DIY Door Knob Refresh

The Landover Home had a healthy supply of two things when we moved in: wallpaper and brass.

One of the many investments made after move in was replacing hardware on the exterior doors.  We were planning to rekey the locks and decided new exterior door knobs were worth the investment.  There were 5 total doors that needed new hardware, which ended up being a good chunk of unexpected change.

With 11 other interior doors left, I decided not to spend another dime on replacing the knobs.  So I took to Pinterest.  I had never used spray paint and was new to DIY projects but I figured what they heck, if I mess some up I can replace them.  So I went to look at spray paint.  I ended up going with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze to match our exterior door hardware.  If you are starting a project yourself you will need the following:

• Spray paint color of choice - I was able to do 11 door knobs with 2 cans of paint
• Clear spray paint
• Thin Styrofoam sheets (I ended up using a diorama set from Walmart in the craft section that was inexpensive)
• Rubber gloves
• Drop cloth
• Screw driver

Day 1
I removed the knobs and strike plates from a few doors to do a test run.  I also bought spray paint and a drop cloth.  I spent a lot of time spraying angles of the knobs, waiting for them to dry and then spraying again.  I also got spray paint on my hands, which is hard to get off.  It was a windy day so my drop cloth would blow up even though I weighed it down and stick to the wet spray paint.  This was also due to doing my work on the patio because our garage was full of boxes.  By the end of the day I was frustrated and my hands looked like this:

Side note: nail polish remover will get the spray paint off!

Day 2

So for day two I got smart and went to the store to get rubber gloves and Styrofoam.  An obvious investment but like I said I was new to DIY.  Also, I used old towels instead of a drop cloth.  This made the process much easier because I could stand the knobs upright and also hold for detail and spray without the cleanup afterwards. 

In no time I had made excellent progress on most of the knobs. The dowels you see in the picture are for another project I decided to do with my leftover spray paint.  Once the Oil Rubbed Bronze was dry I sprayed a clear coat on top to give it a nice finish.

I estimated the average cost to buy new hardware:

$10 per knob x 11 knobs = $110

I didn't keep the receipts but I would estimate spending $25 on spray paint, Styrofoam, the gloves  and the drop cloth.

So total savings was around $85!!  Not too bad.

Painting Fireplace Bricks

As our hardwood floor installation was nearing an end, Mike took one look at the transitions to the fireplace and said "Nichole is not going to like the bricks against that".

I didn't know I wasn't going to like it until he pointed it out, but once he did it was all I could think about.  To add extra pressure, I had to do whatever it was I wanted to do before the transition pieces were being glued, which was in TWO days!  And so the Pinterest search began.  Most of the bricks I saw were painted either white or grey.  Our walls are tan so I thought, let me prime the bricks first, which will give me an idea of what they would look like white.  Before priming I scrubbed the bricks with a sponge so I didn't paint over any residual dirt that was left behind by the previous owners.

I felt like the bricks absorbed more of the primer but overall it was fairly easy and took less than 30 minutes to do.  Next I decided to see what the bricks looked like painted the same color as the wall,  ...

I did tape the fireplace, which you cannot see in the picture, but what you can see is where it peeled some of the mantle paint off on the right.  The painting was much easier after it was primed I must say.  After painting I thought it was kind of ... okay.

This was not the way I wanted to leave it.  After consulting a friend of mine with excellent taste, she suggested doing dark brown to contrast the color on the wall.

At first I was hesitant because it was so different than the lighter colors but now I love it.  Mike also removed the dated accent piece on the mantle and repainted it to cover the peeled paint.

Still would like to replace the fireplace doors because I'm not crazy about the gold accents, but much better than before!