Update brass hardware to nickel or bronze?

[twingles]

I think bronze looks silly except in high end homes. GO with the nickel - it's not going out any time soon.

[QuilterChick]

Originally Posted by KayT15

One problem is that I have to buy door hardware for the rear French doors by February 1st when they're being installed. The French doors are the "back" doors leading into the lanai. I can't re-use the existing hardware because it's a latch style, and the interior latch broke off and is being held in place with duct tape (and still falls off twice a day).

My biggest concern is what will wear well. This will be the third set of exterior door hardware for both front and rear doors in 10 years. The shiny brass stuff installed by the builder started to wear after two years. We finally replaced it a few years ago with antique brass, and now they're all corroded. It gets extremely humid here in the summer, plus people are handling the French door handles after getting out of the pool (chlorine). I don't want to replace it now, only to have to do it again when I sell.

And I've been reading about people's experiences with ORB, and there are a lot of complaints about the "patina" being non-uniform because it wears differently depending on use.

Then there's my front door, which I will not replace. It's decorative glass with gold leading. Wouldn't nickel look out of place?


* The front door looks fine. Leave it alone unless you want to paint it a soft color to compliment the style and color of the house.



These are the door latches on the interior doors. I don't want to change them to regular doorknobs. ALL the houses here have latch type doorknobs, maybe because it's easier for little kids (this planned community is a magnet for young families with kids). I prefer them because they're easy to open when your hands are full. They still look new, but they're definitely not sold brass. Replacing them would be costly.

* People like those type of latches. Leave them alone.


And when the doors are left open - which you'd want to do for a showing - the huge hinges look terrible!

* Try to polish them with some Brasso, otherwise, leave them alone. People aren't going to make you a lowball offer because of the hinges.


Aside from the door handles, the only other thing with shiny brass is the fireplace:

* Fireplace looks just fine, don't go spending money you don't have to. The next buyer might come in a replace the new fireplace door you just bought. And I would not try to paint it either, that could be noticed and look pretty tacky.




But I'm going to replace the doors with these:

* Repeat.... that would be a boo boo.

I have a headache. Maybe I'll wait and sell when shiny brass is back in style.

You are overthinking it. Don't waste your money. I've had people demand the seller leave all the custom drapes, rods, bla bla bla. Drove by the house a month after the buyers move in to deliver a house gift, and could see rods and fabric sticking out of the trash barrels. ! Yep, it happens.

[krdpm]

Just a few thoughts. I agree that with the gold tone on the glass of the front door, a silvery nickel would be jarring and look out of place. To me, I always find that what looks awful is a combination of nickel/chrome tones with brass/gold tones in the same area. BUT, I don't mind the look of oil-rubbed bronze with either the gold or silver tones as long as the styles are similar. It's a good compromise. Given a choice, I would go with oil-rubbed bronze if you need to replace the front door hardware. I wouldn't obsesss about the hinges.

The newer fireplace glass is nice, but probably not worth the money. I wouldn't bother.

The lever style door handles are a positive feature and usually considered more desirable than knobs. Much better as people age and have issues with hand strenght/arthritis.

Our house had a god-awful shiny brass chandelier when we moved in. After a lot of research on line I decided to sand it lightly and spray paint it with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. It looks fantastic!!!! There's a lot of info online. One woman even did a test of three diff. ORB spray paints with photos of the results, and I was sold. Key is you must get a good brand, not some random can at wal-mart. I've even heard it works for doorknobs, although that's where I would draw the line. With a good quality paint you could update those fireplace doors easily.

Good luck.

[KayT15]

Originally Posted by QuilterChick

You are overthinking it. Don't waste your money. I've had people demand the seller leave all the custom drapes, rods, bla bla bla. Drove by the house a month after the buyers move in to deliver a house gift, and could see rods and fabric sticking out of the trash barrels. ! Yep, it happens.

You're right, I was overthinking it!

Anyway, just an update, I bought "venetian bronze" (fake oil rubbed bronze) door hardware for the French doors that will be installed tomorrow. It came in a very contemporary latch style. I'll probably have to replace it again before I sell, because Home Depot only carried Kwikset and Schlage (and I wasn't about to drive around looking at door hardware; I hate to shop!), I refuse to buy Schlage because they make their doorknobs/latches so that the inside turns when it's locked (had that; locked myself out too many times), and the last Kwikset corroded by year two.

We also found out that it will be longer than we think before we can sell, so I'm going to stop obsessing over what a buyer would think.

Just wanted to pop back in here and thank everyone for their input.

[JaxLiving]

Please remember that if you do ever decide to replace hardware, fans, etc. donate your used to Habitat ReStore. They resell items in their store and use the money to help build homes. We donated our interior doors, cabinet hardware, and many items to them. They will come to your home and pick up any large items. Never throw household or building items away as they take everything...picture frames, Christmas decorations, appliances (if they work), leftover moldings and baseboards, and we even donated laminate flooring when we installed ceramic tile. I just hate throwing things away, and it kills me when I watch HGTV and they rip out cabinets and toss them in the dumpster. Lots of folks will buy used cabinets for their garage or other rooms.

[crone]

When the hardware makers have silver tone in every house in the USA, they will go back to brass.

Our local paper had a big article last weekend about gold tone is back in style. And, nobody wants stainless steel anymore because it is too hard to keep shiny. Go figure.