Spray painted door knobs – the result

Oh man! That stinks :( We did ours about 18 months ago and they still look good. The front door where we jam the key in has damage, but that's expected. We used that rustoleum primer + paint in one, and scrubbed each knob with extra fine steel wool before spraying. All the inside doors are still perfect (though, admittedly, the latch plates have scratched from the door latches, but I've been told that happens even on store-bought plates).

Tried it and it was a disaster. Actually have 23 new knobs that were delivered this morning and are waiting to be installed this weekend. Expensive, but I couldn't live with the old ones anymore!

I tried doing this with gold rub and buff. Had the same results. : )

I had great luck on our front door using zinsser 1-2-3 white spray primer and rustic mist paint by rustoleum. It'll be a year in April and there are no chips on the lock, which my husband and I both use twice daily, and only minimal wear on the handles. I didn't prep the knobs at all besides the spray primer. Not sure why ours are holding up so well. I want to spray all the knobs in the house matte black next. I was feeling confident until I read about everyone's bad luck!

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Thanks for sharing the results with us. So sorry that it was not successful though.

I did this to our interior door knobs about six months ago, and they still look great! I used Rustoleum Universal spray paint in oil-rubbed bronze. I lightly sanded all the knobs before I spray painted them, applied the paint in many light coats and then let them dry for at least 48 hours before putting them back on. I did maybe 2-3 knobs at a time, so it took several weeks, but I'm so happy with the results! The only bad part is that the latch plates have gotten scuffed from opening and closing the doors, but that has also happened with our exterior doors, which have store-bought oil-rubbed bronze latch plates, so I'm not stressing about it too much.

I did this as well to cover up the brown-y, brass-y ones we had. The looked great for a few months, but then there was the odd chip and then it just compounded from there. The biggest culprits appear to be our wedding rings knicking the paint when we grab the handle. I don't think I would ever try it again, even with different primers or sanding and such. Oh well, such is the life of a DIY nester right?

Jenn@JennsCraftyWorld

I didn't use it on my door handles, yet. I had thought about it (we have nasty door handles and rent. They won't notice if I paint them, but they would probably notice if we put new ones on and I don't want to spend more than I need to on someone else's property - sorry...) ... Good to know how it worked for you. I did use the same paint (primed first, but with white because that is what I had on hand...) on the towel bars, light fixture and plate covers in the bathroom. I did have it flake off where the screwdriver knicked it on the switch plate cover (yes, lightly sanded them first...), but in a high humidity area it seems to be holding up well (and with the towel always moving...)... Sorry your handles aren't holding up like you'd like them to. Thanks for sharing your results.

I spray painted hooks on the towel rack and toilet paper holder in the bathrooms 18 months ago. The hooks held up great, the paper holder has a few chips. I didn't use primer since they were new. I am going to do the laundry room door and sliding door handle when it warms up in the spring.I can't spray paint in the garage as I would get overspray on hiubby's new motorcycle, and that wouldn't be good! I am going to sand those and see what happens. I will let ya know how they hold up. Maybe sanding is the trick. Anything is better than 90's brass!

We spray painted the knobs on our front door right around thanksgiving and have had the same results :(. We want to replace the whole door within a couple of years, so we were hoping it would hold up until then. And I did lightly sand mine, so you can rest easy knowing that wouldn't have helped :)

I did this to all our door handles but I used Rustoleum Universal paint. Seems like the paint choice is key here. I personally haven't had great experiences with any other brand except Rustoleum. Maybe try recoating the ones that have worn down? :-(

We ended up replacing each hinge and handle with the real deal. Of course, it wasn't a deal, but we did a room each month! Love it!!!!

I had rotten results on the front door knobs I did, sadly. I used a Rustoleum paint and primer mix in ORB. Fail. I'm going to talk Hubs into replacing the whole knob set with the real deal. Worth it, I think, for something that gets so much use! It was worth a try, tho...

Did our doorknobs, even latch plates (and lots of other metal items) in ORB and never had a problem. However, I think the key is that for priming I used a "metal etching primer" that I found on amazon. Not sure how easy it is to find in stores. amazon was out of it in black, so I just got the etching primer in a dark green which was then covered by the ORB Rustomleum. No problems and its been more than a year.

Thank you for sharing this. Thank you SO MUCH. I hope you have fun this weekend and stay warm.

I think it's awesome that you shared this. So many DIY blogs don't bother to come back and update as to whether something worked or didn't. Have a great weekend!

I really appreciate that you were willing to give an update on a project that didn't work out. I've grown sick and tired of the DIY blogs that aren't real about the challenges, pitfalls, and yes, failures. It shall remain nameless, but one of the most famous blogs out there is TERRIBLE about this and they lost me as a reader because of their lack of transparency. Your integrity impresses me.

I squirted a couple of tubes of paint tints into a can of shellac and mixed until I got a dark brown that I liked. I hand painted all of the knobs and door plates. They were all for the interior doors, so I don't know how they would stand up to use for more frequently used exterior doors.

I've had pretty good success priming with gray automobile primer (Rustoleum, I think?). Most of my doorknobs are still looking as good as new after months and even a year or two for some. In case you want to try again. :) Thanks for letting us see!

Ah yes. Same result. I'm still counting it as a plus, though, if you think of it as buying a little time so you don't have to replace them all at once.

Thank you for posting this! I always wondered how spray painting my knobs would hold up in the long run so I am glad I didn't try it.

It definitely did NOT work at my house. I did the same thing you did and we have even more wear and tear than your photos. Booooo. I don't know why new ones have to be so stinkin' expensive.

Take the doorknobs to an automobile paint shop and have them electrostatically spray painted. The metal will give before the paint will.

I spray painted my kitchen door knob a brushed nickel last spring and it still looks perfect! I didn't do anything special either. Just cleaned it and sprayed probably 3-4 coats on it. The brushed nickel has a little of a rough texture to it, maybe that has helped.

I spray painted the kick plate at the bottom of my full glass storm door. it was brass and is now oil rubbed bronze. We could not find the right kind, the store ordered the wrong one. So we tried spray painting it. We had replaced the handle with an ORB one and wanted the kick plate to match. We did spray a clear coat on it being it was outside in the elements. It is starting to wear a little on the edges. We also didn't attempt to sand it either. I am not sure if that would of helped.

With that being said, we have gone through and bought new ORB knobs for the interior of the house, buying a few at a time. Gone are the brass, almost. I have 5 left to buy out of 17 in our two-story, including all that will be needed in the basement when that is someday finished. My luck, they would be discontinued by the time we do get around to it.

I had been thinking about painting mine, but I think your post just saved me a lot of time! Bummer!

This has nothing to do with door knobs. I painted our door black after I saw how yours looked. Issue: we have a doggie door and it's frame is made of plastic. In spite of priming, the paint began to chip off almost immediately. Any suggestions?

We replaced all our door knobs about a year before we put our house on the market. The new knobs came with new latch plates. I did clean, prime, spray paint, and clear-coat the hinges. The hinges are cheaper than the knobs, but counting closet doors, pantry doors, plus all the doors to rooms, etc, I had a LOT of hinges so I painted them. They held up great. But I can see where exterior doors exposed to the elements and the use of keys would get nicked. And even interior doors that get a lot of use might show wear from hands! Oh well, you now know that you tried! I wouldn't hesitate to paint hinges if you prep, prime, and clear coat. Always love your blog!

The prior owners of our home painted all my doorknobs and faucets. I don't know when they did them, or how, but they are all rubbing off.

I sprayed one of my exterior door's knobs a year and a half ago, but it's the door to my mudroom and doesn't have a lock on it (my actual front door does). It's held up great, but I'm careful not to open it with keys in my hand. My front door was rusty and bent, so a quick coat of paint on the door and the knob was an awesome update until I can afford to replace the whole thing or decide what I really want to do with it. I used a liquid deglosser and a paint/primer in one. I think when I replace the door I'd replace the hardware with it.

I also sprayed mine last summer. I lightly sanded mine and then just went at it with Rust-o-leum - no primer. Mine are doing pretty well. A few have some nicks from my rings though. And the very well used kitchen pantry is taking a little beating. But all in all mine are holding up great!

I just blogged about the very same thing! I ORBed all my interior doorknobs a year ago with mixed results... The doorknobs on the kid's rooms ended up a mess of scratches... they had to be replaced, but the doorknobs on the lesser used doors still look pretty good. I sanded each knob (switchplate, and even screws!) then used two coats of primer and 2-3 coats of ORB. I was disappointed... I'd hoped they'd hold up better. :(

Maura
http://woodstone.homeschooljournal.net/2014/01/23/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-update-on-orbed-door-knobs/

Oh, and I almost forgot... I LOVE your bench, it's turning out beautifully! I can't wait to see the finished product. :)

Thank you so much for posting this! I always wonder about things like this and how they will hold up. This is helpful!

So sad it didn't work for you. I sprayed mine with Rustoleum ORB and did not prime or sand. It's been a year and a half and they still look like the day I painted them. Maybe the key is no prep? ;) Jane

I'm so glad you posted this!! I cringe every time I see another blog post, or someone pinning something about painting hardware. The previous owners of our house painted all the hinges and pulls in our kitchen and they look AWFUL!! It's nice to read an honest blog post following up on a project that didn't go quite as planned. Thank you! :)

We had all of our shiny brass handles and hinges powder coated ORB at a local place that primarily powder coats auto and power boat parts. It cost about 1/3 of what replacing everything would have run. (I think powder coating is the same as "electrostatically spray painting" which another reader suggested.) I had to call around, though, as not all places will do door handles because of the labor required. We're really happy w/ the results.

I've never tried spray painting door handles before. But I can sympathize with a project not turning out well - that's happened to me many times in the past.

I haven't done this yet, really glad to get honest feedback. House is going up for sale soon, think I'll just leave the gold hardware alone.

We spray painted all of our knobs in our house 6 years ago. My hubby just sanded them really good, NO primer and then painted them with rustoleum black satin paint as the ORB was not readily available yet. With the exception of a FEW ( these are main doors we walk into every day or doors that get bumped by other doors, we have a ton of doors!) , they have held up great! We still have never made it to the hinges, But that is on the list for this spring. We are going to repaint all of the knobs ORB and the hinges. We did replace all of our doors with locks with new knobs as I knew that the paint would not hold up well to keys searching for the keyhole in the dark! I say take a few off and scratch them up good, then paint and see if your result is better!

Hi, I am sorry to hear your spray painted knobs didn't work. I lightly sanded, primed and painted our with ORB over 4 years ago and we have not had a single chip, scratch or wear spot. I cannot recommend this enough to my friends but I have to wonder how we all get different results with the same process.

I painted one door knob years ago as a tester door knob. Mine looked like yours right away. I also sanded and did a clear protective coat...no good. We tried it out on one door and won't be spray painting the others.

We got a new handle/lock and kick plate in rubbed bronze for our door re-do because we wanted long lasting hardware. However I painted the door knocker, door bell frame and numbers for side of door with Rust-o-leum Painters Touch Ultra Cover in Rubbed Bronze. This was back in September and they still look great. The paint is thick and I did 2-3 coats on each...so far not even a scratch on them. I'm not sure how it would do on the handle/lock because its used a lot. but it may have a longer lasting life than the thin spray paint perhaps? I'm thinking the spray is great for the interim for beautification but just won't hold up on things used regularly.
hugz,
Suzanne

So nice to see this kind of update post. Whenever I see a blogger recommend spray-painting hardware, I'm always skeptical—I'm the daughter of a fancypants woodworker, and Dad trained me to be kinda anal about top quality stuff when it comes to heavy traffic or usage.

I'm glad we've never tried this, and I'll be mindful of this and just swap hardware out directly if I ever feel the need to change it up down the road.

Thanks for sharing! I so appreciate not everything being Pinterest perfect, you know? Most of us live in unpinnable reality. :)

I spray painted my kitchen cabinet knobs and they looked so cute, but unfortunately it didn't last too long. Not only did it start to wear off, but the cabinets that held everyday items like plates and silverware wore off much faster than lesser used cabinets. It was just a mess!

I did the door knobs on the main floor of our house several years ago and they held up well. I sanded them first, cleaned them, used primer on some of them, and spray painted with Rustoleum ORB. I think the sanding gave me better results. The door to the garage is the only one that scratched noticeably. I had round ball shiny gold knobs, and not having edges is probably helpful too. I have done the upstairs knobs now since the main floor held up so well.

I wonder if on a rounder knob it would last longer? I have wanted to do this to the doors in our loft - all of which are rounder knobs, but maybe this isn't the best plan after all.
Thanks for sharing the results!

So, so, so glad you posted this. I have read several blogs that mention doing this but none really updated about it later... Then reading the comments.. Definitely seems people are getting mixed results. I think I have chickened out of spraying my doorknobs but I may still try some light fixtures and vents... Will be sure to let ya know if they work! ;)

Thank you for your honesty. I have been wanting to do this for ages but was a bit apprehensive and didn't want to end up with worse than I have already. So I think it will be putting up with the bright gold for awhile longer. It was good to find out beforehand.