Custom Painting some Front doors!

I was contacted by a local couple who saw my blue hutch and wondered if I could do the same coloring on their front doors. I figured, "why not?"

 The two doors are solid mahogany and had a coat of paint on them. I gave them the estimate for stripping off all the current paint and prepping it for paint. Obviously, a ton of work. To keep the cost down, the client asked if her husband could do all the prep work. fine by me!! 'Cause everyone knows just how keen I am on stripping wood.  Especially something of this magnitude! I said it had to be completely stripped and sanded smooth. They said ok.  Uh, not what happened! lol

 I had already started sanding when I ran to get the camera. See the middle portion?? That's what the rest looked like when I got it. I asked what he used and he said, "60 grit sandpaper." That's it??? What about the 150 and 220 and the inside grooves along the glass???  He just stared at me. Hmmmm,,,no.

I told them no way. This needed about 5 more hours of finishing work. 60 grit sandpaper on wood
feels like, well, sandpaper! It was horrible! I couldn't apply paint to that. You can already see the difference in just one level up of sanding. The outside got the orbital, but

all of the rest of the groove and narrow parts had to be done by hand. I couldn't even open my hands the next morning they were cramping so badly. 

 Can you see the diff above and below?? I hope so! I also added some stain once sanded.

There was so much prep work on these things! I sprayed the metal weather stripping at the bottom of each door and removed the hardware and sprayed them in a metallic gold. Look back at the first pic,,,they were horrible looking. I hope they just go buy some new door handles. 

I did a first coat of Aubusson blue and then mixed my own chalk paint in various colors for the 2nd and 3rd coats. 

 Their porch was done in the saltillo tiles with little mexican talavera accent tiles, hence this blue. For the finish, I applied my own mix of tung oil, mineral spirits and spar varnish.  

The pic above is before the finish. Below, is just after oiling and in bright sunshine. It looks blotchy because the door was extremely dried out and absorbed both coats rather quickly. 

                                     I'm hoping they will send me a pic when it's in place!