Redoing all brass faucets in my bathrooms. (floor, house paint, tile)
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Chrome usually will outlast every other finish but you will be happy with brushed nickel, it is easy to keep clean and will not look to bad with the brass pieces. See it all the time.
We are renovating our kitchen and we are getting a stainless steel sink. We are interested in the delta faucet Model: 3744-KPN. I feel better about this.
Just a word in defense of brass. It has its place. I think when we talk about what we don't like about it, we are really talking about the cheap shiny brass junk from the 90's.
Yep. The brass that is coming on trend is warm, golden, or unlaquered and patina ed not the cheap bright, shiny stuff. Good quality, heavy brass is always a classic but it has to be used correctly (I'm thinking houses in Charleston or Washington DC). If your house was built in the 90s and still has the builder grade brass doorknobs and fixtures, that is not the new trendy finish. I have a baggie of good quality brass cabinet knobs that I plan to strip the lacquer off and age a little and hope they look like the new trendy brass.
Unless you are planning to sell in the next five years, just get what you like and buy the best quality you can. Outdated finishes aren't a big deal to resale unless it is obvious that the entire house is completely outdated at the time of sale. If you want to mix metals, this is a really good blog entry on what works and what doesn't: COTE DE TEXAS: Dear Miss Cote de Texas
We moved into our house about 7 years ago and I switched out a few faucets and kitchen hardware for ORB finish. Wanted to replace the bright brass doorknobs with ORB finish but got sticker shock when pricing out doorknobs so we waited. A couple of years ago, the plastic innards of the doorknobs started breaking so it was time to replace. I already sensed that ORB was on the way out and I didn't want to spend a couple grand on a finish that would be dated soon. So I tried to pick a finish that I thought would transcend, like a trend chameleon and ended up choosing dark pewter. Not too dark, not too light, doesn't stand out but doesn't recede either and should go with the darker, warm colors/finishes I veer towards. I don't care that they are not "trendy" they will work with my taste for the long run.
Has anyone here actually lacquered/aged their shiny 90's brass? My "new" house was built in the 90's and though the fixtures are all high quality and there's no wear and tear on the doorknobs and other brass stuff, the house is full to the brim of brass. I actually really like the shape and dimensions of many of the brass light fixtures, and it would cost an arm and a leg (not to mention be a pain in the butt) to replace all these doorknobs and bathroom fixtures. I especially really like the chandelier in the dining room, other than it's 1990s finish (love the shape and it's very high quality), so I'd like to keep these if possible but I'd really like to hear feedback from anyone who's changed the finish on their own brass fixtures.
Has anyone here actually lacquered/aged their shiny 90's brass? My "new" house was built in the 90's and though the fixtures are all high quality and there's no wear and tear on the doorknobs and other brass stuff, the house is full to the brim of brass. I actually really like the shape and dimensions of many of the brass light fixtures, and it would cost an arm and a leg (not to mention be a pain in the butt) to replace all these doorknobs and bathroom fixtures. I especially really like the chandelier in the dining room, other than it's 1990s finish (love the shape and it's very high quality), so I'd like to keep these if possible but I'd really like to hear feedback from anyone who's changed the finish on their own brass fixtures.
I have refinished shiny brass fixtures. I googled and found lots of sites that assured me I could do this, and save a ton of money over buying new pieces for the whole house.
I sanded by hand to rough up the surface, then used 2 coats of a Rustoleum spray primer. Then I sprayed several coats of the main color (I used Rustoleum Universal Metallic in oil rubbed bronze color). Then I sprayed 2 coats of Rustoleum clear top coat (I forget the exact name). I waited a day between each coat, so it took a while to finish, but it was so worth it. I lived in that house for only a year before we moved again, but after a year there were no chips or flaws at all with the new finish. Every time I told someone that I had refinished the fixtures myself, they were amazed. I did faucets, sink stoppers, towel rings, toilet paper holders, and even a huge mirror frame, all of which had been shiny brass prior to my project. I'll see if I can dig up a photo of something I did.
I have refinished shiny brass fixtures. I googled and found lots of sites that assured me I could do this, and save a ton of money over buying new pieces for the whole house.
I sanded by hand to rough up the surface, then used 2 coats of a Rustoleum spray primer. Then I sprayed several coats of the main color (I used Rustoleum Universal Metallic in oil rubbed bronze color). Then I sprayed 2 coats of Rustoleum clear top coat (I forget the exact name). I waited a day between each coat, so it took a while to finish, but it was so worth it. I lived in that house for only a year before we moved again, but after a year there were no chips or flaws at all with the new finish. Every time I told someone that I had refinished the fixtures myself, they were amazed. I did faucets, sink stoppers, towel rings, toilet paper holders, and even a huge mirror frame, all of which had been shiny brass prior to my project. I'll see if I can dig up a photo of something I did.
That would be AWESOME. I googled it and found a lot of stuff, but I couldn't find any real testimonials of people a while out, testifying that their fixtures hadn't chipped. I am not too worried about chandeliers and mirrors chipping, but door knobs are a different story altogether.
I am going to have to refinish the two exterior light fixtures on the front porch (I like their style and size) and replace or refinish the door hardware on the front too - they all have a lot of wear on them. I'm looking forward to doing the light fixtures but I'm nervous about that door hardware.
That would be AWESOME. I googled it and found a lot of stuff, but I couldn't find any real testimonials of people a while out, testifying that their fixtures hadn't chipped. I am not too worried about chandeliers and mirrors chipping, but door knobs are a different story altogether.
I am going to have to refinish the two exterior light fixtures on the front porch (I like their style and size) and replace or refinish the door hardware on the front too - they all have a lot of wear on them. I'm looking forward to doing the light fixtures but I'm nervous about that door hardware.
I didn't do any door knobs, but I would think they get gentler use than the handles on a faucet. I really think you'd be happy with the results!
I used 3 different products (the main color, plus Rustoleum Automobile Primer, and Rustoleum American Accents Ultra Cover 2x Matte Clear.)
It took a couple cans of each product to do my faucets/handles/stoppers on 3 sinks, 2 showers, 1 bathtub, 3 towel rings, 2 toilet paper holders, and 1 large mirror. Altogether I spent maybe $50, and replacing all the items was going to be over $1500!!! So completing this project was one of my prouder moments! Oh, I just remembered, I also did the brass frame of our glass enclosure shower. I don't even know if I could have purchased replacement metal strips for the shower, or if I would have needed to buy an entire new shower stall. Either way, that was even more savings! (although that part was hard, because I couldn't take the shower stall outside. I had to tape everything off and hang plastic tarps, and the whole bathroom STILL ended up with spray paint residue. Took lots of clean up for that. Ugh.)
What I found worked well was to get a sturdy piece of styrofoam, a couple inches thick, as a base, however big you need to accommodate the number of pieces you're going to paint at one time. (or you could use a piece of wood) Then I used big screws, 3-4 inches long, poked into the styrofoam as "stands" for the pieces I'd be painting. Keep all the pieces a few inches apart so the spray paint can hit all sides. It was easy to rotate the whole thing to get the pieces painted on all sides.
I hope that made sense.
Earlier said I did one coat per day, but now that I think about it, I believe I did more frequently than that. Of course you can do whatever your product says for wait time between coats.
OMG, KAYANNE, that looks AWESOME. And thank you for the detailed explanation because yes, it does make sense. It makes me nervous to take apart sinks (not so much doorknobs) but seeing your results makes it worth the scare! My entire master bath has all that brass everywhere, even the shower stall - BLECH.
I may start with the chandelier and fixtures in the main living areas first. This is a bit down my list of things to do but I plan to do something with those fixtures by the end of the year.
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So completing this project was one of my prouder moments! Oh, I just remembered, I also did the brass frame of our glass enclosure shower. I don't even know if I could have purchased replacement metal strips for the shower, or if I would have needed to buy an entire new shower stall. Either way, that was even more savings! (although that part was hard, because I couldn't take the shower stall outside. I had to tape everything off and hang plastic tarps, and the whole bathroom STILL ended up with spray paint residue. Took lots of clean up for that. Ugh.)
