Both my front and side doors are metal with plastic mutton bars on the outside. Both doors are currently painted white and I want to repaint them white. I am wondering whether I should paint the plastic muttons or just the metal door. If I don't paint the plastic, it may not be the same color white as the door. I am also worried that the paint on the plastic with peel. Is there a specific paint that I can use for both the plastic and the metal and is there any special process of applying that I should know about?

First, I would clean every area on the doors. A good spray glass cleaner and some paper towels should do the trick.

In general, paint does not stick well to plastic. I would roughen the plastic up a bit by sanding by hand with a 120 or 150 grit abrasive paper.

I would apply a primer to at least the plastic parts, maybe even all of the surfaces on the doors if the paint that is on them is really old.

Applying paint by brush for anything in your home will last longer than that which is applied by spraying. Spray coats tend to be too thin.

I like the warm look that brush strokes leave, as long as they are painted in absolutely straight lines.

Whether you remove any hardware on the doors is up to you. If you don't, then I would carefully and neatly mask off the hardware using the high quality type of masking tape that doesn't have any crinkles in it and is perfectly flat. Paint tends to get underneath the cheaper masking tapes no matter how well you think that you have applied it. A low tack tape will do for this job.

When painting up to any masking tape, apply the paint very lightly so that you will not leave a built-up edge.

Paint the edges of the door, first.

After applying primer apply at least two coats of paint. If you do apply the paint by brush, use a 1 or 2 inch brush for the edges and a 3 inch brush for the door faces. There is no such thing as a one-coat paint. That is only a selling point to get people to buy the paint.

Buy high quality brushes that taper down to a fine edge. It is better if your 1 or 2 inch brushes bristles are cut at an angle. If you get brushes with nylon bristles, they can be used with either oil or latex paints.

You can use latex or oil enamel. Although, an oil enamel would be preferred on an outside surface because it is more durable. It is just more of a hassle to use oil paints because you have to clean up using smelly solvents. Use at least a semi-gloss so that it can be washed.

The kinds of paints that I use are Dutch Boy or Sherwin-Williams. I cannot guarantee my work for a customer unless those brands are the ones that are used. Sherwin-Williams owns Dutch Boy. The paints are very high quality Painted outside portions of my home about six years ago using Dutch Boy and the paint still looks like it was just applied.

Follow all the directions that the paint manufacturer recommends.