlady]

I’m doing all the doors and a fistful of drywall patches. 👊 Doors are cheaper than psychologists! 🤛 I got a Corona Cortez, Floetrol, and a big bag of hot mud! Thx for all you help, Sir. 😺

[Havingfun-in]

Duration is awesome. It’s supposed to be self levelling and it is exactly what it says it is but I think just as equally good is pro classic that’s my go to for rental units as investors. Do not like to pay too much for turnovers so it’s a nice self levelling paint as well. Anything under pro classic is skimping like super paint is not too bad but it’s not a very nice coverage because it’s not self levelling and you can usually see brush marks and often times with super paint you need to cover surfaces that are already white and a couple times. If there are black scuffs I find that with duration or pro classic there is no second coat needed as it is Usually a one coat coverage, even on black marks.

[RaymondCore-tsjl]

I live in a tiny condo and bought a new sliding door for my kitchen. It will save a lot of space taken up by the current door's swing. This is a one-time job for me so I'm hoping to hand sand and just use a paintbrush. It seems a waste to buy rollers I'll never use again.

[JamesRoss-ks]

Appreciate the video. Came trying to see if we could paint doors while hung. We painted one side of each door twice (after having someone hang them), and didn’t want to pull them again to do the other side.

1: plenty for a newbie
2: never thought the door behind was messed up
3: why paint the top? Seems like a waste of time (suggested by someone else).
Hoping our SW emerald comes out as good.
Appreciate you.

[UndercoverRat]

I painted my door with a microfiber roller. The finish came out perfectly apart from the little fibers that stuck to the door. How do I prevent this when painting subsequent doors please? I used acrylic enamel paint,

[EBBYERS]

I love your back door I think it's awesome

[clarkg]

Excellent video, very helpful thank-you for sharing .

[patmartinson]

Awesome video! Very informative. Can I use the same process to restain a door instead of painting it?

[cubeweaver]

I used roller with semigloss paint and it left roller marks. Semigloss drove me crazy!

[TheHandystanley]

Ok, you're painting both sides of the door; however, what if you're taking the existing paint totally off one side of the door, but re-painting the inside side of the door? In this case how do I tackle the toe and heel of the door? Do I paint the heel and leave the toe bare wood or...??

[angelayu]

If the door, trim and cabinets were previously painted with semi-gloss would it need to be sanded and primed before the new color goes on? Thank you.