about those black doors

We have black doors.

You all know this already.

I thought it only fair and right, after sharing all kinds of painted door inspiration photos with you and after posting about my own painted doors, to share with you how they're working out over a year and a half later. Good news is, I still like them. Bad news is, mostly. There are a few places where the black doors just haven't worked out too well.

My favorite one is still the first one I painted. Our pantry door looks really slick painted black. The problem came when I assumed that since that door looked great painted black all of our doors would look just as good. Joni even said she makes it standard practice in her interior design work to paint all the doors in a home black. So, boosted by a little success and Joni's good word, I pressed on with confidence. But...

Some doors just look better painted a lighter color. That's just how it is. My entryway doors are ugly to begin with. Nothing was going to make them look fabulous. There is something that I do like about the black, but it just pulls too much light out of the entryway. They make a bold statement and they add some style, but the over all feel of the entryway suffered some, I think. Probably because there are two doors. It's just too dark now. Bummer. They were kind of a big deal to paint with all those little diamond windows, though, so I'm not repainting anytime soon. The black is fine, but after living with it for a little while, it's not my first choice for these doors anymore. Besides, one chipped. But that's not the black paint's fault ;)

As a little side note, you also might like to know that if your bedroom doors are painted black and you're getting up with a fussy child in the middle of the night, in your shadowy stupor you might think that dark, black door is an open door. And that might hurt your forehead.

Kind of a lot.

I still like the hallway side of the upstairs doors painted black. Good thing, too, because there are six of them!

I'm very glad I painted the bedroom side of the Bedroom 2 door white, though. That room looks best with the light & bright thing it has going on. Plus, it's the baby's room. I didn't really want a black door in the baby's room.

Two of the upstairs doors are getting repainted on one side this summer. The black wasn't working. I'm just keeping it real here, guys. You should know that I didn't love these doors everywhere in our house. One door is the bedroom side of Bedroom 4 (which will be the girls' bedroom). I think it needs to be white for the same overall reasons as the door in Bedroom 2. So, it's getting repainted, but only on the bedroom side. The other is the children's bathroom door. I wasn't really prepared for the amount of toothpaste splatter that door would accumulate in the course of a year. And toothpaste really shows quite well on a black door.

I know! I didn't know that before, either! Anyway. Small bathroom + 5 children + sloppy, giggly toothbrushing = a need for a white door in the children's bathroom. That door is actually off its hinges right now (and leaning against an empty bed frame in the master bedroom) while T and his buddy, Mr. V, are working on the bathroom remodel. Yes, it's a little chaotic here this week. Sam's going to be priming and repainting this door's bathroom side once the torrential rains quit here and Peep can be assured of properly ventilated living quarters :)

The black door in Bedroom 3 is good. It's a little dark for that room, but it's the boy(s) bedroom ("boy" being potentially plural - we'll find out in about 5 weeks!) and I really like the black with the pale blue/gray of the walls. That door stays black on both sides.

And, as mentioned before, all of the hallway sides of the other doors are staying black, too. The hallway is dark as anything regardless and pretty much boring, so I decided that the white walls and trim (Benjamin Moore "White Dove") contrasted with the black doors (Martha Stewart "French Bulldog") gave the space some interest and a little graphic punch. The black doors are a nice surprise there.

Okay. Is there anything I'm leaving out? Let's see.

Oh, well, at the risk of being a total downer about the black doors and talking someone out of taking a risk like this, I have one more downside to share with you. The black doors really show dust easily. You know how you don't buy black cars because they're always looking dirty? Well, be prepared to dust your doors fairly often if you paint them black. Not a big deal for most people, really, but I felt compelled to share it with you :)

So that's it! An 18 month update on my foray with black doors. I still love them in most of our rooms, but - to be completely honest - not in all of them. Once Sam paints over the black with white paint here soon, we'll let you know if it turns out to be a big deal to cover over it. Then, you can't say I'm not giving you all possible sides of the story before you take the leap and go with doors that aren't just standard white.

I just needed to get that responsibility off my chest.

Ha.