Can you paint brass door knobs

So we did and they came out great! The rubbed bronze color spray paint an alternative to the color we chose also seems to be popular for updating brass door handles and widely used. It was a bit dark for our taste. We wanted our door handles to not stand out in the room and to blend in. You really need to sand the door handles well before applying the spray paint. We used this sanding paper.

After you sand the handles, you wipe them down with wipes. We used these Grime Boss wipes. As you can see, we have a mix of spray painted door knobs and door handles. All in the satin nickel color. This was not our primary home and we were trying to update the house before putting it on the market that weekend.

You probably should update the brass door hinges too for the best effect. Here is a blog tutorial on how to update the hinges. This is probably obvious too but the spray painted door handles will feel different than the shiny, brass door handles you had previously.

She is the creator of the Make Money with Printables side hustle course where she teaches people how to sell printables on Etsy and blog as a side hustle. I know right?! For instance, when confronted with the old brass door handles in our first house, our immediate reaction was to throw up our hands in surrender, hop in the car and hightail it to Home Depot where we plunked down a hefty wad of cash on 16 of these Schlage door handles.

But we had no intention of going the Schlage route again. Our door handles may look a little tired and dated, but they work perfectly. They all go something like this: clean the knobs or handles , sand them, prime them and paint them.

This is a woman with a Honey-Do list aka the Babes-Do List that is so long and far-reaching that she migrated it to an interactive online calendar that stretches out for years! Time to make the donuts. Anyway, do you think the Commandant would stand idly by while I lounge about the house scuffing door handles in my underwear while listening to opera music on Pandora?

She considers my time to be more valuable than that, and so too is yours, madam! What if there were another way to accomplish what sanding does — scuff the surface so the primer and paint have something to grab onto — without actually sanding?

So when the world I know fails to offer up a solution, I look to other worlds Handan is a master of this. In this case, I thought, who paints a lot of metal? And then I asked myself, do they sand every fender and body panel first? A little digging into the painting habits of car guys and car girls led to the discovery of self-etching primer.

From there, the paint is able to bond to the primer. The science was sound, so I bought a couple of cans and prepared to paint our brass door handles. Be sure to keep the screws and the latch mechanism, but you can toss the latch strike plate. We replaced our latch strike plates with new ones.

A teaspoon of this stuff could flatten all the oiled-up pompadours of an Elvis convention. While the screws sat soaking in their chemical bath, I dipped a microfiber cloth in the TSP solution and cleaned the handles.

Madam, I like to live dangerously. My wedding ring is proof of that, amiright? Tape it off with masking tape. After the door handles and screws have thoroughly dried, arrange them on a cardboard box or piece of Styrofoam for painting. I used Styrofoam, and I pushed the handles and screws into the foam block. This not only secures the pieces while painting, but it serves to mask off the screw threads and internal components of the door handles.

Picking one at a time, I sprayed the underside while holding the handle with a gloved hand. Once I got decent coverage on the underside of the handle, I placed it back on the Styrofoam block. When all the undersides were primed, I sprayed the tops and the screw heads with a light coating of primer. After a few minutes, I gave them a second light coat. A note about the self-etching primer: the technical data sheet says to either dry or wet sand with grit after the primer has dried.

Updated note about self-etching primer: a couple of readers pointed out that plated door knobs and handles may be coated with a protective top coat. Depending on what the top coat is, you may be able to dissolve it with acetone if it is lacquer , or denatured alcohol if it is shellac.

But if they are coated with polyurethane which is most likely the cast , watch the video below to see how we easily removed the poly from our handles without sanding. A post shared by The Navage Patch thenavagepatch.

As with all spray paints, multiple thin coats are better than one heavy coat. I sprayed 3 light coats of oil rubbed bronze on my door handles. Because door knobs and handles are high-use items, I like to let them cure for a few days before reinstalling them, and then I use them gently for as long as possible, up to a couple of weeks.

The kid has doors coming out the wazoo in this house! As for the old hinges — I threw them out and bought new oil-rubbed bronze ones from Amazon.

They are cheap enough that it made more sense to replace them rather than de-grease, prime, paint, re-grease and re-install. But if the spraypaint works, then more power to you! I had a limit to how many DIY projects I could handle with a hub working out of state, 3 kids, a dog, and keeping the house perfect for buyers to traipse thru so I just bought the knobs, but painting is a great solution.

I could do a lot of pieces at one time an an assembly line fashion. But by removing only one hinge at the time from each door, the door never had to come off. Before you throw away that expensive primer - see about getting a different wider cap! If it doesn't work, you should be able to re-use with other spray paint!

I'd contact the manufacturer of the primer, it might just be a duff can.. I wish Lesley! They are all like that -- I continue to try it because some aren't quite as bad as others and it's such good primer.

But I think I'm at my limit now. I primed and painted mine with the same ORB spray you used. It lasted a hot minute. They were chipped and scratched from keys and looked awful. I scrubbed the paint off and never looked back. And now brass is back so go figure. If you have a specific question I will do my best to answer you back here! You can find our paint colors and links to items at the "Our Home" tab at the top of my site. How to spray paint metal door knobs I mentioned a while back that my house had been finally been debrassified I replaced all of our interior door knobs , but I was wrong.

I had forgotten about a couple in the house. But these were exterior door knobs that we use a key with — so replacing them meant spending more than I wanted on new keyed knobs. But first, the how to. Use a screwdriver and take the knob off the door: This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience. See my policies and disclosure page for more information.

See how they turned out here. To see the magic of spray paint on other projects, go here. See more of our home here.

To shop items in our home, click here! Never miss a post by signing up to get posts via email. Please enter all required fields. Correct invalid entries. Share this Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email. April 22, DIY solutions spray paint. Heather October 29, at AM. Tess October 29, at AM. Anonymous October 29, at PM. Anonymous October 29, at AM. Mel October 30, at AM. Unknown October 29, at AM. Jessica October 29, at AM.

Liz Luscomb October 29, at AM. Unknown October 29, at PM. Landy October 29, at PM. Mindy October 29, at PM. Amanda October 29, at PM. Denise G. October 29, at PM. Liz October 29, at PM. House Envy October 29, at PM. Katie October 30, at AM. Amy Stokes October 30, at AM. Rach October 30, at AM. Danielle October 30, at AM. Unknown October 30, at AM. Leah October 30, at AM. Oil-Rubbed Bronze Hinges — These are the standard size that fit most doors and have had a good experience with them.

See the current price here. Get access to it and all my other free printables, templates, and wall art by filling out the form at the bottom of this post or click here. Remove the hardware from the base of the knob with a screwdriver.

Removing the doorknobs will take a little while so I used the time to listen to one of my favorite podcasts see the list here. A reader asked if you can spray paint door knobs without removing them and while it is tempting, just take them all off to spray paint!

You can see here where I spray painted my shower using the same process and the results were amazing but even though I taped off every bit off our bathroom, there was still over-spray on our master closet shelves over 12 feet away. Notice I taped the part that goes into the wall because it will more than likely get scratched up anyway.

That part is called the throw latch and yes, I had to look that up! Did you know you can use any faux stain on metal surfaces to make them look like they are made out of real hardwood?

God never leaves a project half-done…He continually works on each one of us, as a lavish expression of His amazing love and grace. So many of my DIY projects remind me of how God renovates our hearts. If you are a work-in-progress, just like I am, check out the Renovate Your Faith Devotional at the bottom of this post. Click here to get a weekly reminder of new posts by email. Sanding is probably the most important step in preparing to spray paint door knobs but here is my tip to make it easy and quick:.

I used my sander to sand down the doorknobs with a fine higher number sanding pad as you see in the video. I believe I used a grit sandpaper or you could use steel wool. This is to rough up the surface so the slick metal adheres to the paint. It only took a few minutes with my sander and was so much more effective than sandpaper alone.

Click here to see my post on how to sand furniture in less than 5 minutes. These marks are not deep so the surface will still be smooth after they are spray painted.

You are going to wipe off the hardware after sanding anyway, so you might as well wipe it off with something that will remove any grease, grime or leftover oils that would prevent the paint from sticking. I mixed some TSP click here for the current price with water in a spray bottle according to the package directions and just wiped them clean. This step is optional but it will definitely help to ensure your paint sticks.

If you are refinishing old door hardware as a means to update your house for a quick sell, you can check out one of my most popular posts. Whether your hardware is brass or coated aluminum, we want MAXIMUM adhesion so you want to take the extra step of using an automotive primer check the current price here so the paint really sticks to the doorknob. As you see in the video, be sure to shake the can well and spray the surface lightly. This is one of the few times that a little is better than a lot.

For my BEST spray painting tips for a flawless finish every time, check out the form below. I used cardboard boxes and some egg crate material I had on-hand to hold the doorknobs in place. Also, if you are painting in your garage with the door open, be sure to put down drop clothes because spray paint kind of spreads. Check the back of your can for the re-coat time. Mine said to re-coat in less than 2 hours or to wait past 48 hours.

So, I waited about 30 minutes to spray paint the doorknobs. I did all the priming and spray painting the same day. The best spray paint for doorknobs or cabinets is Rustoleum Universal Metallics Check the current price here. I chose the Oil-Rubbed Bronze paint finish but you could also do matte black, satin nickel, or champagne gold or other metallic paint options.

Whatever paint color you choose the Rustoleum Universal Metallics paint above is a better option. If you are new to spray paint, no worries, my friend! You can download my free spray painting checklist that will help you spray paint like a pro in no time. See the form below!

Just spray on a light coat and then wait about 30 minutes and do another light coat to finish up. Spray enough coats to get full coverage but do thin coats. Using thin coats of spray paint is the key to a smooth finish. Let them dry for 3 days. Trust me, it will be worth it! In the meantime…. Now is a good time to replace your old hinges and strike plates while waiting for the doorknobs to dry.

As I mentioned earlier in the post, these are parts of the hardware that are far more likely to be scratched. Since strike plates and hinges are both cheap, we are going to buy new ones. For the hinges, you want to be sure to replace one at a time. Take one off, replace it, tighten it, and then replace the others one at a time.

During our master bedroom makeover , I took off the door to paint, and taking all the hinges off at once made them unbalanced when I went to reinstall them. So, it would stay half-open until I took the time to adjust them. If any of your interior doors are out of balance and have a tendency to stay half-closed, then these magnetic doorstops will offer a solution without readjusting the hinges.

After painting the door hardware, I reinstalled it being careful to not scratch the knobs as I screwed them in. After refinishing your old door hardware, you might notice that some of the paint in the middle of the screw heads might have come off when you installed them.

The last thing you can do is touch up those centers with a black sharpie! If you decide to buy door knobs instead of replacing them, here are some options online. When I started this journey of blogging, I had every intention of being a faith blog with an occasional DIY or home decor post to keep things interesting.

However, I realized that what energized me the most and what made my heart the happiest was the DIY posts. With these projects, I could be creative, work with my hands, and help people by finding a better way to improve some aspect of their home. I felt some false guilt about this.

Part of me felt like a sell-out for no longer doing posts with only devotional content. Then something interesting happened. I realized that this little blog was not only the documentation of DIY and home decor projects, but it was a way to help people by showing them God can transform ANY life circumstance.

In the same way, you take a curb-side find and restore it into a beautiful showpiece with new purpose and new life, God can repair and renew you and me. God loves it when we use the very gifts and talents He gave us. He has given them to us for a reason and He delights in watching us enjoy them. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians So whether you are cleaning up spit-up, teaching middle schoolers, caring for your elderly parents, or spray painting door knobs, know that the God of all creation takes pleasure in watching you use your gifts and calling to serve Him.

He has not forgotten about you. And He sees you, my friend. He knows you and takes delight in watching His children enjoy the very gifts He gave them. For more spiritual encouragement , click here for the rest of my project posts that also include Renovate Your Faith devotionals. You absolutely need to prime them with automotive primer.