DIY: Brushed Nickel Hardware

If you happened to notice from the tours of our house, all of the door hardware throughout is brass.  Brass is pretty outdated, and I know that neither D nor I want brass hardware in the house.  Actually, if you asked D, he would say that he doesn't like it, but didn't really care to change it out right now. That's just how he is though.

Anyways, we have a lot of doors in our house, so buying new hardware for the doors (hinges included) would cost well over $500. We just don't want to spent that kind of money on the door hardware. We would much rather save that for our future kitchen renovation, as I'm sure most people would want to do.

So, I decided that I would make this into a DIY project, and spray paint the hardware.  This will be a drawn out process, since I won't be taking down every single door in the house at one time, but it doesn't need to be done immediately, since it's just a cosmetic change.

For this project, I bought fine and medium grit sandpaper.  I also bought Rust-Oleum Matte Nickel Metallic Spray Paint.

3M Sandpaper from Lowe's / Personal Picture

Rust-Oleum Metallic Matte Nickel Spray Paint / Stock Image from Rust-Oleum 

The first thing that I did was to sand down the hinges and the pins using the medium grit sandpaper.  Unlike sanding wood, you don't really have to watch what direction you need to sand in.  Make sure, though, that you get every nook and cranny that could possibly show on the hinges.

Sanded Hinge / Personal Picture

Don't forget to sand the pins either.  The only important part is the head of the pin, because that is likely the only part that will be showing, but just to be safe, I spray painted a little further down as well.  

Arrange your hinges and pins on a surface that you don't care will get spray paint on.  We used a yard waste bag, held down with a stone, and placed it on the front lawn.  

To help get the spray paint on the pins, I stuck them into a piece of Styrofoam that I found in the garage.  You could also use planter's foam, or you could try to hang them upside-down from something too.  

Arranged and getting painted / Personal Picture

To paint them, you will want to spray the paint from side to side, about 6" to 12" away from the hinge. Make sure you don't spray on too much, otherwise you will see some drips and unevenness in the paint.  Also, make sure that if you are working with edges on a product, you change the direction in which you are spray painting.  This will help you make sure that you get everything covered.

Painting from the other side / Personal Picture

The spray paint dries very quickly, as in less than 10 minutes, so after we made sure it wasn't tacky anymore, we flipped the hinges over and painted the other side.  

Both sides painted and drying / Personal Picture

Once both sides have been painted and dried, inspect them for any parts that may have been missed, and any drips.  If there are any drips or imperfections, you can sand over them lightly with the fine grit sandpaper, and add another layer of spray paint.  

If you scratch them pretty hard, or are worried about them getting damaged, you could probably spray over them with a polyurethane spray paint.  I haven't tried this, as it will likely make the paint a little shinier, and I like the matte look to the hardware.  

When they are completely dry, you can hang them back up on both the door frame and the door.  It is easiest to put the 3 slot hinge on the door frame, and then the 2 slot hinge on the door.  Attach your screws, which if they were also brass, you could replace with non-brass ones, or you could dab a small amount of spray paint on top of the screw using a Q-Tip once it is installed.  Then, insert the pin into the slots, and use a hammer to push it in all the way.  You want to be careful when you are hammering the pins in, so I actually used the corner of a thick facecloth on the top of the pin so that the hammer didn't scratch or take off any of the spray paint.  

Hinges attached and pins hammered in. Screws without spray paint. / Personal Picture

If you end up with any scratches, you can also use a Q-Tip with a small amount of spray paint on it to cover them up.  

And that's it! Simple fix for the brass hardware in your house! While it's not perfect, and it's more prone to scratches and damage in the future, it's a lot better than the brass, and a lot cheaper than replacing all of the hardware! Also, Rust-Oleum has other finishes too, like Oil-Rubbed Bronze, Satin Nickel, Chrome, and Aged Copper, so if you didn't want a Brushed/Matte Nickel look, you have other options.  

Is this something you would consider doing to your home? Have you already done this? How did your process compare to mine?