We took on a big DIY garage door makeover by removing the paint and staining the wood. It was worth the work!
Work hard at work worth doing. – Theodore Rosevelt
If you don’t know, we have purchased a fixer-upper home and are on a tight budget so that means lots of DIY projects.
Now, don’t you just love projects that show an amazing project that seem to be done in a mere couple of hours?
Us too!
Sorry, this is not one of them.
This project took F-O-R-E-V-E-R!
Our garage door had 700 million layers of paint (no, I am not prone to exaggeration) and there was NO budget for a new door.
Obviously, the entire house needs to be repainted. That is for another day…month…year.
The first thought was to power wash some of those layers off….and you may have guessed, it didn’t work.
Long story short, some of the wood was coming off in the process or the paint just wouldn’t come off.
Next up, sanding, peeling, scraping, heating, pleading, begging…
The family that DIY’s together, right? The Mister is using a heat gun and a putty knife.
The results are the payoff. And all this sweating and hard work will be worth it. Chalene Johnson
All in a few hours right?
Yeah, NO!!!
DAYS AND DAYS AND DAYS….sorry folks! (Well, we do have jobs, school, Oregon weather, etc)
Sometimes there is no easy workaround.
DIY GARAGE DOOR MAKEOVER – FILL & STAIN PROCESS
We, The Mister, decided taking off the panels would be the way to go….good idea.
The bad part is we didn’t decide to do the bottom one first so taking on and off was FUNNNNNNNNN! Live and learn!
It took about a month and a half (again…sorry!) and we had this:
Well, a little bit of scrapping was still left to do but you get the idea.
GARAGE DOOR MAKEOVER SUPPLIES
*Affiliate links used to show similar or the same items used. You can read our full Disclosure Policy HERE.
- Filling in the holes with wood glue – Elmer’s ProBond Wood filler
- Staining – Behr Weather Proofing All in One Wood Stain
- Painting the Bolts –Valspar Outdoor
UPDATE 2020 – The garage still looks good. We may have some touch-up staining to do in the next year or two, but so far it’s held up really well. Oh, and did you notice we did some landscaping? You can read about that here: Increase Curb Appeal with Landscape Lighting.
MORE BUDGET-FRIENDLY POSTS
Here are a few more posts of updates we have done to this home:
- Under $500 Thrifty Kitchen Makeover
- The Building of Our DIY Walk-In Pantry
- Dining Room Makeover -On a Budget
Thanks for stopping by today. Our goal is to help make the most with whatever you have by sharing budget-friendly, time-saving, and reusing/DIY ideas for all parts of your home and life. If you enjoyed this DIY garage makeover, we would appreciate a share on any social media: Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Plus, don’t forget to follow us as we share even more ideas on each account
Your new garage door looks so good! Well worth all of the hard work 🙂
Thank you Kate for you kind comment!
Wow! Looks like a complete pain in the butt, but the finished product really is worth it. LOVE!!!
Jennifer, A pain in the butt it was but it was worth it! Thanks for stopping by!
Wow, that is some serious dedication… and worth every body ache and hour you spent! Your door looks amazing, just beautiful! Good job:)
Wendi @ H2OBungalow recently posted…Red White and Blue DIY Patriotic Projects
Thanks Wendi! Much appreciated!!!!
I love the stained look for garage doors. My neighbors just stained theirs a light grey. It looks so good, I almost want to do it to mine too.
Thanks for your comment! You should do yours.
It is so unfortunate this took so long, but the end product is AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing this. I really do love the wood look for garages.
McKenzie, Yeah long projects are hard but we are def happy with the results. Thanks so much for stopping by!!!
Just had to say this looks amazing. Turned out really nice!
Thanks Doug
Hi Deborah! I appreciate your honesty and your willingness to show everyone that staining a garage door isn’t a one day project. Thank you for linking to the products you used as well. Have a great 2018.
Joy, It was a lot of work but totally worth it. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi, The door looks amazing. I am taking on the same project now. I just started to take the paints off and realize it’s not easy. what products and tools you use to strip the paints off?Any tips are appreciate.
Thanks,
Martina
Oh yes, it wasn’t easy at all. We hand scrapped it. I know many people use products to strip it of, but we did not.