You might think that a post about refinishing a door is boring. But I promise that this is not a boring topic. Instead, this post is super exciting and about a product that has changed my life (well, my front door’s life, at least), and made my home’s entrance look amazing! And no, this is not a sponsored post in any way, shape or form – it is simply me sharing my enthusiasm with you because I can’t stop staring at my new, old door!
You see, my home had a very sad and neglected wood front door. My husband and I believe that the door is original to the home (built in 1927), and that it had been unloved since that time. It was dull, scratched, worn and looking like a piece-of-you-know-what. Not a very welcoming entrance to the home that we’ve put so much time and effort into! But, after a few days of refinishing it during my kids’ nap time, it is now an asset instead of an eyesore.
Before we get to the makeover fun, let me tell you that since our door was in such bad shape, we really wanted to replace it with a new, craftsman-style wooden door with windows. But then our roof decided to spring a massive leak and leave us with a huge repair bill. Needless to say, a new door was no longer in the budget.
Because of that, I decided to simply paint the door. But then I started feeling guilty about that. I was thinking that Nicole Curtis (The Rehab Addict), might come to my home and beat me down for painting over the original woodwork.
Materials Needed to Refinish a Wood Door with Gel Stain
This post contains affiliate links. To read my full disclosure policy, please click here.
- General Finishes Gel Stain in Brown Mahogany (Other colors are available here.) UPDATE: Since publishing this post over three years ago, I have tried other brands of gel stain. In my opinion, none work as well as the General Finishes stain I’ve linked to.
- Foam brushes in varying sizes
- Cheesecloth
- Spar Varathane in Satin (formulated for exterior finishes)
- Sandpaper (80 grit)
I breathed easy because I hadn’t ruined the door. (Oh, and in case you’re wondering why I didn’t remove the door knocker and the lock and handle . . . I tried. I just couldn’t get them off.)
I then let it dry overnight, and repeated the staining process again.
2019 UPDATES AND FAQ’S
It looks GREAT! I love it!
Wow, Bre! I looks like a completely new door. I love the color you chose!
I think it looks amazing!! I can’t believe you didn’t have to sand in between the coats – that is so worth it. Just walk over every couple of hours and add another layer? It really is beautiful:)
Love how this turned out! The rich tone of the door and smooth finish just makes it absolutely perfect. Cute wreath, too! 🙂
This is amazing Bre! And I would have been scared of Nicole too, she’s one feisty lady! But I love her 🙂 I’ve seen the gels around but haven’t used them before, so this was super helpful! Does it have a smell to it?
Wow, gorgeous!!!!
Looks great Bre, what a difference some new stain made! I’ve been tempted to use gel stain, I even bought some for a past project and chickened out and went with normal stain, but it sounds like it’s actually very easy to use, thanks for sharing!
Gel stain?! How cool. I have never heard of that! Thanks for stopping by the Creative Spark Link Party. Hope you link up again today! http://bit.ly/1t2Ohhl
How beautiful! (And encouraging!) do you remember how many cans of stain you needed for your door?
Love the door-can you tell me the product name and color ? Thanks
Hi there, how did you allow 24 hour dry time? Leave your door open all night? Been wanting to do my door but am running into this issue.
I have a situation very like yours. My house was built in 1918 and I am sure it is the original door. I live alone and don’t’ feel comfortable taking the door off the hings. I saw your post and thought that looks like something I can handle. My question is this, I got Miniwax gel stain and it says you have to have all the previous stain, paint and finish off of the old door. I have sanded, scraped and scrubbed till my hands ache but there is still some spots of old finish on my old door. I… Read more »
get rid of that junky wreath and it will look 20 times better
Looks great
Presume you used water based varnish and not oil based?
Where did you buy the metal kickplate item?
Bre,
You did a lovely job with your door. Thank you so much for sharing. I have some areas where the sun has caused the finish to crack on my door. Do you think I can simply sand down the affected areas, or would you recommend my sanding the entire door. I am a little scared about this project, but eager to improve the look of my door.
Thank you.
Bre,
You are so kind to respond so promptly. You are an amazing, inspiring woman. The cracks are actually just in the varnish finish, not the actual wood itself. I was wondering if I could just sand down the areas where the varnish appears to have blistered and cracked. I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear.
Is you suggest, I can try and find a general finishes dealer, but if you have thoughts on this, I would love to hear them. Thank you again for your time.
Bre,
You are so kind to respond so promptly. You are an amazing, inspiring woman. The cracks are actually just in the varnish finish, not the actual wood itself. I was wondering if I could just sand down the areas where the varnish appears to have blistered and cracked. I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear.
Is you suggest, I can try and find a general finishes dealer, but if you have thoughts on this, I would love to hear them.
Thank you again for your time.
Thank you Bre. I appreciate your advice.
Your door looks beautiful!! This may be a silly question but did you do both sides or just the front?
You are a life saver!! I thought I had ruined my front door, and then I saw your post and tried the gel stain. It looks like new again! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Bre, After reading your article I decided that this sounded like the best way to refinish an Antique Walnut exterior entry door on my new home , that is in desperate need of attention. I have purchased my gel stain, and exterior top coat. I have done my prep, and was about to try a test spot when I noticed that the gel stain says “interior only” on the back. I am wondering if this is the same thing you used with the exterior top coat? General Finishes does offer an exterior stain, but it is not gel stain. Has… Read more »
I just bought a house and the door is all faded. You can see the wreath imprint from the sun bearing down on the door all day. Would Gel Stain be an ok product to hold up in intense sunshine? My porch is not covered and I don’t have a storm door. How is yours lasting? I wonder if I need a different GF product.
Bre, thank you so much for this tutorial!! I’ve got my door prepped and am nearly ready to stain. My can of gel stain also says “interior use only” but I’m thinking it may be because there is some urathane in the stain, not enough finish to stand up to exterior wear but with the addition of the spar urethane I’m confident it should hold up. Perhaps the company added the qualifier for that reason? One thought, we don’t have a storm door so I’m removing our weather stripping before I stain and finish (it needs to be replaced anyway).… Read more »
How much gel stain did you need for the door? 1 pint can? Thanks
I’m dying at the Nicole Curtis comment. I thought I was the only one who played that scenario in my head when considering painting over anything original lol.
How has your door finish spans the test of time? It’s been about 3 years since you finished the door. Are you still happy with the results?
Thank you for your tutorial, Bre. My door has been bothering me for years, when the house was new the front door was in direct central Virginia sunlight every day (now it’s shaded by trees, yay!), and within three years it looked pretty bad. It’s been nine years now and finally I decided to do something about it. Like you I considered painting it, but then looked at a bunch of YouTube tutorials from guys all over the country (they are funny, as each one has a regional accent from a different area of the country but it’s kinda like… Read more »
Hi Bre,
Thank you for taking the time to share with the rest of us. Your article has given me the inspiration I needed to attempt to refinish my own front door. I have a question, is there a reason why you chose to use Rust-Oleum Varathane Clear Water Based Outdoor Spar Urethane over the General Finishes Water Based Exterior 450 Clear Satin as your top coat? I rather use the top coat from the same manufacturer insuring compatability with the Gel stain and hopefully better protection.
Thanks Bre
All I can say is THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! My door was in way worse shape than yours – it gets direct sun most of the day, and we have no storm door. I paid to have it restained a few years ago and it lasted less than a year (and cost me hundreds). I’m not completely done with my door yet and already the difference is astounding. Even if I had to do this each year, it’s worth the cost savings to do it myself and the gel stain is easy to use!! Thanks again for such… Read more »
Love how your door turned out! Did you do anything to even out the worn areas of the door before applying the gel stain? Or put an extra coat of gel stain in those areas? I would think that the color difference would show through if you didn’t. We have a banister where the stain has similarly worn off in a few spots, so is love to find out how you dealt with this. Thanks!
You used oil base gel stain and then water based spar urethane? Weren’t you worried abt mixing the two? How long did you wait before too coating?
Thanks for sharing this! We desperately need to refinish our front door to get our house ready to sell. Did you have to leave the door open while it was drying? We need to do this really soon, but… it’s February (brr!). When you closed the door to dry overnight, did it take off the finish where it touched the door frame / weather stripping?
Thank you on you door refinish guide. I too have several doors to refinish, these are on the inside. they are solid pine wood interior doors. The staining on these doors is going to be hard to match. It’s more about the technique used rather than just matching a stain. If it where only the color of stain match I would have hit the nail on the head by now. This is my 3rd weekend on this single “test door”. I’m thinking about lightly sanding over my new dark stain now with a 150 grit sandpaper and apply a lighter… Read more »
Hi, I am one of those people that plunges headlong into a project regardless of the consequences, so getting such great results was a welcome relief. I am amazed at how accurate your process was. I went from a sad, tired door to one that looks almost new. Keep in mind my front door it probably 20-30 years old. My only issue is the urethane when applied with sponges bubbled and it took a bit of time to correct that issue. Other than that it is “fabulous”. Thank you so much.
Thanks for posting this, I was looking for an easy way to do our front door. I received a quote for $325 & thought no way I can do this myself, now I feel even more confident after seeing your post.
Can’t believe someone would find the need to say something insulting about your wreath when you were so nice to go thru the trouble of posting this. Thanks again, you just saved me lots of money. BTW….I think your wreath is adorable.
Oh wow, your door looks amazing! I’ve been needing to do our front door for about 2 years, but keep putting it off because I don’t want to take the whole door off the hinges!
What did you use to apply the stain and the sealer – a brush?
Thanks in advance!
This is awesome…exactly what I was looking for. Was the 1 pint of gel stain enough to do the whole door? Thanks so much for the tutorial!
Hi! Thank you so much for this post. We’re getting ready to sell our house , and are doing a bunch of updates before listing. The front door really needed a pick-me-up. It looked exactly like yours before you refinished. Super weathered and worn. I ended up getting the Varathane brand gel stain in mahagony and it works just as well. The only issue I had was the sanding… I sanded and thought what I did was enough. I mean, I thought I had gotten any finish that was left on the door, because like yours, my door was barely… Read more »
It looks great, but kind of scary that the “easy” way involves sanding, two coats of stain and 4 coats of urethane.
Thank you for the instructions. I followed them and the door looks great. I still need to topcoat – that is next. Used the general brand gel coat finishes – they are the best. I have a before and after photo if you want to share.