I'd try the more prevalent color, but also would try faux painting it. If it does not look right, you could then paint over the attempt with the solid color. The couple of small accent color cans should not cost much.

Is there anything besides the trim that you can match the door to? Paint it the wall color? Paint a color that complements the floor?

Florantha, I have more or less the same dilemma. For budget and practicality reasons, opted for the metal door off the kitchen to the back deck. The whole kitchen is trimmed in oak, and there's oak beadboard to one side of the door (it's in a corner). I've decided to paint it green...probably not the same exact green as the cabinets in the front half of the kitchen away from the door, but something similar...a darkish forest or hunter green. I know there will be plenty of accents around the kitchen that are green and that it will blend in and have the right feel, even if it's different from the rest of the trim and woodwork. If you can do (or get a good job done) faux painting it, I'd say go for it...they can look really terrific. If not, I like Brickton's idea of painting it the wall color or some other color that is used in the room. I'll be eager to hear what others say and what you decide!

I'm going to buy a little oak-like paint this afternoon for an experiment, but I need to continue to hear opinions on this. Thanks for the responses! Keep 'em coming!

If anyone has tried a faux oak project, would love to know how to do it. Don't really think that it's covered in my folk art books. Dianalo?

Brickton: I've got a dark maroony mahogany red + ivory white marble trim that's going to be the lobby baseboard and also a very minimal kitchen backsplash. I've got a brick red on walls in adjacent kitchen which is also very nearly the color of steel siding on outside of house. I've got SW "Haven" green (close to granny smith apple) on walls of lobby and corridor facing peninsula of kitchen. I've got white ceiling and matte white lighting fixtures and matte white glass in two oak french doors that connect kitchen and dining room. Floor of lobby is ivory white tile to match the white in marble baseboard.

I would like to paint the doors mahogany red, but DH is resisting it. I volunteered to paint door the brick red instead. He's still reluctant but somewhat less so. Green got the DH thumbs-down two hours ago. Current compromise is for me to find a single oak-like paint for now and learn to be an expert faux grainer in my spare time. (Don't hold your breath.) I suspect that whatever I choose today will be with me for years.

Why not just paint the door a color you love and hang a long skinny tapestry off a rod? Come on my quirky friend there are endless possibilities using art.

jterrilynn, What? You don't think a 36 inch door painted brick red in a green room isn't art? [sarcastic mode off]

I've been doing experiments with a magnetic curtain rod sold in drapery deptartments, with the hope of somehow hanging some kind of art piece on the door. But the rods don't accept a lot of weight before they start skidding about and that door to garage is opened and slammed all day long sometimes. But [she mused]...if I attached a stickum piece below them so they don't skid down, maybe...oh, erase that. it won't work well enough and I don't want an art piece to drag on the floor...[muse mode off]

I did entertain the idea of gluing a moulding on the door to simulate the rectangular panel config. of other doors in the area but DH screwed up his face and said, "You are going to do what?" Same with the idea of gluing a piece of oak veneer to the door--we're afraid of how the hinges and edges would work out.

But thanks for the encouragement...keep thinking of me and making suggestions.

Guy at the Hirschfields paint store says that there are faux woodgrain kits "but they're hard and a pain to do." He says there is a grain roller he used to sell but doesn't have one now. Nevertheless, he would help me work up a kit of paint and supplies if I'm serious. Clerk in Sherwin Wms. says they sell directions and materials for faux graining also--using any paint and covered over with a 1:1 mix of paint and glaze using a funky graining tool. I'm getting excited about trying this, although even the experiments are starting to look expensive since so little is sold in small quantities. One good thing: the new wallboard along our redone basement stair is available for me to experiment on, if I'm really serious about pursuing this. [muse mode switches on for a sec or two but then switches off again]

Meanwhile, I've bought a can of plain tan paint so I can paint the interior side of the factory molding on the pre-hung door frame. Gotta be cooperative and please the DH. He's been working like a beaver lately.

--your quirky friend

I was going to suggest practicing on something else first, but you beat me to it.
There are probably books in your library or try surfing HGTV's site or even a google search. You can also try the Home decorating forum as there are some really talented painters there (try paintergirl - she can do anything).
I am venturing into a special paint treatment for our master bedroom walls and am nervous, but also psyched to actually try it out. I just hope it does not take eons to finish as we want out of the bsmt asap, lol.

If this is a flat slab door instead of one with panels, you can just cover it with an oak veneer and then stain and finish that. If it's paneled, that's not going to be possible, and faux graining isn't the easiest craft project around for someone who hasn't done it before, but it's worth a try to expand your skills!

You can buy a graining tool at a craft store and you paint the door a base color, probably an orangey brown. Then you mix a glaze or use a gel stain (like a fiberglass door) in a much darker brown and apply it and use the graining tool to create the grain. It's really easy to be heavy handed here. A little goes a long way. It tends to look better with a light top coat of the glaze thinned out really well to minimize too much contrast. Then you poly. There are a lot of steps that can go wrong here, so buy plenty of foamcore at the art store to practice on if you're going to go this route.

Painting the door the wall color would really tie it together with the room, and it'll almost make it "disappear". Paint would also be the simplest solution. If it's flat, you could do chalkboard. It's already magnetic, right? You've got an instant bulletin board! Or you could decopauge it. You could even decopauge it a faux wood grain if you found some wrapping paper or other source for that. If not, then maybe it could be a giant art piece of some sort.

Just because it's ugly now doesn't mean it has to stay that way!

live wire, how would you deal with the edges of the veneer sheet where they meet the edge of the door?

Florantha, check out this site http://www.couturedeco.com/
They have some neat stuff like peel and stick chalk boards, wall decals, wall papers and trompe l'oeill. Even if this is not your style it may inspire you. I agree with what liveoak says about the faux wood grain. It's not that it's hard but there is a flick of the wrist and skill involved and if not done professional enough to blend with existing wood well lets just say your real wood might get ticked off. As far as finishing off a veneer you can buy very light weight thin molding strips to stain at Lowes, attach with a professional adhesive.

http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/?action=view&current=peelandstickcaulkboard.jpg"; target="_blank">

Hi,
I've done a bit of graining in my youth; this door was done with a fine graining comb, a brush, and a pink rubber eraser.
The commercially-available "graining tool" is like a one-note samba, quite boring. There is a little art to it, not much, but a little. If you move beyond the tool, you'll get a more realistic result.

Melissa, I have the same situation as you do...oak beadboard cabinets with oak trim, and an adjacent metal door to the back deck. I painted mine a medium green that coordinates with some of the green tones in the backsplash and floor, and I think it looks great. Go for it!

Thanks for all the conversation and resources. Sambreuil, thanks for that photo of your work. Impressive, really impressive!

I appreciate the reference to that Couture Deco website, jTerrylyn. Clever stuff! It's got me thinking. The bookcase pieces are especially interesting, but I don't think that the door to garage is needing that kind of camouflage so I'm trying to forget them. Gotta stay on task here.

That website brought me to thinking about wallpaper. Adds another thing to my list of stuff to muse on. I typed "faux oak wallpaper" into Google and found this on my first hit, but it's only available in 10 yard minimum.

You guys are remarkable. Keep the ideas coming!

Here is a link that might be useful: oak vinyl wallpaper

I can't believe you posted this today because this is something we've been debating for the last week! All the doors going in our kitchen are oak, ordered to match our existing doors. Here, we were allowed to use an oak fire-rated door for our garage, but it was nearly $900 and we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it.

So, for less than $200, we are getting a steel door ($135), a quart of chalkboard paint ($15), and our contractor is using some of our already-purchased oak to add a frame around the door. It will look something like this, and our other doors look essentially the same (two with recessed panels and one a french door with a reeded glass panel).

I don't know if this solution would work for you, but it looks like you have gotten lots of great suggestions. :o)

Hi Florantha,
If you're in a hurry or just want to 'get it done for now', I'd go ahead and do what the others suggested.....paint it your wall color.

If you have a couple days of free time, I'd do a faux wood grain on that door.
As 'they' say...It's only paint! *smile*

I wish I knew how to make live links in these message boxes but every time I try, I mess it up so if you don't mind, just copy/paste the web addys below into your search box and you'll see examples of simple faux wood grain applications.

I totally agree with live_wire_oak and sombreuil_mongrel, the wood grain tools are nice, but for me I ended up adding my own touches via plastic combing tool, badger brush, flogger and other brushes I had in my arsenal because I wanted a little more variation to the grain.

But by far, my favorite brush for wood graining is the cheapy Chip Brush.
I should own stock in those cheapies for as often as I buy them. LOL
I've even used scissors to cut different notches out of the chip brush hair giving me a wide variation of wood grain patterns.
But for a door that is not being 'showcased' a graining tool is good to start.

Everyone who works with faux finishes finds their own method/style...their own 'signature' if you will........what works for them.

For me and faux wood grain, starting with a medium base paint (instead of white like in some of the tutorials I've seen) helped me create a little more realism. On top of the medium (for this example I'll use "Golden brown) Golden Brown paint I can then switch off using lighter browns, goldens and dark or espresso browns depending on what I want to try to match or how much depth I want to give the faux wood grain.
If you are going Golden Oak, no espresso brown is needed.

Clean the door well. Dry. Use a primer that sticks to all surfaces and give the door a light coat. A second coat after the first is dry.
Paint on your base color.....mustard, old gold, light golden oak, etc.
Let dry.

Put glaze/paint coat on top of base coat, use chip brush or combing tool to PULL the glaze/paint back off in a pattern, following the natural grain of wood.
Once that's dry, add a third brown tone on top and again, pull the glaze/paint off.
You don't like it? Spray on 409 and wipe off the glaze/paint with paper towels.

Here are some beginner faux graining tutorials:

Best Oak example:
http://www.faux-painting-techniques.com/oak_graining.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGMNc9BZqK8

This one shows what happens when you've used different base colors....light vs. dark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIaBI_E89Tc&feature=related

Faux Paint Oak Grain
http://www.ehow.com/how_6694633_paint-faux-wood-finish.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwROpn4I3pU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZsLIElgYKs

sombreuil_mongrel,

I was reading too fast or whatever but I missed that YOU created that door....What a beauty!!!!

Amity: thanks for the work to post info on faux painting! I really appreciate your comments--and those of the others with faux finish experience.

I had hoped to give it a try on the basement stairwall today, but no can do. This is a "distracted day" and a "bad eyes" day* so I'm not up to the task of reading posts carefully let alone working on tiny details, but maybe by Sunday I can really concentrate on the directions for the technique and follow the links thoughtfully? Meanwhile, I'm gonna prime the metal doors in anticipation of a tan base coat, which will eliminate the "moby dicks" in the room until a final solution is chosen.

Worldmom:
Your situation indeed sounds much like ours. Your carpenter has a good idea and if he knows what he's doing, this is a great solution. Is your oak-faced metal door with chalkboard ready to photograph? Even if it's not mounted in room? Am eager to see edge details close up.

(I had threatened to use chalkboard paint on metal door in earlier plan for the room, but the lobby has become more formal and there will be some large framed art pieces on walls also so don't want door to rival them. Have considered a mirror in the center panel, surrounded by oak frame like you're doing.)
____

Should anyone care why we're having a hard time deciding on doors, continue reading.
We've got a pair of oak two-panel doors for the lobby closet bypass doors and will add a single matching oak two-panel on the top of basement stair in pocket door. These are Jeld-Wen from HD. DH feels that these compliment the "shaker" style of cabs and he just likes them. He bought them months ago so they're a given.

There are actually two metal doors in lobby. The one to garage is solid, no trim, and that's the one seen from adjacent spaces including kitchen. The other leads out to front step and has built-in full-length glass with embedded blind and that can be see from dining room and deck. So, that means I've got a one-pane and a two-pane contradiction in the room already.

There are 3 more doors to be purchased: two that lead to the dining room--one from kitchen and one from lobby--and one on new kitchen closet. We've anguished over the choice for the kitchen closet especially because for a while we couldn't find a louvered oak door that was affordable and that fit the pattern of the other doors. But...there's another wrinkle as well. In the dining room, we have one of the old Atrium doors (like French door but with one fixed and one swinging door) to deck. That's a pair of full-length glass doors. This style is more like the front door, if you're keeping score here.

We've decided that the two doors into the dining room have to match that style, so unlike the two-panel ones nearby, we'll have two full-length matte glass doors on the routes to dining room, one a pocket door and one a hinged one. Plus, we've finally found a manufacturer that carries oak louvered doors in two-panel and one-panel styles, so we're dithering about whether to spend the money for them instead of the cheaper "hemlock" one in the Jeld-Wen catalog. The company with the new choices in oak louvered doors is Stallion doors.

Louvers, matte glass, oak. Haven't finished comparison pricing all these doors, but the cost is steep. We couldn't possibly have afforded an oak firedoor as well. We're throwing out a plain oak hollow core pre-hung that's left over from old kitchen because it won't match anything else, so we're eating the cost of redundancy also. And, as I said, we donated the old oak firedoor before we knew we could have reused it. AARGH!

[*Yes, I do have bad eyes days. Has to do with muscles of eye and close focus and prisms. I have 4 pairs of glasses and switch among them looking for a good match, but some days, sigh, nothing works. Distracted days are another matter. Nothing to do with physiology.]

Hi again,
If you want to minimize the faux painting square footage, the mirrored inset would be a great idea. I'd also consider that with the wood trim like worldmom but with the mirror instead of chalkboard. We are adding mirrors into the insets on 2 single panel doors and they will be charging us only $75 each, including attaching the mirror.

Wow! There are lots of utube videos that show how to do faux painting. -- the computer puts more options out there on the right when you click to one. I could watch this stuff all day. How fascinating!

Looks like there are many ways to skin this cat. This guy is using stain instead of paint.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zar stain promo on utube