Who needs wood doors in their life?

Painting Wood Grain

We bought a used white steel front door for $25. We wanted a full window WOOD door.  It was time to tackle the wood grain tool! No fear!  I decided to paint my back door and do both doors at the same time. 

 Lowe's had everything I needed. This was my first time tackling this method. I will never buy gallons again! I have enough for 50 doors! 

I coated everything with 2 coats of Kilz. You really don't need to do this step but I wanted a nice clean fresh start. We took out the glass on the front door because my husband was in the process of making solid oak grids but we stopped because painting them looks great! 

I painted 2 coats of exterior yellow......That was a bit scary!

Now the magic begins! I mixed 4 parts glaze to 2 parts exterior brown to the outside. I mixed 3 parts brown to 1 part glaze for the inside. I wanted the inside a bit darker to match my wood trim. I slightly rocked the wood grain tool to create the wood grain. I taped off where I would imagine how the wood grain would go. 

I used the broom to whisk the brown glaze mix going with the wood grain(check out the video below). This creates natural wood lines and gets rid of excess paint. I let this dry for an hour. It was still tacky but dry enough to add the final brown/glaze coat. The final coat was exactly the same mix I used to create the wood grain. I applied it very light. I took a paint brush and brushed with the wood grain to get the "roller" marks out and to imitate real wood. 

After 3 Top coats of General Finishes my doors are finished! Woohoo! 

 The video below will show you how to use the wood grain tool and the broom. After the grain is on, you let that dry before the final coat. I found that I like to add more glaze to the brown for the final coat so it is more transparent. I add it very lightly and use a regular brush to brush with the wood grain to get rid of the roller marks.