spray painting doorknobs: 1 year later

17 March 2011

Last year I posted that we spray painted 2 doorknobs in our entryway as test for the rest of our house.
April 2010
I’ve gotten 4 emails asking how they’ve held up and….
well, we won’t be spraying anymore:
march 2011 005 1


march 2011 001 1 march 2011 002 1 march 2011 003 1  We primed with bare metal primer, used oil rubbed bronze and then a clear top coat, but maybe it’s because we have 5 kids and we’re extra rough on them? We’ll be replacing our sassy brassy knobs with ones that match our brushed nickel downstairs…
but I just wanted to give you an update.
Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick just gave a fabulous tutorial on how to replace doorknobs, so I figured this was perfect timing.
But I’m dying to know if it’s worked for you??
Maybe you have gentle, docile children?
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P.S. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! Of course I had to put some green in this post, or I will get pinched. Love this kitchen from Tobi Fairley in At Home in Arkansasroom_refresher

33 comments

  1. melissa*320 sycamore1/8/14, 6:14 PM

    Thank you, Stepanie! I did everything she did, except the sanding and I only used one top coat...maybe that's the trick.

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  2. We bought a house six months ago. Our master bathroom looked great when we moved in. Now I'm not so thrilled because I know their secret. They had spray painted most of the hardware to update it. It is all peeling off, even in places that don't get a lot of heavy use. The tub and shower drains, even the metal around the glass on the shower door; it's all peeling and looks horrible. I will stick to spray painting lamps and light fixtures, not other fixtures.

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  3. this is good to know b/c just this morning I was considering spraying my bathroom fixtures with the oil rubbed bronze paint. I'm the only one that uses that bathroom (hubby has his own) but after seeing this, maybe I'll just wait and replace them.

    Judy

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  4. I spray painted all my door knobs and hinges well over a year ago. They were builder brass. I used Rustoleum Black Spray Paint without doing any primer or topcoat. I guess I'm happy to say that all of mine have held up perfectly. But then again, I don't have five children...

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  5. Frugalfinder221/8/14, 6:29 PM

    We did it on our exterior door knobs and it's worked great! Exterior fixtures can be hundreds of dollars, especialls for a front door! So I figured why not! spray primed mine wiht KILZ, out a few light coats of Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray, then put a layer of a spray polyurethane over it and it worked great!

    Lisa
    www.beforemeetsafter-frugalfinder.blogspot.com

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  6. thank you, thank you, thank you for this post! I can now cross that project off my list and start saving to replace them one by one. I am so glad I read this before I sprayed them as it was on the list for March!

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  7. love being a nonny1/8/14, 6:29 PM

    Looks like reviews are mixed. I think you were smart to try it out first! hmmm....what to do????

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  8. Did you spray your hinges? Did those hold up well? I am repainting all our interior doors and decided to change out the door handle ( from shiny brass to ORB), but spray paint the hinges. My thought is that the door handle gets much more abuse than hinges? But if yours aren't holding up, then maybe I should buy new hinges.

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  9. same thing happened to my entertainment center hinges... can we call it distressed? ;)

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  10. Well, I appreciate your honesty about the whole thing!! I was talking to my husband about spray painting the knobs awhile back and he was unsure if it would work. I'm hoping we can replace ours too. :)

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  11. Just looked in my recent bookmarks, and found this post...

    http://choosetothrive.blogspot.com/2011/02/buh-bye-brass.html?showComment=1298489108191#c1752305821368299251

    In the comments, I asked if she thought that it would work on faucets, and she resp0nded that she had a friend that even tried it on faucets, and was happy with the results. Might be worth a try to experiment with this stuff???

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  12. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    That is great. I think the key is just to experiment...what have you got to lose? You'll have to replace them anyway, right?

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  13. I'm so glad that you posted those pictures, because I have thought about doing the same thing, but just keep procrastinating! Now I guess I'm glad that I procrastinated!

    Hate it when money saving tricks don't work out! :)

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  14. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    I think it's definitely worth a try...I love using spray paint on light fixtures, we're doing our ceiling fan, things that don't get handled as much. For heavy use items like faucets and doorknobs, we're sticking to the real thing.

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  15. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    Yay! So glad it worked for you. Another success story..

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  16. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    Ohhh, what a pain. so sorry...

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  17. I do makeover on my home stuffs also. It is expensive to buy another. I just buy some materials which can help for my project. I do have magazines as my guide on doing makeover in these certain things.

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  18. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    I didn't...BUT we spray painted our hinges in our kitchen in our last house and they held up beautifully, so we're doing it again in this kitchen.

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  19. I'm sad it didn't work for you! I did it on eight doors about a year and a half ago. I have three kids and they still look great. The only scratch is one I made with the screwdriver when putting them back on!

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  20. You just saved me -- I did one doorknob this week as a "test run", but I'll hold off on doing any more. I don't want to talk about how I got stuck inside the bathroom when I took the doorknob off and had to yell for help. I'm glad I wasn't home alone! Love your blog!

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  21. I'm so glad you posted an update. I've been wanting to paint the knobs on my front door and you just saved me a lot of frustration.
    That kitchen is just beautiful!

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  22. Lori Allberry1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    Oh my, I am soooo glad you did this post! I have been wanting and wanting to do this to my door knobs - I am so glad I had not tried yet!

    Your blog rocks, I love it! :o)

    ♥Lori

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  23. Jenny, that was my exact thought, too. I hope someone else can chime in with some success stories. The cabinet door hinge success makes me hopeful though!

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  24. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    Jen~what spray paint did you use? We would love to know...also, did you prime, put a topcoat on, etc?

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  25. Oh girl - I was just debating the same post since I still get the question. This is the ODD thing. I sprayed the majority of mine with silver, but then for fun, since it was the week of Easter, I did a few to match my island - with a $1 can of blue. The ones in blue still look fine, but the silver didn't hold up.
    My friend also said hers have held up for two years, so I want to know WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE. Why are there some successes and some failures. Come on, let's solve this mystery because I do NOT want to replace all those knobs.

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  26. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    Wonder why?? Hmmm, I'll have to look into it.

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  27. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    Try it and then report back to us! :)

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  28. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    Maybe the formula is a bit different for the colored sprays? Did you use any kind of clear sealer on either one? Very intriguing...

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  29. And FYI - Disque does not like me. I can never comment as a guest on other sites.I try and put in my Balancing Beauty and Bedlam name and email, but always an error. :) Tried the FB thing and it worked.

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  30. Not entirely. :)

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  31. melissa*320 sycamore1/16/14, 10:28 PM

    That is hilarious. Girl gets stuck in bathroom overnight trying to spray paint her doorknobs...

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  32. Hi Melissa,

    I didn't know if you thought about trying this for your door knobs. Came across this tutorial a while back.

    http://littlebitsofbliss.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-paint-doorknobs.html

    Seems it works, maybe it would work for you too.
    Love the blog!
    Stephanie

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  33. Silver paint never holds up on vehicles very well either. I suspect some of the problem might be the metallic paints. Silver and the hammered look spray paints have meta flack in them that possibly do not bound as well with the slick finish on the brass knobs. Maybe be more aggressive with the steel wool to provide a duller finish to adhere to. I have painted kitchen hinges and handles with Rustoleum black paint and they have held up great for over two years. Just my two cents.

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