Updating Hardware

For all four of you who anxiously waiting Baby Girl's nursery reveal, I promise it is coming. I'm so incredibly close to be finished.

Until then, I thought I'd share a little side, easy project I did a couple of weeks ago. Since we moved into our house, I've always wanted a corner hutch for my dining room. I was talking about this with my mom a couple of months ago and she said that she knew exactly where I could find one: my grandpa's house. Turns out that my grandma (who has since passed away) bought an antique hutch once upon a time, but it's basically just been sitting in their bedroom. I was pretty close to this grandma and loved the idea of having a piece of furniture that was hers. So after seeing it and judging that it would work, I asked my grandpa if I could buy it from him and he was more than happy to oblige.

My brother-in-law and sister were SO sweet and stopped to pick it up for me on their way to come visit a couple of weeks ago. It needed a little TLC. After vacuuming it out and brushing off the cobwebs, I used the wood conditioner that I absolutely love on it to give it a little more life again.

The next thing I did was update the hardware simply by spray painting it. The hardware blended in with the furniture and I knew if I painted it, the piece of furniture would fit right in with my table and chairs that I just redid. If you haven't looked lately, hardware for cabinets, dressers, hutches, etc. can add up to a pretty penny. Unless you REALLY want a certain kind of hardware, I would suggest first painting your hardware to see if you like it better. This is such an easy fix most of the time and saves you a lot of money. I'm a huge fan of spray paint, if you haven't noticed. :)

So I took off all the hardware and laid it out to spray paint (the six knobs on the right were actually from another dresser). The color I chose to use was the Oil Rubbed Bronze. This is great for updating metal especially. If you haven't noticed though, each of those butterfly hinges had 6 screws a piece. I had no clue how to paint 48 screws (there's one butterfly hinge not shown above) without making a huge mess and having to paint the entire screw. My sister Natalie always comes to the rescue and shared a great tip with me:

 Find a thin cardboard box and just stick the screws in it. This was perfect as I could just spray paint the tops of the screws in two easy coats without having to change angles or rotate them.

So how does it compare when all is said and done? Look for yourself:

BEFORE

AFTER

 I wish I had a better camera so you could really see the difference. Just know that now it looks like it has always belonged in my dining room and isn't a boring thing sitting in the corner. And it cost me less than $3! So next time you want to get new hardware, try some spray paint first. It might surprise you how much it updates your furniture!