Give Your Plain Old Door a Modern Metallic Facelift

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Doors are very useful things, but all too often they lack that bit of je ne sais pas. If you feel the same, you might want to "tart" that boring old door with some awesome metallic epoxy effects.

Follow this guide to find out how.

Tools and equipment needed

Like any project of this nature, you will need some tools and materials to get you started. 

• A door
• Countertop primer
• Metallic epoxy
• Metallic paints
• White epoxy
• Topcoat
• Paint roller

With all your materials and gear assembled, it is time to get out with the project.

Step 1: Add the epoxy base coat

The first step is to lay the door down with the face you want to treat facing upwards. Ensure that any surfaces around the door are covered if you don't want any epoxy or paint accidentally dripping or spilling on them.

Also, prepare any edges of the door with masking tape that you don't want them coated too. Once complete, take your countertop primer and coat the entire surface of the exposed face.

Leave to cure and then pour in a rough line in the middle of the door with the metallic base coat. Work it outwards to the edges using a paint roller. Smooth and spread the primer out as evenly as possible. 

Spead the epoxy to the edges and allow it to drip over the edge. In fact, this is desirable to produce a nice effect on the top without an abrupt stop at the door's edge. Continue a few times until nice and level. 

Step 2: Add the white highlights

With the base coat cured, take the white highlight epoxy. Using a spare length of wood, or another tool, dip it into the white epoxy and add the highlights to the base coat to your own design. 

You can liken this to adding glazing to a cake — except with epoxy and a door. 

Use a mixture of letting it drop, and lightly spreading the highlights over the base epoxy. Experiment until you get the effect you are after. 

Don't worry if it looks messy at this stage, you can keep going over the door surface to hide any "mistakes" made. The more passes you take, the better the effect anyway. 

You can use larger spreading surfaces, like a scrap of cardboard, to add more variety to the pattern too. The choice is completely up to you. 

You can also use the corners of other narrower implements, like sticks and such, to add thin lines of white paint too. Have fun. 

Step 3: Spray the entire surface with denatured alcohol

With that highlights added, grab your denatured alcohol spray. Spray it over the entire surface of the door's face. 

This will help thin out the white highlights and add some more depth to the pattern. Add more highlights if needed afterward, and then spray once again if needed.

Allow curing before moving on to the next stage.

Step 4: Add a topcoat

With the highlights completed, the next stage is to add the topcoat. Take the products required, and prepare according to the instructions. 

Take a clean paint roller, and spread it evenly over the entire surface of the door. Be sure to get a complete, and even, coverage of the door.

This will likely take a few passes and coats. Spread using a mixture of up-down, and left-right spreading motions. 

Be sure to remove any visible streaks of the topcoat as much as possible. The topcoat is matte and transparent, so don't get too obsessed with this. 

With the topcoat applied, leave it to cure fully. Once cured, your new look door is now, finally, finished. 

Now all you need to do is find a prominent place to put it. You could also apply a similar technique to that of the table too.