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Front Door Hardware: Refresh Without Removing

After painting my front door, I decided to give the hardware a little refresh as well. Here is how I did it without removing the hardware from the door.

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Here is the before picture of my front door hardware. You can see it’s sort of black and it didn’t stand out from the door at all.

Yes, I could have taken it down and spray painted it and probably got it put back together, but maybe not. Then, where would I be? I didn’t have time to go buy a new set, not to mention the expense of a new front door handle and lock. Yes, one day I’ll invest in a keyless entry type system, but not this very second. I was in a hurry to get my teacher conference and I wanted to call this project done. So this is how I refreshed my front door hardware without removing it and how you can do the same thing.

Step 1: Tape Around the Hardware

Here is a photo of how I used small pieces of tape to fit around the hardware.

Step 2: Rub ‘n Buff

I used a combination of three Rub ‘n Buffs to get my desired effect. If you haven’t used Rub ‘n Buff before, I highly recommend it for metal objects. I have used it on other projects as well. Here are the three I used.

As you can see in the photo above, I started with the antique gold. I thought it was too gold, so I mixed the copper and the gold together. I painted this on the hardware with an old paint brush. Then I rubbed it back off with a paper towel. Finally, I added a bit of the Patina. This just sort of made it a little less shiny and gave it more of an aged look. When I added the Patina, it let me rub off some of the other gold/copper that had already dried. This broke it up and again, allowed me to get a more aged look.

If you can’t find Rub ‘n Buff at Home Depot, you can order it here.

And there you have it. A two step process to refresh your front door hardware without removing it. You can use this technique on furniture or cabinets or where ever you have hardware you don’t want to take down. I think it’s way easier than spray painting.