Spray Paint Mania!

I discovered Rust-Oleum Hammered Spray Paint and my house will never be the same!

Here's how it all began . . .

We have these ugly, scratched up brass-colored door handles and knobs around our house and they've bugged us for the 2 years we've lived here.

Recently my husband talked about buying new door hardware, but I knew that they are not cheap, and we'd need a lot of them. Boo Mama wrote about using Rust-Oleum on her cabinet knobs, so in my infinite frugalness, I asked my husband if I could try it on the handles we already had, knowing that if I ruined them we'd have to replace them.

He agreed and even bought me some of the paint the next time he was in the Home Depot. We started out with the Silver color, but I wasn't sure it would be right, so I tried it out on a metal candlestick that I'd never really like the color of (too brown for me). I loved the finish provided by the spray paint (the "hammered" aspect allows for error because it hides any areas that are not perfectly smooth), but definitely thought it was too light for our door hardware. In the quest to use the remainder of that paint color, I found various frames and baskets to paint. I sprayed several outdated looking frames that were stashed away in boxes. I think it's cool that they all match now so I can do a coordinating display somewhere in the house!

(Before is frame on the left - Too bad I didn't get a picture
of the worst looking before frames)

(ignore the blue peg rack, that's my son's Home Depot craft that
I painted with some different paint)

The next day I hauled the 3 kids to Lowe's in search of a Rust-Oleum spray paint in a color that would work better for my hardware and made the mistake of telling the kids we were looking for spray paint. They immediately began calling out, "Spray Paint, where are you?" loudly, over and over again!

I didn't have long to deliberate due to the kids so I quickly settled on the Dark Bronze, came home and for the next couple days, whenever I got free from the kids I was removing door parts. I am not handy or crafty, so removing a door knob was an adventure and a learning experience. There is this secret side slit you have to push in to pull off one side of the knob to even expose screws! Man was I excited when I got the 1st one off!

I headed outside to paint (picture represents just a fraction of the knobs I actually did!), a couple coats on every side with hours of drying in between.

When they were dry it was time for the fun of putting them back on the doors!

Now I suppose some people would have carefully recorded how the knobs came off, where each piece came from, so they'd be able to reinstall them. Not me! I was just intent on getting them off and then used the trial-and-error method for getting them back on! It worked . . . eventually! I did have to consult my good friend The Internet on putting a deadbolt lock back together, but now I know more about locks than even my husband!

Remember the brass handle picture from the beginning of this post? Here's the after:

Door push plate and knob before:
and after:

I'm hooked! I've done just about all our downstairs and have my sights on the upstairs hardware, now!

Mostly I'm grateful for accomplishing something that won't just have to be done again tomorrow! You know most of my stay-at-home mom work you never really see results because you turn around and it just needs to be done again! But this? Is something where I can really enjoy a job completed!

Find more Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers, Tackle It Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom,Talk About Tuesday at The Lazy Organizer.