Front Door Refinishing in San Diego

Last Updated: August 17, 2022

Bright and bold front doors are super trendy right now, rang­ing from fire engine red to a lime green that makes you want to grab your sun­glass­es. It’s fun, plus adds some unique curb appeal , so why not? We’re all for it. 

At the same time, we have a soft spot for nat­ur­al wood stains and fin­ish­es. Paint­ing costs less, is eas­i­er to main­tain, and is a faster process, but wood fin­ish­es require patience, expe­ri­ence, and spe­cif­ic skills. It’s a labor of love and crafts­man­ship, draw­ing warmth and char­ac­ter from your home’s wood­work. It’s time­less too — it may not be edgy, but it’ll nev­er be out of style. 

As a real-life exam­ple, let’s take a clos­er look at this door that Raul just fin­ished for a local San Diego home. He’s our res­i­dent refin­ish­ing wiz­ard, as the team calls him, and you’ll see why as you click through these pictures. 

How do you refin­ish a front door?

Here’s a top-lev­el sum­ma­ry of the process and he prod­ucts he used:

  • First, just like every paint­ing or stain­ing project we take on, we prep and con­tain our workspace. 

  • Next, Raul stripped the old fin­ish away. Com­plete­ly remov­ing it is an effi­cient way to be cer­tain that the old fin­ish is out of the equa­tion, leav­ing a clean sur­face for the new stain to real­ly sat­u­rate. As we often say, prepa­ra­tion is 80 % of a project. 

  • After prep­ping the wood, Raul applied a Rich Mahogany stain from Old Mas­ters. It’s a beau­ti­ful fin­ish and offers spe­cif­ic notes of col­or that add a lot of depth. 

  • Final­ly, Raul applied clear, satin var­nish over the top ( PPG PRO­LUXE ). Not only does it add an essen­tial lay­er of pro­tec­tion, but this par­tic­u­lar prod­uct also reduces UV dam­age, repels mois­ture, and resists mildew. Per­fect for a sur­face that sees a lot of weath­er and use.

Be sure to click through the pho­tos to see the full transformation!

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Tell us about your project

Tell Us About Your Project

Grant Ramsey
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Contact us today to schedule a visit from one of our estimators! We’ll come to your home and provide a detailed estimate.


(858) 454-3850


Est 1982