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Weapon Of Choice

I’m a big fan of tiny projects that make a big impact.  Especially if that tiny project involves painting.  Even better if that project involves spray paint, my latest painting addiction.  So what’s the fix?  Our exterior door hardware:

It was old, gold, gross, and did I mention gold?  Ewwww.  Our weapon of choice?  ORB (that’s oil rubbed bronzed for those of you who aren’t addicted to Sherry of Young House Love):

In the words of Sherry, I “ORB-ed” that old gross hardware.  I also attacked the front entry door hardware while I was at it.  I’ll be back with a total door makeover tomorrow, since that project was slightly ridiculously more intense.  After un-assembling both doors and gathering my materials, which consisted of a rag, cleaner/de-glosser, spray paint, and a pizza box (totally not a typo).  I took all the hardware and my supplies out to the back yard and set up shop.  Here is Angie’s hot tip of the night, a pizza box is perfect for door hardware refinishing because you can poke all the pieces down into the cardboard box, holding your hardware and fasteners perfectly in place:

Genius, genius I tell you!  Almost as genius as the Budweiser Real Men of Genius…boy do I miss those commercials!  If this was the Budweiser real (wo)men of genius, I would be “Today we salute you mr(s) addicted to spray paint refinishing (wo)man”.  After my pizza box was all set up and I properly cleaned/de-glossed each piece, I began layering on the first of three thin and even coats of the oil rubbed bronze spray paint:

The directions suggested waiting about 30 minutes for the paint to dry to the touch before adding another coat.  After each 30 minute intermission,  I made sure to turn the locks, rotate the keys, reposition the knobs, and swivel the hinges.  Thus, each coat came from a slightly different surface angle and all the parts remained operable and not frozen with spray paint.  I also chose to spray paint the lock with the key in it:

I was a little scared of ruining the locking mechanism if paint got inside it.  Thankfully this trick did the job.  One of Angie’s not so real (wo)men of genius moments was spray painting only one side of the hinges.  It didn’t occur to me until after the porch door was re-assembled that parts of both sides of a hinge are visible.  In the infamous words of Homer Simpson, “Doh!”  Total oops moment that requires un-assembling and re-painting.  After letting the hardware dry for about 24 hours (as directed by the instructions on the can) we were left with some pretty awesome, re-finished on the cheap hardware:

I even spray painted the fasteners for each of the hardware pieces for a seamless, consistent look.  Here’s the full view of the inside half of the main door:

While the updated hardware looked great from the inside, it looked ridiculously awesome on the outside of the house, on the recently painted red side of the door (you can read about the project here and here):

I was as stoked as a surface coming off an epic wave with how great this refinishing project came out.  Especially considering that it cost about $6 for a can of spray paint compared to spending at least $60 to $150 for a new set of exterior door hardware.  And that’s just for one door (we have two)!  Here’s a slightly closer view:

And of course I can’t leave you without showing you the full monty:

Here is what the door looked like before spray painting the hardware.

I really do think the change makes a big impact.  A subtle one, but yet a big one, if that makes sense to anyone outside of my head?!

Pssst…Have you all spray painted something recently?  Any one else attempt to spray paint their door hardware?  And does anyone find themselves totally Googling “Real Men Of Genius” reminiscing about how awesome those commercials were?!

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Angie's Roost Campbell Family in front of home in 2021

Hi there! We're the Campbells. We traded in Maine city living for the country life in Vermont. You'll find us here fixing up a circa 1781 historic home, growing our own food, and filling this home with the memories and things that matter. Read more about us...

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