Friday 7 October 2016

A year after spray painting our doorknobs--the truth about how they've held up


Remember about a year ago when I decided to take on the monumental task of taking all 21 doors off in my house, painting them stark white, then spray painting all of the gold door knobs and hardware? 
(click HERE to check it out and see all the before and after pics)

Well, I really had no idea how well the knobs would hold up. I hoped for the best, but it was really a bit of a risk. BUT, my theory has always been that certain risks are good to take--because really, what is the worst that can happen. 

So we went from 80's gold....


to beautiful black, with just a bit of spray paint and a lot of determination. 


We went from old cream coloured doors...


to stark white beauties. 


So if you're still thinking of taking on a little DIY spray painting project of your own with your door knobs and hardware, here is a little update on how they've held up over the year. So you can decide for yourself whether it's something you want to take on.

So, the big question is....what do they look like one year later? 

Well, here is the truth. 

Almost ALL of them look exactly as they did one year ago when I first sprayed that beautiful black all over them. The kids rooms, our master bedroom, the bathroom upstairs, our front hall closet...all of these knobs and hardware still look amazing. 


However, there are about 4 knobs in our house that I have had to re-touch. 


These are the 4 knobs in our house that get used and abused--so I'm not really surprised that they've had a little wear and tear. Our main floor bathroom, our garage door, basement and laundry room doors definitely get the most use and definitely get a little beat up with all of the people going in and out so many times a day.

So when I noticed some scratches on them, and some wear on the lock on the bathroom door I decided to forgo taking the whole door knob off (since some of them were a bit of a pain to take on and off) and I instead just sprayed them right there on the door.

So I taped some flyers tightly around the knob...


and just lightly sprayed the 4 knobs that had a few scratches on them.


(then left them over night to dry and then got out my white paint and touched up any spots on the door where the spray paint landed by accident).  


 So, here's the thing--would I do it again? Totally.

Is it a bit of a pain to spray paint a couple door knobs once a year? A little. But no big deal really.

And still, the amount of money that we saved by NOT having to replace a million door knobs and hardware is so worth the one evening of throwing a bit of spray paint on the four knobs that get the most abuse.

So there you have it. If you want to try it yourself, I'd say go for it. I had so many people emailing me telling me that they spray painted their own door knobs after I wrote about doing it myself a year ago, because honestly, it changes the whole look of your house, with just a bit of paint.

So get your spray paint out and just go for it!

***
And now, for a little baby love, just because...  


a toddler in a tiny doll stroller is funny.

And it's pretty much the new favourite thing around here.


And the big news around here? Well, this little boy turned 4 today.


So he woke up to his chair full of balloons this morning, some party plates and straws to eat his breakfast off of and cheap table clothes to add to the festivities...and some ice cream at 7am, because you always get ice cream on your birthday morning. Clearly.
 

And after dinner tonight we had our family over for cake and presents...with lots of helpers to get all those presents unwrapped.



Happy birthday sweet, sweet Carter.


We love you more than you'll ever know.

Happy long weekend everyone!

Erica xo

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