I need to paint one side of an oak door white and stain the other side. What is the rule of thumb as to where to start and stop each product? I’m not sure what color the edges of the door are supposed to be, what parts of the door stop are to be painted or stained, and which parts of the jamb are to painted or stained.
description of my situation:
When I face the closed door while standing in the hall/foyer, the hinges are to my left and I open the door back towards me with my right hand. This side of the door needs to painted white, because the baseboard and casings in the foyer/hall are white.
With the door open back towards me in the hall, the inside of the door, that I couldn’t see when it was closed, needs to be stained, because the billard/game room that the stained side of the door faces, has stained baseboard and casings.
Replies
Here is what a guy told me as he was about to paint my door, red to the outside, white to the inside. Since I lived way above the hurricane zones, my front door swung in. Position the door at the 45 degree mark, half open, half closed. Stand outside. The two "sides" you can see, the outside face and the hinge edge, are painted the "outside" color, in my case red. The other side and its adjacent latch edge are painted the "inside" color, white in my case. It makes sense. Here is a little painting tip. Since all your door's corner edges, up and down those long sides, will be eased over, not sharp, "wrap" the finish color or stain around from the faces to the edges so the color breaks are slightly around the side, an eighth or so. That way, you won't see any color break line peeking at you from the margin when the door is closed.
Maybe this will start a whole new thread about why traditional building practices have outside entry doors in the "hurricane zones" (Florida's Dade and Broward counties, for example) swing to the outside, rather than in. I think I know why, but let's see what others say.
I'd break the finish on the edge that meets the door stop.
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