Decorating question: to paint or not to paint hardware

[aaronfude]

Hi,

1. I'm repainting my door. The previous owner had painted the hinges and the little slide lock white along with the door. I think it's lame. Am I right? Those pieces should shine in their brass or copper or bronze beauty, no?

1. I'm repainting my wrought iron banister. The previous owner had selected a swampy diarrheal darkish green with a shade of yellowish puke. And also painted the screwes that by which the banister is fixed to the floor. I think that those too should show naturally, but here I'm not so sure. Could leaving them unpainted, which in this case would amount to replacing them, lead to an undesirable industrial look. Or will it, as I hope, look cool?

Many thanks in advance!

Aaron Fude

[m Ransley]

The hardware could be rusted or tarnished so paint just covers it up, removing and cleaning it could be a job, even then , if there is rust or tarnish paint might be the best option

[basscadet75]

My previous owner had done the same thing throughout the house, on both doors and windows. I'm now in the process of either stripping all this paint or (more often) just replacing the hardware.

I would say never paint door or window hardware. It's not meant to be painted and definitely doesn't need it to extend life. These are all finished pieces as is. I think painting them is poor from a design standpoint and also just looks sloppy, because it's obvious that whoever did the painting just didn't go to the trouble to either cover up or remove the hardware when they painted.

This is a tougher one. I'd probably paint the screws. It depends on what they actually look like in relation to the iron bannister.

I think it comes down to whether the screws look they're part of the structure of the bannister or not, and whether they're the same material (obviously they're not iron screws, but they are metal). It would be different if you had a wood bannister with brass screws or something. But you can always try it unpainted and see; screws don't cost much.

[Richard Thoms]

Painting the hardware was done, probably just being lazy! If you've got the time and the gumption then it would definitely look better to either strip the paint or replace the hardware. Check with you're local paint shop to see if they have a good recommendation for how to strip the paint without damaging the hardware. Otherwise you may end up buying more hardware. Buying hardware is easier solution because you're going to have to remove the old anyway whether you strip or replace.

You should work for the companies that name the paint shades. I always wonder who can come up with those names. "Gobi Desert" is what my house is painted with.

IMHO wrought iron should be black. And in this case I would paint the screws/hardware so you have a nice clean look.

[Norminn]

If you can take them apart, strip them, polish and spray with clear laquer. Do not touch with bare hands after polishing. If they are brass plated junk, replace them. Brass shines up very nicely, and paint remover won't hurt it.

Might rust if not coated. Strip and clear coat with matte or gloss, your pref.

[jah213]

First of all, if you want to strip the hardware because you think you will have shiny brass, copper, or bronze when you've finished, make sure that's what you have now. I have an old house and much of the original hardware is flat black ferrous metal; very little of it has turned out to be brass, and none of it bronze or copper. You may still prefer unpainted, but don't count on having pretty, shiny hardware when you're done. (And by the way, although brass does shine up very nicely, there is a lot of elbow grease involved in getting it there.)

Secondly, I strongly recommend checking out the most recent issue of "This Old House" (no affiliation here, just a reader) where they had an article about how to strip old hardware with NO stripper or chemicals of any kind. Essentially, they soaked it in a crock pot overnight (that's right, a regular kitchen crock pot) and the paint peeled off with virtually no effort the next day. Not sure if the article is online or not, but I'm sure you can get a copy of the magazine from their website.

Jo Ann

Norm>

[scott21230]

Do not paint over hardware. That's what lazy people do.

th person with the black freeous metal probably has crappy brass coated steel that's rusted. Get stainless steel and don't paint it.

[jah213]

Uhm, that would be me, and I'm not about to put stainless steel hardware in a Victorian house (nor was I the person who painted the existing hardware). My point to the OP stands: If you want to strip because you think you will have pretty hardware underneath the paint, be warned: You may not.

Jo Ann

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