If you need to paint a panel door there is a right way to do it so you get a good even finish. Here's how!

It may seem like more work, but if you want to prevent drips and end up with a nice finish, take the door down and work on a couple of sawhorses.

Start with the outside edges of the door. Make sure you have a smooth finish as you go! A lot of people forget to paint the top and bottom edge, this is an important step to seal the wood and prevent the door from swelling.

Move to the inside beveled edges; a small sponge brush or sash brush is going to be your best bet to get into the little crevices. When you finish the bevels, go over each corner to clean up pooling excess paint.

Paint the flat fronts of each of the panels. Paint from top to bottom using nice even strokes.

When you've finished the panels move onto the horizontal rails. Paint each of those rails out to the edge so that it will blend nicely as you move to the verticals.