"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave?" - Kathleen Kelly (You've Got Mail)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Doors and Knobs

Over the last couple week I started painting all the doors in our house white, replacing the knobs and spray painting the old hinges. Sounds like it wouldn't be a big deal but it makes a HUGE difference and I'm so glad I decided to do it.

The doors are beige and really dirty, the knobs are 20 year old tarnished brass and the hinges were brass as well...with paint gunked up on them from the last person who (sloppily) painted.

Each door has to be taken off the hinges, scrubbed down and given 3 coats of white semi-gloss paint. The hinges cleaned, sanded and spray painted with a brushed nickel spray paint made specifically for metal. Originally I was going to spray paint the old knobs as well, but I decided to go ahead and replace them with new brushed nickel ones...mostly to save on time and work. And knobs didn't turn out to be as expensive as I thought they would be. I think I paid just over $140 for the entire house, deadbolts and locks included. Oh and did I mention that I'm painting the trim around each door white, too??

This is going to be a long project, but so worth it in the end! Here are some before and after pictures of what I've done so far...


Before and after of the knobs





















Before and afrer of the outside of the hinges













Before and after of the inside of the hinges













Door on the left isn't painted yet...you can see the difference it makes! You can see even more of a difference in person






















Inside of the front door completely finished. I forgot to take a before shot























So there you have it! 3 down, 8 to go!

6 comments:

  1. It's amazing how the little things like hinges can make things look new again! Good Job!

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  2. Good call, made all the difference! You rock at this kind of thing :)

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  3. I'm doing the same thing. It's good to see it hasn't killed you yet.

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  4. Reese - I replaced all of our door knobs with the same ones you did! But, I want to spray paint the hinges and I have no idea how to go about the process. Would you kindly explain what you did and what products you used??

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  5. Thanks everyone!

    @Reese...doing the hinges was actually really easy and they turned out great! It saves so much money as one can of spray paint only cost $8.00. Here are the steps it took:

    -Remove the hinges and wash in hot soapy water, screws and pins included (I used regular dish detergent to help de-grease)

    -Dry completely and lightly sand with 200 grit sandpaper. You don't have to scuff them up too much, just a little to help the paint grip on

    -Place the hinges on a piece of cardboard and stick the screws and pins in a piece of styrofoam (I recommend doing this outdoors)

    -Spray everything in one light, even stroke. Allow to dry and repeat once or twice or until completely covered. Flip the hinges over and do this again on the other side


    I used Valspar metallic enamel spray paint. The color is called "Aluminum". I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!


    -Chloe

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