DIY: Goodbye Brass!

One of the things I have hated the most about this house is all of the brass hardware.  Ironically, there isn't any brass in the kitchen, but it's everywhere else.  All of the door handles on all three floors of the house, the hinges, and even the outdoor light fixtures are brass.  Since we're literally painting the entire house, I figured what's a little paint on the hardware in addition to the paint on the walls. Replacing door hardware for over 15 doors is quite costly, so as a placeholder, I decided to paint the hardware a brushed nickel color, just like I did to the front door hardware.  

Since I was already removing all of the hardware from the downstairs doors to put a fresh coat of white paint on them, I figured this would be the perfect time to refinish the hardware.  

You'll notice in the picture above that the pieces have labels on them.  Some of the doors were cut to fit in the frames, and the hinges were altered too, so I made sure to label the back sides of the hinges as to where they belonged. To distinguish between them, I made sure to mark top and bottoms, as well as frame and door, that way I knew exactly where each piece went and I could match everything back up perfectly later.  Although you can't see them from the pictures, I labeled the insides of the door handles and the inside of the door latches too, that way I had the matching pieces and everything was working after I reassembled everything.  

I'm pretty sure that the hardware hadn't been cleaned or even wiped down in years, so after I had everything taken off, I gave all the hinges, door pins, and door plates a much need bath to get all of the grease and paint off them.  I ended up needing a razor blade to remove some of the paint, but I wasn't too worried about scratching the metal since I would be sanding them down before painting them.  

I let them sit to dry for a while so I could make sure that there wasn't any water left in the hinge tracks. If you are pressed for time, you could tightly roll a sheet of paper towel and slide it inside to dry it out, but if you just leave them out to dry, evaporation will do the work for you!

I used medium-grit sandpaper to roughen up the surfaces. You will likely only need to sand one side and the hinge tracks, since the back side of your hinges will be flush against either your door or your frame. Don't forget to wipe down your pieces one last time before applying your spray paint, as you don't want any sandpaper particles or dust on the surface.  Lay out your pieces in a well-vented area and begin spraying.  

Don't expect to get great coverage on the first spray. You'll need multiple coats to get an even coverage, but allow for some time between coats before applying the next.  

You'll also want to flip over your pieces after the first side has dried to apply some additional coats to the backside. While you don't necessarily need to cover the part that you don't need painted, I decided to put a strip of painter's tape over the back of my hinges since I had my labels on there and didn't want to accidentally paint over them.  

Painting your door handles is almost exactly the same as the door hinges.  You'll want to roughen up the surface with some sandpaper and then apply a bunch of different coats of spray paint. You may need to flip your handles onto the sides or even hold them at different angles when painting them, depending on the shape and size, and where you need coverage.  You can also tell in one of the pictures below that I was able to get creative and used the side of a cardboard box to prop one side of the door handles up so they could dry without putting a mark in the spray paint.

The biggest difference in painting your handles versus painting the hinges and door plates is that the handles have moving mechanisms.  To make sure that you don't paint your handles stuck, make sure to twist the knob or pull down the levers before you apply each coat of spray paint. If your door hardware has a locking mechanism, also make sure to twist the locking mechanism to make sure that doesn't get painted closed or open.  And lastly, if you are painting the door latch (the part that keeps the door closed in the frame), don't forget to push down on that a few times before each coat too. After all, the point of having a door latch is so that it keeps the door closed, so if it can't be pushed in, it's kind of counter intuitive.   

Give your pieces at least 24 hours to dry after you have applied your last coat, and then you can attach everything back together.  This was the most exciting part for me. After having had our doors off the hinges for almost two weeks, we finally put them back up, and not only did they have a beautiful coat of new white paint on them, but then they also got this hardware makeover!

Once your hardware is attached, you can choose to go back and dab some spray paint on the screw heads and the door pins, since painting them before will just get them scratched up during installation.  This solution isn't perfect, as you can tell in some spots, but I don't think that many people will notice unless I specifically tell them to look at the door hardware. This is really only a temporary fix, too. Down the line, we will replace the door hardware altogether, but for right now, we want our money to be spent on some other things, and this quick $5 fix is a perfect way to hide that brass and make this house look just a little more modern and contemporary!

The only brass left is on the outdoor light fixtures! So exciting! Have you spray painted your hardware? 

DIY: Door Moulding Replacement

In order for this story to make any sense, I first need to give you just a little information.  When my parents and my sister were living with us, their dogs were allowed only in the family room and the kitchen area, and very rarely ever were allowed in the other side of the house, which is where the first floor bedrooms and the large living room are. So, at night, the dogs would be all alone in that space until someone woke up to go let them out and feed them.  Just before my parents moved out of our house, one of my sister's dogs decided that because my mom and my sister accidentally slept past 7:30am, which was normally breakfast time, that he was going to show us all how hungry he was.  So, you ask - what did he eat? Well, he ate the door moulding.

Now, while this may seem like a strange thing to decide to eat, whereas most dogs would probably go for a pillow or a pair of sneakers, at least he ate the door frame that was by the door that leads to the bedrooms, so he was making a point.

Anyways, just before they moved out, my dad ordered a new piece of moulding to replace the one that was chewed, and repaired the part of the interior frame that was chewed as well.  When all of the contractors were working at their new house, they asked to use the miter saw to make the cut, and my dad just used the old piece of moulding as a guide, so no measurements were needed.

They then returned the moulding to me and I put it in the spare bedroom until this past week, where I finally installed it.  This was my first attempt at installing moulding, but I have to say, it was easier than I thought. Granted, I wasn't making the moulding from scratch or trying to put up all of the trim pieces, but it was still new to me.

Earlier last week, I bought some finishing nails at the hardware store to nail into place.  This project would have been much easier to do with a nail gun, but I don't recommend buying one unless you will use it for a significant amount of trim work or other projects, because while it may have taken a bit of time without one, it wasn't enough to justify the purchase of it specifically for this project.  I must say, however, that I am contemplating the purchase of one now for some of the other projects that I have planned for the house.  :)

But enough with all the blabber, let's get to the steps I took, shall we?

First, you'll notice that the trim has been off for a while, so I ended up painting into the spot where the trim is, but that's really actually a good thing, because that means that I won't need to break out the gray paint again after the install.  So, I made note of where some of the nail holes were that were used with the old trim, that way I wasn't nailing the trim into the existing holes and I was making new stronger holes. Also, since there is a pretty significant gap between the sheet of drywall and the rest of the door moulding, I wanted to make a mental note of that too so that I don't try to put a nail into the trim and then attach it to the space between. That wouldn't be too much help in securing the piece of trim to the wall.  

The other thing that I needed to do before I put the trim up on the wall was to make sure that it would line up properly with the nail that will attach it to the top piece of moulding.  Since the existing nail actually split the top moulding, I was stuck with using it's existing hole, so I needed to make sure that when I attached the new piece, that the nail wasn't going to go through the board, while at the same time, make sure that it would hold the two pieces together correctly, with as little gap as possible.  

Finally, it was time to put a nail in the moulding.  Using my foot to push the bottom towards the wall, and my hands to line up the top, I placed the board in place, and then hammered in the first nail, right in the middle of the board, but hugging the left side of the moulding so I could make sure it would go into the drywall and not into the empty space.  I chose to put a nail in the middle first that way I could still twist the moulding if I needed it to match up a little bit more at the top.  I tried to take a picture of this process, but as you know, my camera is having some issues, so I ended up looking like a giant blurry blob and the only thing in focus was the right side of the door.  

Anyways, following that first nail, I then made sure the angle matched up with the angle of the top piece of moulding, and then hammered a nail into the top, making sure it wouldn't interfere with the nail that would attach the two pieces together.  After that, it was just time to put in the rest of the nails, with the help from a handsome kitty cat, who was very interested at what was going on, but promptly ran away as soon as he heard the hammer banging on the wall.  

Following an alternating pattern, I hammered in the rest of the nails, so one on the left, then one on the right about 10" higher or lower, depending on the direction you are going.

After putting in the nails, I realized that I didn't have a Nail Set tool, which is the tool that is typically used to countersink the heads of the nails.  But, I got creative, and instead, I used a star-bit that was just smaller than the head of the nails so that I wouldn't mark up the moulding any more than the nails already had.  So, don't feel the need to buy one of those tools if you don't have one, especially if you will only have one project to use it on.  

And with just a few taps of this star-bit on the head of each nail, they were pushed just slightly further into the moulding so they could be caulked and painted over.  

So with that, I pulled out my trim caulk, which actually dries clear, but shiny, and ran a bead along all the seams of the moulding. The caulk dries enough to paint within an hour, but I have yet to pull out my trim paint and get to work.  But, for now, at least the trim is back up and we aren't staring at a rough looking door frame anymore.  It's possible though, that I will break out the paint brush and trim paint tonight, since I'm tired of the nails showing through and the wood putty down at the bottom of the interior door frame from where the dog chewed it.  

I am happy that I got to practice with this little project, and it was much easier than I anticipated.  It was good to learn the steps, since I have plans to mimic the chair rail and wainscoting that is in the hallway for the living/dining room.  

Have you had the need to replace your door moulding before? Have you ever installed an entirely new set of moulding?  What problems did you end up with? 

DIY: Painted Front Door

This weekend was beautiful, but tiring.  For a few weeks now, I knew that I was going to be doing some house projects.  D had been asked by his parents to help out with some yard work down at their house, so he was going to be there both Saturday and Sunday.  I had three things that I wanted to get done this weekend, and ended up getting to two.  The first project was to build a planter for some herbs. The second project was to make some baby blankets for a friend who is pregnant with twins, and this is the one I didn't get to.  Hopefully I'll have some time this week to work on them.  

The third project was to paint the front door.  Today, I'm going to walk you through the steps to painting your front door.  These directions only apply to wood front doors. 

Step 1: Choose your paint color.

My mom has a Sherwin-Williams paint fan deck, so I was going through the colors and found the perfect shade of purple for our front door.  It's called Concord Grape, and you may remember it from my Paint Floor Plan.  We love the way that purple doors look on homes, and we also thought that it would help bring out the purple stones on the front of the house.  

Step 2: Buy your paint and supplies.

I didn't want to go with a Sherwin-Williams paint, just for the sole reason of it's price, so I decided to hit up Lowe's, and take advantage of their color-matching services.  I brought my SW Concord Grape swatch with me, and they were able to mix me up a quart of Valspar high-gloss exterior paint in the matching color.

Custom Mixed Paint from Lowe's / Personal Picture

  

I also made sure to get some primer, paint stirrers, a paint brush, paintable wood filler, and some blue painting tape, because my front door has a window that will need to be taped off.  I chose to go with Bulls Eye primer, and made sure that it was water-based.  Please make note - if you are using a water-based paint, you have to use a water-based primer.  If you are using an oil-based paint, use an oil-based primer.  

Bulls Eye Primer from Lowe's / Personal Picture

Step 3: Prep your work space.

So, first up, setup your work space.  You should find a table or a work bench that will allow you to lay your door down on a level and sturdy surface.  You will be applying pressure to the door, so being sure that it is sturdy is absolutely necessary.  Level is important too, because you don't want to take the chance of paint pooling in low-lying areas.  Lastly, make sure that you have enough ventilation in your work space.  Paint fumes are not good for breathing, so having air flow is important - plus, it speeds up the paint drying process as well.  I set up everything in my garage on a work bench.  

Step 4: Remove the door hardware.

Next, remove the hardware from the door.  This includes all knobs and locks, and the hinges that attach the door to the frame.  You should only need a screwdriver for this part.  If you're not familiar with the way door hardware is supposed to be installed, take some pictures as you remove the pieces.  General Rule of thumb is to remove the latches (the parts on the side of the door) last.  For me, I removed the deadbolt first, then the lock, and then the large handle and knob.  

Door with the hardware on it / Personal Picture

Step 5: Repair/fill any holes.

For my door, I replaced all of the hardware and the locks when we moved in.  They were originally brass, but not liking the look, I went with a brushed nickel set.  The holes didn't match up perfectly with the existing ones, so I knew that when I was ready to paint the door, I would have to fill the unused hole.  

The hole that needed filling was the second from the bottom / Personal Picture

I used Elmer's ProBond Wood Filler, and made sure that it could be painted over.  I cut off the tip of the applicator, and pushed some into the hole. 

Elmer's ProBond Wood Filler from Lowe's / Personal Picture

Using a putty knife, I smoothed it over, but not completely flush to the surface of the door.  Since the hole went all the way through to the other side of the door, it was hard to make sure I was keeping as much filler in the hole as possible.  I also didn't want to risk using too little, so I over-applied.  I let this sit until it was the last thing left to be sanded on the door.  

Wood Filler and Putty Knife / Personal Picture

Step 6: Sand your door.

My front door was stained and polyurethaned at one point.  It had been done long before we owned the house - to the point that the poly was essentially dry rotted on the exterior part of the door.  If you are going to paint your door, it is smart to sand it, even if it hasn't been polyurethaned before, because you want to make sure that you have a smooth surface to work with. Sanding also helps remove all the oil and dirt that builds up on the door from hands and wind.  

Next, put a mask on so you don't breathe in the dust and sand down your door. You should also really use gloves to protect your hands, and so you don't get splinters under your fingernails like I did. (PS - As soon as that happened, my first thought was "OW!" followed by "I should take a picture of this for the blog. I ultimately didn't though.)  

Unless you are trying to get a very thick layer of paint or polyurethane off, you will only need a Medium grit sandpaper.  If you are going to paint over paint, you don't need to remove what is there completely.  You should be able to paint over it with just a light sanding on the surface.  The purpose of sanding is to get a smooth and clean surface so that your new paint layer has something to adhere itself to.   

Make sure that when you are sanding down your door, you follow the grain of the wood.  Sanding in the opposite direction from the wood grain will leave scratches in the wood, which will be visible, especially after painting or staining.  If you did use wood filler, check that it is dry before going over it with the sandpaper.  Refer to the instructions on the filler container if you are unsure of how long to wait.  

When sanding is complete, use a vacuum to get all of the residue off of the door.  Be more precise than normal, because you don't want any dust to get into your paint.  

Half vacuumed door after sanding / Personal Picture

Fully sanded and vacuumed door / Personal Picture

Step 7: Tape off your door.

If you have glass in your door, you will want to tape it off using painter's tape.  This will make it so much easier in the future for you to get the paint off.  Get as close as you can to the wood, and just tape it off, making sure that the tape is pressed firmly to the glass.  

Step 8: Prime your door.

If you have a raw wood door, like mine, or if you are going from a dark color to a light color of paint, it is important to prime the door before painting it with your chosen color.  

The process for priming and painting are the same.  Start with any decorative moulding that you have first, then do the inside of the panel, then all of the flat parts.  Make sure that you are going light and even with your brush strokes. You do not want to be able to see any air bubbles in the paint, but you also don't want too thick of a layer, otherwise it will be prone to being too tacky, never drying, and being dented or damaged by fingernails or hardware.  Don't forget to also paint the sides of your door, unless you don't want those the be the color that you choose.  

Also, as a cool little trick, use a large rubber band around your paint can to wipe your brush on.  This helps keep the paint out of the rim of the paint can.  

Rubber band around the primer can / Personal Picture

Door primed and tape around the window / Personal Picture

Full door primed / Personal Picture

Allow your door to dry according to the amount of time suggested by the brand of primer.  

Step 9:  Paint your door.

Shake up your can of paint, or stir it with your paint stirrer.  Following the same directions as with the primer, paint the door starting with the moulding.  Again, use enough paint that you can't see the primer or bubbles, but not so much that it is pooling or drying too thick.  

Valspar Custom-Mixed color from Lowe's / Personal Picture

Started with the moulding and moved my way out / Personal Picture

Once you have the whole door painted, leave it to dry, again, referencing the can for the most accurate amount of time to wait before coats of paint.  

Waiting for it to dry after the first coat / Personal Picture

Apply additional coats of paint as you think is necessary.  Remember, the more coats of paint, the darker the color.  

Paint coat number two / Personal Picture

Closeup of the color - Deep purple although most of the pictures make it look really bright / Personal Picture

Dry and ready to hang! / Personal Picture

Step 10: Hang your door and attach hardware.

To hang your door back up on the hinges, it is easiest to screw the hinges into the door, first. Then, attach the second part of the hinge to the door frame.  Have someone help you lift the door to match up the hinges, and then slip in the pins that hold them together.  

Attach your door hardware next, testing it out with the key to make sure that it works properly.  

Door hung back up with the hardware added (nighttime picture) - I forgot to remove the painter's tape! / Personal Picture

Door hung back up with the hardware added (daytime picture) - And I STILL forgot to remove the painter's tape! / Personal Picture

And that's it!  Easy enough, right?  

Just remember to read the can of paint fully before you start painting.  My cans said not to paint if temperatures were under 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which it was for most of the mornings this weekend, so this put me off schedule a bit.  If you're working indoors, this shouldn't be a problem, but I was in my non-insulated garage, so it did alter my plans a little.  

Next, enjoy your work!  I am so happy that I decided to do this, and already love the way that it looks.  I'm going to have to get some better pictures though, because these don't do it justice!

Final product! / Personal Picture

Did you paint your front door? How did the process go for you? Were you adventurous with the color like us?