This entry door staining and painting project in Daytona Beach was all about the first thing a guest sees. The front of the house opens through a pair of arched wood doors, with an arched transom above them and tall glass sidelights on each side. Those got a rich walnut stain.
The foyer around them was painted as part of the same residential painting job. It is a tall space, with a chandelier hanging well above head height, marble floors with an inlaid medallion, and a curved wall of glass on the opposite side looking out toward the water. Both photos below show the finished work. There are no before shots for this one, so what you are seeing is the end result from two angles.
- Location
- Daytona Beach, FL
- Property
- Home with a tall foyer and arched front doors
- Surfaces
- Arched double doors, transom and sidelight frames, foyer walls and trim
- Work shown
- Finished, two views
Finished photos
Both photos show the completed work. Each one is labeled so you always know what you are looking at.
Should you stain or paint a wood front door?
Stain it if the wood is worth showing. Paint it if it is not.
A solid wood door with good grain, like these, loses most of its character under paint. Stain keeps the grain and the panel detail visible, and on an arched door with a matching transom it ties the whole opening together. Paint makes more sense on a door with damaged veneer, patched areas, or wood that has been mismatched over the years, because it hides all of that in one even color.
The trade off is upkeep. A stained door in Florida sun needs a clear topcoat with UV protection, and the side that faces outside will need that topcoat refreshed sooner than a painted door would need repainting, especially if it faces south or west with no overhang. We look at how much sun the door gets at the estimate and tell you what to expect before you decide. Our trim and door painting page covers the painted side of that choice.
How do you stain a door without it looking blotchy?
Careful sanding, a test patch, and working one section at a time so no edge dries before the next pass reaches it.
Blotchy stain nearly always comes from uneven sanding or from stain sitting too long in one spot while the painter works somewhere else. On a raised panel door, the way we handle it is to work the panels first, then the rails and stiles around them, wiping off the excess as we go. A test on a hidden edge shows how the wood takes the color before anything goes on the face. Doors like these add hours, because every arched muntin in the transom and every sidelight frame is hand work against glass.
Glass and hardware get masked or removed first. Marble floors get covered well past the door swing, since stain on natural stone can soak in and be very hard to get back out. The finished photos show why all that care is worth it.
What does painting a tall foyer involve?
Mostly access and protection. The painting itself is the easy part.
A foyer this tall needs a ladder or a small scaffold that can stand safely on a polished floor, and that floor needs protecting from both drips and ladder feet. Marble scratches, and some spills will etch it. Everything below the work area gets covered, and the chandelier gets masked or worked around so it does not collect overspray or dust. The curved glass wall means cutting a clean line along a curved frame by hand, which is slower than a straight run.
Stain on the doors and paint on the walls also have to be kept apart, so the wall color stops exactly at the door casing. That line is one of the first things your eye catches when you walk in. For more on walls and ceilings, see our interior painting in Daytona Beach page, or browse other jobs in the project portfolio.
Does your front door deserve better than paint?
We stain and paint entry doors, foyers and trim across Volusia County. Call Robert or send a request and we will come take a look.