When we first bought our house, we knew we had a lot of painting ahead of us. All of the ceilings and walls needed a fresh coat of paint to clean things up, and the trim and windows were a dark wood that just didn’t match our style. Light and airy was the goal. Rather than buy new windows, we took the economical approach and painted them! Here are the steps we followed:

Step 1 – clean the windows. Using a damp rag, wipe down the wood to remove dirt and dust. If the windows are particularly dirty, consider using a drop of dish soap or even TSP. Don’t forget to clean the corners of the windows panes (dust loves to collect there) with a damp cotton swab.

Step 2 – sand the wood. There are two options for sanding: use traditional sandpaper or a sanding sponge (choose this option if the wood is rough or textured in any way), or liquid sandpaper/deglosser (for wood that is already smooth). In our case, our wooden windows were very smooth and only needed to be wiped down with liquid sandpaper. Apply the liquid sandpaper to a dry cloth and rub it back and forth on the wood to remove any glossiness. This will make the wood slightly tacky feeling and allow the paint to adhere better!

*Remember to vacuum or dust the windows again after using traditional sandpaper to remove the sanding dust*

Step 3 – tape the windows. Grab a friend, some painter’s tape (this one is our favorite!), and some scissors, and tape off the glass inside each window pane to protect it from paint. If you don’t have the patience for all the taping, you could alternatively paint without tape and use a razor blade to scrape the paint off the glass afterward. Or, you could use masking liquid instead of tape. Do what works for you!

Step 4 -prime and paint. This is the fun part! Go ahead and prime and paint the wood. We used this paint and primer combo in our favorite white (Extra Pure White by Behr) and a paintbrush. After three coats of paint, the wood was fully covered and looking nice and bright. *Move the windows up and down every few minutes while the paint is drying so they don’t get stuck!*

Step 5 – remove the tape. For the last step of this project, carefully remove the painter’s tape. To avoid ripping paint off, we always score the tape where it meets the wood with a utility knife, then slowly pull the tape off at a 45-degree angle. If you used masking liquid instead of tape, still score it with a utility knife first before pulling it off. Use a razor to scrape off any stray bits of paint, and enjoy your like-new windows!

There you have it, our tried and true method for painting wooden windows. We’ve painted ten windows in our house using these steps, all of them have turned out great. Painting windows by hand can be time-consuming (each window took us a few hours), but it’s a very cost-effective way to give old windows a new look for cheap. Let us know if you try it!