Feel like waiting for paint to dry takes way too long? Don’t worry — what I’m about to show you will change your life (and the way you make door hangers!).

If you want to speed up the process while keeping your door hangers looking polished and smooth, try drying them with a hair dryer. Yes, really!

You probably already have this tool on hand, or you can find it for super cheap at nearly any store. The best part is that using it to dry your door hangers between layers is easy, too. 

And here, I’m going to show you how to do it! Let’s dig in!

My #1 Door Hanger Tip: Let everything dry before adding another coat

Applying a second coat before the first one is fully dry can lead to loads of problems. 

For one, if you paint over a layer that’s not fully dry, you’re pushing that first layer off to the side. Basically, you’re painting an additional rather in place of what you just painted rather than layering your paint. 

You also run into the issue of mixing colors, ending up with a muddied mess!

To keep things crisp and clean, ensure each layer is dry before moving on to the next.

How to use a hair dryer on your door hangers

With a hair dryer, though, you can avoid all of these problems and get your door hangers dry in no time! But first, keep these tips in mind so you don’t damage your door hangers. 

1. Use warm air. Cold air will take way too long to dry, and hot air may be too intense if you don’t keep your dryer at the right distance from the door hanger. 
2. Stay 6 inches away from your door hanger. If you’re any further than that, you won’t be close enough to dry the paint. But if you’re any closer, your paint will dry so fast that it cracks. 
3. Keep it moving. Move your hair dryer in sweeping motions to make sure the entire area of your door hanger is dried evenly!
4. Have a thick coat? Wait! Thick areas tend to dry first on the surface but take a long time to dry all the way through. If you have a thick layer of paint, take your time before moving on. 
5. You can tell how dry the paint is based on how glossy it is. The more matte it looks, the dryer it is (unless you’re using a glossy finish paint, but I don’t recommend using it on door hangers). 

Remember, you’ll need to repeat the drying process for each layer! You don’t want to ruin all of your hard work by painting on top of something that isn’t dry yet, right?

If you see mistakes…tackle them asap!

One of the hardest parts of painting a door hanger is fixing mistakes after you’re done painting. That’s especially true for brush strokes that aren’t smooth enough to give you that polished look. 

If you see them before your paint is fully dry, it’s important that you get to them ASAP! Otherwise, you’ll have to sand down the dry paint to fix it. While that may work, more often than not, it just causes more problems, like having to start over if you sand too hard. 

When I need to smooth out rough brush strokes, I grab my fine mister spray bottle and give the area a small spritz instead. Then, I’ll find a brush that matches the area size and go back over the paint with long, sweeping strokes. 

There’s more DIY door hanger tips where that came from!

Sometimes, the key to a beautiful door hanger is patience. But if you’re in a pinch and need them to dry faster, a hair dryer can help!

If you want more door hanger best practices like these, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel! Every week, I post a video with quick door hanger tips and tricks, covering everything from paint brushes to new craft ideas, reviews of my favorite products, and so much more. 

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