When we bought #DomaLuza, it was hard to see how much brass there was in the house because the previous owner had so many brass and/or gold colored things among her possessions. Even with all of her things out of here, I couldn’t stand how much brass there was, especially the shiny brass. And no, of course it didn’t even match each other, some of it is was antique brass. De-brassing had to be done!

The first thing we did was get rid of the brass chandelier in the dining area. We sold it in a garage sale, but I really hope someone painted it black and made it some kind of spooky Hallowe’en decor.

Next, the front door handle bothered me greatly. Not only was the shiny brass not our tastes, the coating was peeling due to exposure to the elements. Have you priced front door hardware? $200 is the low end! I just couldn’t justify that much to replace something that works just fine.

I braved the paint aisle at one of the hardware stores and was told that there was no reason I should not be able to paint the brass. In fact, the nice employee showed me a new line of spray paints made by Rustoleum that are made for painting metal and that have modern finishes like satin nickel and oil rubbed bronze. We bought three cans, and I set to work. It took me a couple of days with the Dremel tool, but I removed every trace of coding from the front door set and deadbolt. I sanded it as perfectly as I could manage.

The spray paint work better than any I’ve ever used. Thus, a monster was born. I then tackled a light fixture and the garish shiny brass powder room accessories that didn’t match the antique brass light fixture. ::sigh::

Next, I set after the rest of the doorknobs in the house. It’s difficult to hit them from all the funny angles so it takes many layers. It takes cooler temperatures and low humidity to do it well. It’s also hard to live without some doorknobs long enough for them to get painted. So, it’s been a slow process. I have a couple left to do.

Before. Brass. Bleargh. (Yes, it’s all scratched up. Additionally, even the builder installed hardware and then painted. #facepalm)

After. Ahhhh. So much more modern. So much less garish, even than the antique brass. (Yes, this door is even worse than the other one. What the hell is wrong with contractors?)

While the next to last set, was sitting in the various stages of painting, turning, and drying, I decided to start scraping the popcorn in our powder room. While up there, I grabbed the light fixture to that room (antique brass, of course) and slathered it in oil-rubbed bronze, too. All of that will be another post for another day.