How to Freshen Up Old Hardware with Metallic Paint

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A few days ago I showed off the Little Piggy chest I recently painted . . .

 

fusion-little-piggy-painted-chest-of-drawers

 

…and in that post I mentioned that the old hardware on this chest needed a little bit of work.

I’m always glad when I can get original hardware on a piece.  I do my best to keep them in their original condition, but sometimes I can’t get them cleaned up enough and they wind up needing a little work done to bring them back to life.

Case in point with this set–they were super tarnished and no amount of cleaning and scrubbing were brightening the finish back up.

 

how-to-update-furniture-hardware-with-paint

 

I didn’t want them to look totally different, just a little brighter and cleaner.  So the solution was to add just a touch of metallic gold paint.

 

metallic-paint-for-old-hardware

 

I cut off an old piece of sweatpants for my rag and squeezed out a tiny bit of Fusion’s Pale Gold paint onto it.

I rubbed the paint into the rag to spread it out some, so I wouldn’t apply too much to the surface of each knob and pull.

Then I lightly wiped it onto each piece.

 

how-to-update-furniture-hardware-using-metallic-paint

 

That was still a little more than what I wanted on the hardware, so I took another piece of sweatpants rag, dabbed on a few drops of water, then used it to buff off the excess gold paint.

 

metallic-paint-on-old-hardware

 

The process was a little bit of trial and error: I kept wiping on and then buffing off the paint with each knob and pull until I was happy with how they looked.

I think in total though, the whole process took about 5 minutes.  Super quick and simple!

 

metallic-paint-to-fix-old-hardware

 

I like that the hardware still has the original look, but was just brightened up a bit.  And the paint is adhering great–in fact with all my rubbing and buffing it was all basically dry by the time I was finished.

 

painted-pink-chest-of-drawers

 

So there you go! If you missed the whole post on the chest, you can see that here.  Thanks so much!

 

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Cora

Saturday 17th of September 2016

Melanie, I bought all of the fusion metallic tints from you and I use them all the time. Just this week, I had a sweet pair of small cut glass lamps I got for under $10 at an estate sale and when they came, I noticed that the silver collar piece connecting the base with the top part was very pitted. I took my silver fusion tint and gave them two coats and now they look brand new! I have also used these tints on knobs and brass feet on two dressers that would NOT come clean. A little goes a very long way!

Cora

Saturday 17th of September 2016

Melanie, I bought all of the fusion metallic tints from you and I use them all the time. Just this week, I had a sweet pair of small cut glass lamps I got for under $10 at an estate sale and when they came, I noticed that the silver collar piece connecting the base with the top part was very pitted. I took my silver fusion tint and gave them two coats and now they look brand new! I have also used these tints on knobs and brass feet on two dressers that would NOT come clean. A little goes a very long way!

Cute Chest of Drawers Makeover Fusion Little Piggy

Friday 16th of September 2016

[…] Thanks for letting me share!  And check back in a few days to see the simple way I brought the original, tarnished hardware back to life.  **Update, you can see that post here** […]