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reno_fan

How do you think these doors would look painted black?

reno_fan
15 years ago

My french doors in my breakfast nook have been peeling since we moved in. (Yet another project I've turned a blind eye toward....)

I need to strip the peeling paint and prime/re-paint them, but the doors underneath are a charcoal metal. Now I'm sort of wondering if the doors would look better painted black.

I have a lot of black accents in the kitchen, and will be painting the hutch you see to left black soon.

Of course, none of my other doors are black, so I'm wondering if those would look silly being the only ones black.

The rest of the kitchen:

Thoughts?

Comments (31)

  • maddiemom6
    15 years ago

    Reno.. I like the idea of black... but warm black.. there is one I amthinking of in the martha Line at Lowes... I think it's called French Bulldog ( I think).. a very warm black. If you could get it in a VERY low shine finish I think it would be stunning on your doors.

    It's funny that we are talking black.. I am thinking of doing my front door in black ( it's pink right now.. I know.. but it oddly goes).. that is why I know of the French Bulldog ( who names these paints!)

    Maddiemom

  • Sueb20
    15 years ago

    I think it could look good. I did something similar in our kitchen/family room addition. We have white doors everywhere else in our house, but in this space I decided to have the doors (both the pocket doors inside, and the doors to the outside) painted a dark green, several shades darker than the wall color. The trim is still off-white. Here is a pic of our mudroom door...

  • awm03
    15 years ago

    Gee, reno, your so fast with pushing projects through, you could paint them black, decide you don't like it, and have them repainted white all in 8 hours. Then you could tell US if it looked right or not!

    All teasing aside, I think a black door with a black hutch would look okay, but then my tastes tend to run a little heavy visually.

  • awm03
    15 years ago

    sueb20, that door looks fantastic.

  • reno_fan
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Sueb, that's beautiful!

    See, that's sort of what I had in mind. Something a little different.

    awm, LOL!!

  • mistybear11
    15 years ago

    I love black so of course I think it would look grrreat. No just kidding, don't mean to sound like such a pompus a$$. But seriously, when I read the title of your post, the first thing that I said to myself was yea, but only if cupboard on the left was painted black as well. Read down a little further and you have already planned to paint. It's only paint. The only way to find out for sure is paint, and if you use gloss, it will reflect a lot of light and not look dark at all. I don't use gloss but have fallen in love pearl paint. It has just the right amount of sheen.

  • tinam61
    15 years ago

    There are some things I just think look better the same in a house and interior doors are one. Trim, doors, etc. I think having it all the same color lends continuity, helps the flow, etc. But that's just my opinion and preference.

    I think the hutch will look great black.

    tina

  • k9arlene
    15 years ago

    I love the idea of painting the hutch black, but imo painting the doors black will make the room look to black heavy at that end. I would, however, like to see a black curtain/valance on the doors.

  • bestyears
    15 years ago

    I think it would look most excellent! And you know what, the work is in the prep. Repainting if the black doesn't look good is not going to be that big a deal (especially for you renofan). What, you're not done yet?!?!?

  • fnmroberts
    15 years ago

    We painted 2 sets of French doors in our basement black. A bookcase, adjacent to one set, is also black. We like the contrast against light walls. All other doors and trim are white.

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

  • parma42
    15 years ago

    Reno, I think you could go either way with the door.

    I'm glad that you showed your beautiful kitchen again as I can segue into asking if you've made a decision about the cabs. Unless I missed a follow-up to your last kitchen post, you were talking yellow.

  • cliff_and_joann
    15 years ago

    I like the idea of the soft black doors with the white trim.

    FnmrRobets, awesome basement.

  • Kathleen McGuire
    15 years ago

    Should I point you to RMS and HPJ185's home? She fell in love with that look after seeing it in a model home. She painted all her doors throughout her house. It IS very striking as fnmroberts shows!
    I was going to link to the RMS page, but all of HPJ's new home pics are not there when I do a search!

  • zipdee
    15 years ago

    Reno .. I agree with Parma, you could go either way. Love your kitchen and eating area .. just beautiful!

  • leahcate
    15 years ago

    What awmo3 said :>) wow, ain't no moss growing on you! I envy your creativeness and work ethic! sueb20's doors look great, so why not yours...in a soft black. Have a feeling you're gonna go for it...can't wait to see!

  • johnatemp
    15 years ago

    I like the idea...in a soft matte black.
    Here is a pic from Cote de Texas - I believe she said she painted all her interior doors black. Which isn't her bedroom fine!! I would love to do mine!!

    Smiles:)

  • parma42
    15 years ago

    Johnatemp, I love that mirror over the desk. It would look great in my DR.

    Wonder how they did that?

  • reno_fan
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    I'm still contemplating....

    Now I'm tossing around the idea of doing them brown with a glaze to give them more of a wood look.

    I'm 100% certain I'm going to do that in my den.

    I just made some french door window treatments last night, and when I hung them I thought that the doors would look so much better brown!

  • caminnc
    15 years ago

    Black doors.

  • citymomof3
    15 years ago

    I think it would look lovely. I would LOVE to paint all of my interior white doors black, but fear my husband would freak out. I wonder how many coats it would take?? Not to mention, my hardware is all ORB so it would have to be changed.

    Anyways, I got off track. I think black would look fab, reno!

  • patty_cakes
    15 years ago

    I say go for it! In my condo I painted my mantle/surround black and it looked awesome. Every room needs something that says, 'look at me'!

    I just moved to TX and rather than have the trim/doors in my new house painted the standard white, I opted for a color slightly darker than latte', with walls 3 shades lighter~I love it.

    If I would have purchased an existing home with the darker vinyl clad windows, I was planning to paint all the trim/doors black.

    I don't have drama in my life, but like to think that using it in my home gives the right amount. LOL

  • babs711
    15 years ago

    You don't have to change the ORB hardware! Cote de Texas' pic above has ORB hardware!

  • k9arlene
    15 years ago

    As I said in an earlier post, I think with painting the hutch black and the door right next to it black, it may make that end of the room too black heavy. There is no other heavily black area in the kitchen, only touches. I think it would be too much for that area.

  • boxer_kate
    15 years ago

    I'm so glad to have stumbled across this message board. I'm also toying with the idea of painting my doors black and leaving the white trim around them. The posted pictures above really help!

    In my humble opintion, Reno_fan's doors will look great in black.

  • igloochic
    15 years ago

    For the record...I don't mean to be offensive when I offend...and with that in mind, I'm going to now offend (sorry)

    I have strong opinions on a few things, and one of them is centered around woodwork in a home. Trim and doors should not have great contrast. A little is ok, but a huge contrast (ie black and white) looks to me like you couldn't afford to do all of your trim the right color. Especially in a room like yours Reno, that is full of beautiful white. Now frankly I don't like white trim either :oP But I definately think it looks terrible with black doors.

    The green in a very soft shade is lovely because it's not such a big contrast, but in looking at that pretty bedroom, the only thing that screams WRONG to me is that they forgot to paint either the door or the trim because they don't go together.

    IF you think I'm full of hog wash (and I often am) then consider doing a tint de nigre' which is a mix of black and brown. It's more "wood like" so not as stark a mix, and I think it's great with the type of rich colors you like. My whole house is done in it:

    (The door needs another coat of paint....but you get the idea):

    And yes...those picture frames are empty. I'm working on it!!!

  • reno_fan
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    To end the suspense, I've decided to paint them brown. I will do my absolute best make them look like they're wood. That side of the room needs a little more warmth, and right now the only "warm" thing is my wood table.

    Since I have plans to replace the bifold doors to the right with wood doors, it'll help bring it all together.

    These doors in my last house show what I'm trying to acheive. (These actually *are* wood, but I'm fairly confident I can make the metal doors look good, too.)

    Thanks for being my sounding board!

  • k9arlene
    15 years ago

    Good plan!

  • zipdee
    15 years ago

    Reno, Sounds like a great plan!!

    Have you ever tried faux wood graining? I bought the book the Art of Faux by Pierre Finkelstein (which is a great book). I taught myself enough to repair or touch up areas, but I've never done a large area like a door.

  • queenofmycastle0221
    15 years ago

    My thoughts are I LOVE YOUR KITCHEN! I have seen it before but oh my everytime I look at it, I get goosebumps!

    I have a black door in my kitchen that my sis painted me a sunflower design on top that looks pretty good!

    Alicia

  • maddiemom6
    15 years ago

    Reno,

    Do a coat of brown for the base and then gel stain over the top.. as you do that pull a wood grain rocking tool through the glaze. It does a wonderful job. When the whole thing is dry give the door a nice buff with some tinted buffing wax.. loverly!

    Maddiemom

  • flatlander62
    15 years ago

    I've been reading these forums since I strayed over from the kitchen forum after remodeling last year. I don't know if I've posted or not before now, so excuse me for just coming out of lurkdom. If it seems like I'm a newbie, consider I've been here awhile, I'm just rather quiet.

    Reno-fan, consider me one of your fans. Love your kitchen and what you just did with your son's bath.

    I'm glad you've decided on the brown doors, although I would've agreed on the black as well. And I think you should absolutely leave your trim white as it is. The idea that anyone would think you couldn't afford a can of paint to finish out the trim irks me to no end. It's the last thing I would think. Personally, I rather dislike trim in anything other than white and particularly abhor dark wood and trim all over unless done tastefully.