painting exterior front door - nasty finish

[librarian]

I know it's not my paintwork cos I'm really careful.

I had our front door dipped and stripped and the wood grain is quite deep, I painted it a dark blue and the grain really shows up and doesn't look very nice, so I'm thinking after 3 or 4 coats it will look even worse.

Would painting the door a lighter colour be better than a darker so the grain isn't so obvious

thanks for your help

 

[NickStone]

You might be better filling the open grain. Polycell make a 'fine surface' filler that's suitable for wood. It's pleasant stuff and you can then lightly sand it down for a nice smooth surface ready for painting.

 

[JohnD]

wet treatments always raise the grain. Did you sand it smooth before priming?

 

[Zampa]

And after priming, and between each coat?

 

[librarian]

sanded it down before giving it 2 coats of primer.

I sanded it down after the second coat of blue satin because it didn't look very nice, I used a sanding block and gave it a fairly good sanding down, the original white undercoat is showing through now

 

[Zampa]

Was it a very dark blue?...they tend to be oily and poor coverers