How to paint stained wood white (before & after)

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Today I’m sharing the transformation of an old interior door in my home by giving it a fresh update. Painting a stained wood door white can work wonders, giving you a stunning, brand-new appearance for your door.

Stained interior doors were very popular back in the 1970s featuring pine or oak doors usually in a flat stain color. Our home had several dark stained doors making it look like a time warp and I was so happy to start painting them white!

Painting over stained wood requires some prep work but in the end, the results are worth it!

Can You Paint Over Stained Wood?

100 percent yes, you can absolutely paint over stained wood. The key to success is patience and prep work.

If you have been following us for a while, you know that we worked for years updating our previous home and literally once it was updated, we sold it!

One of my biggest pet peeves in our previous home was the stained doors and trim throughout the house.

Update: Don’t laugh, but our new (current) house had stained trim and doors. Yes, we updated our previous house and then sold it AND bought another one with even more stained trim (ugh!) Check out this post where we share how to update a house with paint, to see all of our doors and trim painted white. What a huge difference!

Ok, back to our previous home. The door below leading to the bathroom was one of the last doors to be painted white and you can see how the stain was almost two toned with black and light brown.

How to Paint Over Stained Wood

Follow these key steps below when painting wood doors white.

Supplies Needed

Step 1: Lightly Sand

Prepare the wood for paint by lightly sanding the surface of the wood door with a fine grit sanding block to remove any gloss or sheen. Be careful to not make scratches on the wood door by using too coarse of a sandpaper.

Do you need to sand a stained door when painting white?

You have 3 options when it comes to painting over stain wood.

• Completely sand off 100% of existing stain (very time consuming)
• Lightly sand with fine sandpaper and use a primer (like we did)
• No sanding method by using a deglosser and then primer

Painting over wood stain can be a daunting and very time consuming task especially if you do not prep the door properly before painting.

Step 2: Tape Hinges and Knobs

If you are able to remove the door from the hinges and remove the door knobs, then you will not need painters tape.

Painting the door on a saw horse in the garage or outside works the best but I didn’t have that option so I taped around the hinges and knob to protect from paint.

Step 3: Apply two coats of primer (priming over stained wood)

Apply two coats of Zinsser Bulls Eye 123 latex primer.

Zinsser Bulls Eye or BIN are stain blocking primers and it’s very important to use a quality brand.

The goal of the primer is to block the stain from bleeding through the white paint. Be sure to let each coat dry thoroughly before applying the next coat of primer.

Updated 2023: We used Zinsser Cover Stain (oil based) at our new house which is also an amazing product and I personally think the oil based primer covered the stain better. See that post, how to paint wood trim with oil based primer. We also used the oil based primer at our lake house when we painted the stained walls.

Be sure to check out this post, painting stained bedroom door white tutorial here at my new house as well for additional inspiration.  

Step 3: Apply Paint To Door

Once the two coats of Zinsser primer were dry, we applied two coats paint in Extra White Semi Gloss Emerald Interior paint by Sherwin-Williams.

Be sure to allow sufficient drying time in between coats. I will many times paint the second coat the next day to ensure the initial coat is not tacky.

What Type Of Paint To Use Over Stained Wood?

A high quality primer and paint like Zinsser primer and Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore will apply easily and typically prevent the stain from bleeding through the white paint.

Update: We have a brand new “how to paint wood trim” guide showing exactly how we painted all our stained trim white (3000 square feet to be exact) using the oil-based version called Cover-Stain by Zinsser.

A few years ago we decided that painted trim would look cleaner and more modern so I slowly worked my way around the house, painting the stained trim.

What a long process!

The white trim and stained wood door stuck out like a sore thumb which prompted this door painting project.

I don’t mind a white trim wood door look providing the door is a “newer style” and is stained a modern light color.

To finish up the project, I added two fresh coats of Extra White Emerald Interior (semi gloss) by Sherwin-Williams to each door as well as the surrounding trim.

Photographing a hallway with no natural light is difficult but as you can see, the white paint on the wood door looks so much fresher and cleaner than the stained door. I love how the new white door looks!

I know there are so many people out there with stained wood trim and doors that would love to update their home and this option is definitely less expensive than replacing doors and trim.

If you are considering painting over stain, Zinsser products are great and I love how they have different versions for specific projects.

The Cover-Stain (oil based) will be smelly but it’s not that bad. If you are sensitive to odor and need to live in your house during the painting process, you may want to consider the alternative version that has less odor (the latex product).

Paint Color Review Posts

• Sherwin Williams Greek Villa (this was the perfect color for the entire inside of the ranch house)
• Best Grey kitchen cabinet paint colors (sharing the 7 paint grey cabinet colors with pictures)
• Sherwin Williams Westhighland White (a neutral white with a little warmth)
• Sherwin Williams Sea Salt (a beautiful blue green)
• Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray (the color we used in our kitchen renovation)
• Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace (a cool white we used at our lake house)
• Benjamin Moore Advance Paint (best kitchen cabinet paint)