My husband was able to get his hands on this craftsman style fiberglass front door for us. I was pretty geeked. This was just the update that the front of our house needed! It also opened the opposite way of our old door which was perfect because the old one swung open into the room and was in the way when greeting visitors.
But with doors like these they come unfinished. You can either stain them or paint them. I went back and forth for a while and a lot of Pinterest scrolling for red brick homes for some front door inspiration. I finally landed on black. We could have done a pop of color, but because of a few others things I wanted to incorporate this felt like the best option. I decided to try gel stain. I had heard good things about gel and that it was pretty user friendly.
Gel stain is now my preferred method for staining whenever possible! I didn’t have to deal with drips or running. It’s so easy to work with. It dries in 1 hour, and you can apply additional coats in 2 hours. I used Varathane Gel Stain in Black. I bought the qt. and it was more than enought for this job as well as another larger job I used it for. More about that later. Varathane Gel stains comes in 14 different shades on amazon.
I didn’t really have a rhyme or reason to how applied the stain. Though I’ve heard you should do all the inside panels first then move to the raised portions. I did need to apply two coats
I’m SO happy with the finished product! We’re slowly making progress in transforming this dull boring red brick home and giving it some personality.
