Do you want to know a simple and frugal way to give your kitchen and bathroom a quick new look? Instead of spending money to buy all new drawer pulls and cabinet knobs, just change the color of the hardware with spray paint. It takes about $5 and 5 minutes to update your kitchen and bathroom hardware.
The $5 goes towards buying a can of spray paint. Tip: You may want to splurge the extra dollar or two and buy the brand of spray paint with the nicer nozzle that doesn’t drip paint as much as the cheaper spray paint cans. I learned the hard way and got paint all over myself. It wore off after about a week…
So the part about this project taking five minutes is a little misleading. It does take about 5 minutes to spray paint the hardware, but it takes about a day for the paint to get good and dry. It will also take you a few minutes to remove the hardware from the drawers and cabinets and then put them back on when you are finished. Tip: Use a power screwdriver.
I am really happy with my kitchen and bathroom’s new look. The cabinets and drawers hardware started out silver and I used Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint to give them a brand new look! I am so glad I did not go with my original plan of spending more than $150 to purchase new bronze-colored hardware. Spending $5 to paint my existing hardware (which functions just fine and doesn’t need to be replaced anyway) gave me the exact look I was going for at a much better price.
“Before” Photos:
“After Photos”
This is a very easy project (I did it, didn’t I?). I’ll give you the play-by-play of how I did this kitchen and bathroom hardware makeover just in case you decide to try it one day.
Materials Needed:
Spray Paint
Paint Tarp or other Protective Surface
Hard, Flat Surface such as a scrap piece of Plywood
Power Screw Driver
How To Spray Paint Your Drawer Pulls and Cabinet Knobs:
Step One: Use power screw driver to remove hardware from drawers and cabinets.
Step Two: Put down a paint cloth or tarp to protect the surface you will be painting on. Put the plywood on top of the protected surface and arrange your drawer pulls and cabinet knobs a couple inches apart on top of the plywood.
Step Three: Following the directions on your spray paint can, spray the drawer pulls and cabinet knobs with one coat of spray paint. Try to reach the “hard to reach” places such as the undersides by tilting the spray paint can as you spray. Allow to dry for a few minutes (less than 10) and apply a second coat of spray paint. Be careful to not drench your hardware with spray paint. Allow to dry overnight.
Step Four: Check your paint job and make sure none of the old color is visible. If you missed some spots or just want to add another layer of spray paint, repeat step 3. Once the paint job is complete and hardware is completely dry, use power screw driver to reattach hardware to drawers and cabinets. Tip: Don’t worry if the paint job isn’t perfect on the parts that won’t show once the hardware is reattached to the cabinets and drawers. The front is the most important.
Have you ever given your kitchen, bathroom or furniture hardware a spray paint makeover? How did it go? Share your tips with us! If I have left out any steps or you need more information, feel free to ask questions in the comments section.
LuAnn Braley says
It is amazing how much making a small change to something can change its whole look. Those look fantastic, Nicole!
Nicole says
Thanks so much, LuAnn. It really did change the look a lot – I never would have thought it until I saw it. Plus it was so cheap and easy to do, I should have done it sooner! 🙂