Spray paint Guest Post

I was thrilled to be asked to guest post by Tiffany at Living Savvy.  Every Wednesday she has a post for all of us spray paint addicts. 

I hope I am not breaking any unwritten blogging rule but I wanted to share the post for any of you who did not make it over to Living Savvy.

So here is my guest post as it was published.

Hello, my name is Traci, and I am a spray paint addict!  Admitting you have a problem is the first step toward a beautiful home. 

When we moved into our current home 6 years ago we had a ton of updating to do and the first thing on my hit list were all the brass fixtures.  They were everywhere.   So what is a girl to do?  Break out the spray paint of course.

After moving into the house we changed all the exterior door hardware.  We choose an Oil Rubbed Bronze finish.  Now I don’t know about all of you but I have a thing about all my metal finishes matching.   I had 15 interior doors.  It would have cost me a fortune to replace them all.

But I didn’t have to because I knew I could paint them.  Six years ago the paint companies had not jumped on the ORB band wagon yet so I had to create my own from a can of black, a can of brown and a can of copper spray paint.  It was fun but time consuming, so now I usually use the one can method now.

The question I get most frequently is “do your painted door knobs last?”

And the answer is that they wear very well if you paint them correctly.  The are not indestructible but they hold up very well.

This is one of the few knobs I have not painted and is still sporting its original finish.  The brass coating is scratched in a few places and it simply looks worn.

Here is one of the first knobs that I painted and it has no scratches or any other flaws in its finish after 5 years of frequent use.

If you pay for brand new door hardware you expect the finish will last at least 5 years.  So let me show you one of the ORB lock sets that we purchased.  It started out looking like this.

And after 6 years this is what they look like.  Disappointing isn’t it.  And just one more reason to paint your own because now I have to paint this one too.

Here is the one of the door knobs in my laundry room. I use this knob to hang up laundry as it comes out of the drier and in the last 5 years all those hangers, some of them are wire, have only caused one scratch.   And I can touch it up.

So what is my secret you ask?  It is my six steps to long wearing painted knobs.

1.  Proper prep-First wash the knob really well to remove any grease, oils and dirt left from all the hands that touch it.  Let it dry well, water will ruin your paint job.

2.  Sand lightly.  You are just dulling the shiny surface.  I use a fine sanding pad that is less than a 1/2 inch thick.

3.  Prime-Use a primer for clean metal.  I like Kyrlon. Let the primer dry thoroughly.  Because it is so hot here I usually leave primed metals in the sun for a few hours.  You just have to remember to let it cool off before painting.

4.  It is finally time for the paint of your choice.  Use several really light coats.  Because the knob is round you can’t get all of the knob in one pass.  It may take up to 10 different coats because each coat will not cover the entire knob.  May sure you have covered all of the primer.  I poke my knobs into a piece of Styrofoam so I can get all the angles.

5.  Finish with a clear coat, either satin or gloss.  This is like the clear polish over your colored nail polish, the clear coat gets the wear leaving the color looking great.

6.  Let the paint cure.  Even when paint feels dry it still needs to cure before it is completely solid.  Uncured paint is still soft and easily damaged.

 

I put this knob back up the day that I painted it.  That might have been okay if this knob was not where I hang my purse.  I tried to remember to hang my purse on a different hook but old habits are hard to break.  You can see where I moved the still soft paint with my purse handle. 

Painting your door knobs opens up one more place to express your creativity.  While I have not seen one yet I doubt turquois door knobs are far off.  Let me if you decide to go bold and paint your knobs a bright color.

Happy Spray Painting,

Traci