How To Paint A Metal Door To Look Like An Old Antique Door

We have a lot of builder grade in our house… and a lot of beneath builder grade. Haha! One of the things that was starting to drive me a little crazy was this white metal door.

After my husband decided to do shiplap in our mudroom I knew it was time to try my hand at changing the color of our door. I thought about doing black to match the front door, but then I decided to try something new and play with color.

I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone, becuase the combination of white shiplap and a pop of green have really made this space such a happy room.

How To Paint A Metal Door To Look Like An Old Antique Door

So let me show you what we started with.

At this point, the door was just plain builder grade. Silas started the shiplap (more on this process later!) and all the baseboards were ripped off the wall.

Here’s a video with my instagram stories from this project. It shows the exact brushing and blending technique I used to get this texture. Keep on reading to see the details on how to get this old paint look on a new metal door in the step by step below.

I really would 100% reccomend a good primer to start off with. My favorite is Kilz.

After priming my door, I added the first coat of chalk paint: Dixie Belle’s Stormy Seas color.

I wanted my metal door to have the look of a wooden door, so I added Pine Cone as the next color. I just added the bare minimum of paint on my brush, and “dry brushed” it on corners and random areas where I wanted that wood grain look.

You still want the original color to show through, but brush it on in the same organic way that you would paint a wooden door.

Next I let my paint tack up for a minute or two. Make sure not to let it dry before this next step.

To blend, I added little spirts of water on top of the paint, and went over it again with my paint brush.

The part of this technique that you want to pay attention to is how much paint you have on your brush. You want it to be relatively clean before you start blending. It’s okay to have a little bit of the paint still on your brush, but to get a smooth blend try and keep to the “less is more” approach. Work in smaller sections at a time to optimize the blending technique.

The next color I added was Kudzu. This green is amazing! I’m obsessed with it.

Using the same dry and wet approach as the brown color, I brushed it on making sure to let the “Stormy Seas” and “Pine Cone” colors show through.

I tried to block off the sections of the door as if it were a wooden paneled door. Strategic brushstrokes helped make it look like it had an actual raised grain, transforming it from being a boring metal door.

I just went back and forth adding more of whatever color I felt it needed to make it look well blended and consistent.

I love how it looks with all the various tones showing through. I put some handmade architectural salvage pieces I created on the wall next to the door to pull together all the green tones.

We have our work boots in a firewood box next to the door. All our other shoes and our coats go in the white chippy hutch on the other side of the room.

Here’s another view of these chippy salvage architectural details. I actually modeled these after some vintage ones I saw at market.

This view just makes me so happy to come home every time.

With that said, I tend to be a homebody, so I enjoy this view pretty much all day. Haha! But walking through this green door is always a great welcome home.

One of my favorite ways to add a simple eclectic collection to our mudroom was using these terra cotta pots…

Once upon a time they used to hold herbs and pretty plants on my porch… that I killed. Haha! I’m not the best potted plant mom. I admit it! But I seriously love how they all look staked in my mudroom. It gives me Beatrix Potter vibes.

So anyways, that’s how I painted my metal builder grade door green. I really love how the paint transformed it into a door with character. It honestly looks like a really neat old farmhouse door. So cool how paint can transform a piece like this!

PRODUCTS USED FOR THIS PAINT TECHNIQUE: