Door Hardware: Go from Brass to Black

Do you ever tire from looking at the hardware on your doors?  Well, when we purchased our home, the builder put brass hardware and fixtures all throughout the house.  I'm not a fan of brass with my decor.  Let's just say...the brass had to go!

 I looked into the cost of replacing the Brass with Bronze hardware and it was going to cost about $3,000 + to replace everything.  I just couldn't fathom spending that much money on hardware, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. lol! ;)

 This is what the door knobs looked like before.

 This is what the hinges looked like before.

  For the hinges:

I started out using a Flat Black, but it showed finger prints, so I changed that thought and decided to go with a Gloss Black by RUST-OLEUM. 

 This is what it looked like after I sanded and painted them.  I was too lazy to remove all the hinges off the doors, so I gave them a quick sanding with sand paper, wiped them down with a damp cloth, and began to paint with a small paint brush.  It was so simple and easy.  I even painted the screws while still on the hinges. Once I got the hang of it, I literally had ALL the "hinges" done throughout the house in 2 1/2 hours.  I have a gazillion doors in my house, too!

 See the new look....so much better now!

 Below is what bronze looks like, but they are so pricey.

 This is the gloss black.

And Black hinges.

For the Doorknobs:

I did remove all the doorknobs from the doors, which took some time.  I laid them out, sanded them, wiped them down, and then I spray painted them with Gloss Black Hammered Spray Paint.  The spray paint is AWESOME, because it dries super fast.  The doorknobs took the better part of an afternoon to complete, but by 5pm I had all the doorknobs dry and back on the doors.   Below is what I used.

And whala....done!!  Bye, bye brass....hello gloss black!

 Much better!  An appearance of new hardware for under 5 dollars (for the hinges) and about $40.00 for the spray paint, can't beat that, right?

On another note, (not decorating related at all) BUT, would you like to see what I was doing yesterday?  I was off-roading with my Jeep club at a place called Crozet.  I had fun and the next 2 pictures are me about to go down and over some rocks. Weeeee!!

~*~
Oh, and one last reminder.  Please head over to Dittle Dattle.  Today, is the start of the Dittle Design Dilemma. 

 Carrie, the author of Dittle Dattle 

introduced Jessica

who has a Design Dilemma with a nook in her bedroom.  Carrie then asked 3 designers...

Becca

Kara

and me to come up with a design for Jessica's nook area.  We all created a Design Board to showcase our ideas for her nook. 

It will be a fun week over at Dittle Dattle, so please stay tuned!
Have a great day, ladies!
XOXO ~Liz