Snazzy!  Besides making our small kitchen feel smaller, the old pantry door was severely scratched on the inside–like maybe the previous owners put their dog in there? We were ready for a new door, and this glass-paned one we ordered from Home Depot fit the vision.  It arrived completely bare (no primer or paint) and without holes for hardware or hinges.  Before I started painting, Chris cut a hole for the knob and latch…thing, and I set up the saw horses in the studio so I could paint the door in an acceptable temperature (post-workout, ‘kay!).

Since we were painting the door a glossy black, I opted to have the primer tinted a dark gray. I used Kilz oil-based primer and Glidden’s Trim and Door paint in Deepest Black.  It’s a high gloss oil-based paint and claims to leave no brush marks. That could not be further from the truth.  The brush strokes are abundant!  I probably wouldn’t use it again.  Just saying.

The door came with plastic over all the glass panes, which meant no taping off! I just painted away with no regard to edges:

When the paint was cured, Chris attached the hinges and when we went to hang the door–it didn’t fit!! Curses. Although it was a 24″ opening and the door was 24″–I left no wiggle room in my measurements for the door to swing in and out.  Luckily, Chris knew that door frames are usually shimmed to the correct size (my freakin’ hero).

He took off the trim on one side, removed the shims, and then proceeded to hammer the heck out the  frame until it scooted over 1/4 inch and then re-attached the trim.  All-in-all the process took about 30 minutes and after I caulked the trim, you’d never know.  Did I already say, “My hero”?? Because, seriously.

The next morning we woke up to, what felt like, a more sophisticated and open kitchen.  The glossy black door (even with brush strokes) is. IT. And the glass panes, that we’ll most likely frost down the road, really open up the room.

We also switched up the hardware and settled on antique brass knobs.  Eventually, we’ll switch out all the knobs in our house to match.  We love the warmth of the toned-down brass and can’t wait to see it mesh with the satin nickel cabinet hardware.