Paint Louvered Doors And Louvered Shutters Using A Paint Sprayer

Have you tried to paint louvered doors or maybe louvered wood shutters? It can be a chore. We needed to paint closet doors and they all have those louvers. We have a total of 7 louvered closet doors. Our house was built in the 60’s and the doors are original to the house. I guess louvered doors were the thing. Maybe so your clothes could breath?

The first time I painted the closet doors was about 20 years ago. And now the JTS and I are going through the house room by room and painting. Well, we have to paint the doors too. I have the details of the paint process here and also a video of the JTS painting the doors.

The photo above shows the  blue room just after painting the walls and trim white.

This is a photo showing what the room looked like before painting, in the prep stages. We used semi-gloss paint for trim and doors in the old days. These days we are using paint with a satin sheen. It’s a much softer look but still a contrast with the new wall color which is mixed in an eggshell sheen.

How To Paint Louvered Closet Doors

1. Remove doors from hinges.

You need a hammer and a flat tip screwdriver to remove the door hinges. Put the flat tip screwdriver between the pin hea and the hinge and tap it out with the hammer. Easy Peasy.

Once the pin is removed just pull the door away from the hinge. It’s always best to have two people when removing the doors.

Time to take the doors outside and clean them up before painting.

It was a nice Summer day and we stood the doors upright and leaned them against some of our junk in the yard like this old swimming pool ladder. No, we don’t have a pool just a junk addict who picked the ladder up cheap.

2. Clean the doors.

There are a number of ways to clean the doors. The JTS prefers to blow all the dust off with a hose hooked to an air compressor. You can also wipe them down with a damp brush or rag. If they are really dirty or stained then you should use a good household cleaner. Wait until the doors are dry before painting.

3. Protect hardware and knobs with painter’s tape.

Cover any areas you don’t want to paint with painter’s tape. We taped off the door knobs instead of removing them. The hinges had been painted over before so no need to tape them. The hinges can also be removed before painting the doors.

4. Decide how to paint the doors.

Do you want to use a paint brush on the doors, spray paint, or a paint sprayer? It takes several cans of spray paint to paint louvered doors and the paint never goes on evenly. It usually looks splotchy. Using a paint brush is time consuming and takes a lot of patience to paint all of those louvers. Often you can see brush strokes once the paint is dry.

The fastest and easiest way to paint louvered closet doors, or louvered shutters, or chairs……is with a paint sprayer. The first time I painted these doors I didn’t know what a paint sprayer was. I do now and my paint sprayer is a time saver/life saver. I don’t have to worry about brush marks either. A definite plus.

5. Ready the paint sprayer.

You can tell I’ve used my HomeRight Finish Max paint sprayer a lot just by looking at it. The Finish Max has its own motor so you don’t need to use an air compressor. You just plug it into the electrical outlet or in this case a long extension cord.

Pour paint into the Finish Max container and thin it with water (if using latex paint). The paint needs to be relatively thin. You may need to add a little water at a time and try the sprayer out before you find the perfect water/paint ratio.

Brands of paint vary in thickness so there is no formula for the amount of water to add to the paint to get the perfect consistency. Add water until you think the paint is too thin and it will be perfect!

The nozzle on the front of the sprayer is to adjust the paint flow. You may need to make an adjustment or two while using the sprayer.

All ready to paint. You can see the video and the hubby in action painting the door. It shows the process so much better than a still photo. It’s cool to watch the paint as it goes on the door. (if you have an ad blocker on your browser you will need to turn it off temporarily in order to view the video) Video below…..

Paint Louvered Closet Doors With A Paint Sprayer

I haven’t posted the reveal on this room yet. You guys are going to be amazed. I’m very, very happy with the way the room turned out. No it doesn’t have blue walls anymore and not as much color….but just enough. Time to paint your front door and did you know you can paint the ugly frame around a storm door or screen door.

Yes, you can. See the tutorial here…How to Paint your Front Door and Metal Framed Storm Door

Paint Louvered Doors And Louvered Shutters Using A Paint Sprayer

You can see where we painted our vinyl shutters here.

A sprayer is great to have on hand if you paint things like kids outdoor playhouses, 6 or 8 kitchen chairs at one time, outdoor metal furniture, etc. You can even apply clear sealer with this paint sprayer. I love the Finish Max one and you can find it on Amazon here. Leave me a note and have a great day, Kathy

Kathy Owen

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Author: Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines. Kathy’s newest website is HappyHomeDIY.com