I didn't want to hijack kswl's thread, but I have a couple black-door questions. I've been planning for quite some time now to paint the insides of my main entry doors black. But I've been holding off because I'm afraid that straight-up black will be too harsh and stark against the all white trim and lighter walls (I painted my stair bannister an off-the-shelf rustoleum black a year or two ago and hated it - I ended up stripping it all off and restaining). I have several brownish-blacks that I've used throughout my home and I was going to use one of those, but they're really more brown than black and I don't want "brown doors", LOL. So I've been trapped in analysis paralysis and my poor doors still sit unpainted.

So I've got a couple questions:

1) if you painted your doors black, what paint color did you use? Was it a true black or an "off-black"? If an "off-black" - what direction off was it (I appreciated that kswl shared that hers was a bit greenish.)

2) What paint brand/gloss level did you use? Is it holding up? Did you prime first, and if so, what brand of primer and did you tint it? I ask because the one door has taken quite a bit of abuse from my dogs jumping up against it to look out the half-glass at the top - I'm afraid that if I paint it black and it doesn't hold up, the scratches are going to be super-noticeable since the door will be so much darker (it's currently white). So I'd like the toughest paint possible. Current paint is oil, but I haven't had problems going over it with latex if I properly sand and prime.

Thanks so much!