DIY: Goodbye Brass!

One of the things I have hated the most about this house is all of the brass hardware.  Ironically, there isn't any brass in the kitchen, but it's everywhere else.  All of the door handles on all three floors of the house, the hinges, and even the outdoor light fixtures are brass.  Since we're literally painting the entire house, I figured what's a little paint on the hardware in addition to the paint on the walls. Replacing door hardware for over 15 doors is quite costly, so as a placeholder, I decided to paint the hardware a brushed nickel color, just like I did to the front door hardware.  

Since I was already removing all of the hardware from the downstairs doors to put a fresh coat of white paint on them, I figured this would be the perfect time to refinish the hardware.  

You'll notice in the picture above that the pieces have labels on them.  Some of the doors were cut to fit in the frames, and the hinges were altered too, so I made sure to label the back sides of the hinges as to where they belonged. To distinguish between them, I made sure to mark top and bottoms, as well as frame and door, that way I knew exactly where each piece went and I could match everything back up perfectly later.  Although you can't see them from the pictures, I labeled the insides of the door handles and the inside of the door latches too, that way I had the matching pieces and everything was working after I reassembled everything.  

I'm pretty sure that the hardware hadn't been cleaned or even wiped down in years, so after I had everything taken off, I gave all the hinges, door pins, and door plates a much need bath to get all of the grease and paint off them.  I ended up needing a razor blade to remove some of the paint, but I wasn't too worried about scratching the metal since I would be sanding them down before painting them.  

I let them sit to dry for a while so I could make sure that there wasn't any water left in the hinge tracks. If you are pressed for time, you could tightly roll a sheet of paper towel and slide it inside to dry it out, but if you just leave them out to dry, evaporation will do the work for you!

I used medium-grit sandpaper to roughen up the surfaces. You will likely only need to sand one side and the hinge tracks, since the back side of your hinges will be flush against either your door or your frame. Don't forget to wipe down your pieces one last time before applying your spray paint, as you don't want any sandpaper particles or dust on the surface.  Lay out your pieces in a well-vented area and begin spraying.  

Don't expect to get great coverage on the first spray. You'll need multiple coats to get an even coverage, but allow for some time between coats before applying the next.  

You'll also want to flip over your pieces after the first side has dried to apply some additional coats to the backside. While you don't necessarily need to cover the part that you don't need painted, I decided to put a strip of painter's tape over the back of my hinges since I had my labels on there and didn't want to accidentally paint over them.  

Painting your door handles is almost exactly the same as the door hinges.  You'll want to roughen up the surface with some sandpaper and then apply a bunch of different coats of spray paint. You may need to flip your handles onto the sides or even hold them at different angles when painting them, depending on the shape and size, and where you need coverage.  You can also tell in one of the pictures below that I was able to get creative and used the side of a cardboard box to prop one side of the door handles up so they could dry without putting a mark in the spray paint.

The biggest difference in painting your handles versus painting the hinges and door plates is that the handles have moving mechanisms.  To make sure that you don't paint your handles stuck, make sure to twist the knob or pull down the levers before you apply each coat of spray paint. If your door hardware has a locking mechanism, also make sure to twist the locking mechanism to make sure that doesn't get painted closed or open.  And lastly, if you are painting the door latch (the part that keeps the door closed in the frame), don't forget to push down on that a few times before each coat too. After all, the point of having a door latch is so that it keeps the door closed, so if it can't be pushed in, it's kind of counter intuitive.   

Give your pieces at least 24 hours to dry after you have applied your last coat, and then you can attach everything back together.  This was the most exciting part for me. After having had our doors off the hinges for almost two weeks, we finally put them back up, and not only did they have a beautiful coat of new white paint on them, but then they also got this hardware makeover!

Once your hardware is attached, you can choose to go back and dab some spray paint on the screw heads and the door pins, since painting them before will just get them scratched up during installation.  This solution isn't perfect, as you can tell in some spots, but I don't think that many people will notice unless I specifically tell them to look at the door hardware. This is really only a temporary fix, too. Down the line, we will replace the door hardware altogether, but for right now, we want our money to be spent on some other things, and this quick $5 fix is a perfect way to hide that brass and make this house look just a little more modern and contemporary!

The only brass left is on the outdoor light fixtures! So exciting! Have you spray painted your hardware? 

One of the things I have hated the most about this house is all of the brass hardware.  Ironically, there isn't any brass in the kitchen, but it's everywhere else.  All of the door handles on all three floors of the house, the hinges, and even the outdoor light fixtures are brass.  Since we're literally painting the entire house, I figured what's a little paint on the hardware in addition to the paint on the walls. Replacing door hardware for over 15 doors is quite costly, so as a placeholder, I decided to paint the hardware a brushed nickel color, just like I did to the front door hardware.  

Since I was already removing all of the hardware from the downstairs doors to put a fresh coat of white paint on them, I figured this would be the perfect time to refinish the hardware.  

You'll notice in the picture above that the pieces have labels on them.  Some of the doors were cut to fit in the frames, and the hinges were altered too, so I made sure to label the back sides of the hinges as to where they belonged. To distinguish between them, I made sure to mark top and bottoms, as well as frame and door, that way I knew exactly where each piece went and I could match everything back up perfectly later.  Although you can't see them from the pictures, I labeled the insides of the door handles and the inside of the door latches too, that way I had the matching pieces and everything was working after I reassembled everything.  

I'm pretty sure that the hardware hadn't been cleaned or even wiped down in years, so after I had everything taken off, I gave all the hinges, door pins, and door plates a much need bath to get all of the grease and paint off them.  I ended up needing a razor blade to remove some of the paint, but I wasn't too worried about scratching the metal since I would be sanding them down before painting them.  

I let them sit to dry for a while so I could make sure that there wasn't any water left in the hinge tracks. If you are pressed for time, you could tightly roll a sheet of paper towel and slide it inside to dry it out, but if you just leave them out to dry, evaporation will do the work for you!

I used medium-grit sandpaper to roughen up the surfaces. You will likely only need to sand one side and the hinge tracks, since the back side of your hinges will be flush against either your door or your frame. Don't forget to wipe down your pieces one last time before applying your spray paint, as you don't want any sandpaper particles or dust on the surface.  Lay out your pieces in a well-vented area and begin spraying.  

Don't expect to get great coverage on the first spray. You'll need multiple coats to get an even coverage, but allow for some time between coats before applying the next.  

You'll also want to flip over your pieces after the first side has dried to apply some additional coats to the backside. While you don't necessarily need to cover the part that you don't need painted, I decided to put a strip of painter's tape over the back of my hinges since I had my labels on there and didn't want to accidentally paint over them.  

Painting your door handles is almost exactly the same as the door hinges.  You'll want to roughen up the surface with some sandpaper and then apply a bunch of different coats of spray paint. You may need to flip your handles onto the sides or even hold them at different angles when painting them, depending on the shape and size, and where you need coverage.  You can also tell in one of the pictures below that I was able to get creative and used the side of a cardboard box to prop one side of the door handles up so they could dry without putting a mark in the spray paint.

The biggest difference in painting your handles versus painting the hinges and door plates is that the handles have moving mechanisms.  To make sure that you don't paint your handles stuck, make sure to twist the knob or pull down the levers before you apply each coat of spray paint. If your door hardware has a locking mechanism, also make sure to twist the locking mechanism to make sure that doesn't get painted closed or open.  And lastly, if you are painting the door latch (the part that keeps the door closed in the frame), don't forget to push down on that a few times before each coat too. After all, the point of having a door latch is so that it keeps the door closed, so if it can't be pushed in, it's kind of counter intuitive.   

Give your pieces at least 24 hours to dry after you have applied your last coat, and then you can attach everything back together.  This was the most exciting part for me. After having had our doors off the hinges for almost two weeks, we finally put them back up, and not only did they have a beautiful coat of new white paint on them, but then they also got this hardware makeover!

Once your hardware is attached, you can choose to go back and dab some spray paint on the screw heads and the door pins, since painting them before will just get them scratched up during installation.  This solution isn't perfect, as you can tell in some spots, but I don't think that many people will notice unless I specifically tell them to look at the door hardware. This is really only a temporary fix, too. Down the line, we will replace the door hardware altogether, but for right now, we want our money to be spent on some other things, and this quick $5 fix is a perfect way to hide that brass and make this house look just a little more modern and contemporary!

The only brass left is on the outdoor light fixtures! So exciting! Have you spray painted your hardware?