It’s a shame to say that as a working interior designer, my own home improvement projects are often last on the list. I often times admire the work I complete for clients and look to implement a few of my ideas into my own space. In this case, I’ve always wanted to try dark painted doors in my home.  Thanks to our friends at Glidden (I’m also a contributor to their My Colortopia blog) I got an opportunity to try a new product.

This short hallway contains a total of 5 doorways which can be confusing to someone looking for the powder bathroom. As a test to see if we’d love the look of dark doors, we decided to paint the bathroom door using Glidden’s Trim and Door Paint in a high gloss Traditional Brown finish.

The product’s innovative gel-flow formula promised no drips and no brush marks. My husband was even more eager than I was to give it a try. I gladly supervised.

The existing door paint was an oil-based product, so there was no need to prep the surface for new paint. To test to see whether your finish is latex or oil, rub the surface with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol. If the paint rubs off, then you likely have an latex paint finish. Simply prime the surface with a oil based primer and proceed to the next steps.

The gel texture was something new to us, but well received by my husband who enjoyed the thicker application. The paint’s self-leveling properties made getting into the nooks and crannies pretty easy.

You can see here that our door is textured, yet it did not require tedious dabbing. In this photo, he was only about 10 minutes into the project with great results so far. As promised, there were no drips or brushmarks. A second coat was not necessary and this project was complete in less than one hour including clean up!

When dry, the paint still has a beautiful glossy finish which also makes wiping down dirty  little handprints a cinch. The reflective quality is pretty amazing.

Here’s another shot of the finished product. It adds a polished look to our hallway and now it’s even easier for guests to find the powder room…well, at least until we get around to painting the other doors.

Would you consider painting your interior doors Traditional Brown? If you want to give this product a try, here’s an awesome video companion that will give you even more confidence before getting started.

Happy Painting!

This post was created as a Glidden My Colortopia partner. As always, the thoughts and opinions are my own.