DIY Spraypainted Desk Hardware

I have to admit I'm not a super handy person; I grew up playing with candy-colored nail polish and worrying about broken fingernails. I never touched a hammer until I graduated college, and didn't buy my first toolkit until a few years after that. Putting furniture together from Ikea is tedious and even the "easy" do it yourself (DIY) projects intimidate me. But lately the blogosphere has become so inundated with the DIY craze (thanks Pinterest) that I simply had to try one for myself. So, without further ado... here's my 1st DIY project for the blog. 

I had a desk sitting around unused for years in my parents house, but when I moved to a new apartment recently, I brought it with me. It has a sense of history, it's real furniture (READ: solid wood, unlike Ikea) and it's in good condition, but it is showing slight hints of age- the brass handles have oxidized quite a bit over the years. While some people enjoy the weathered look, it simply isn't my aesthetic of choice for furniture. Over at anthropologie, they have beautiful hardware for sale, but it's très expensive-  the absolute cheapest pulls I could use were $12 each. I needed 7 pulls for my desk, which would cost me $84 plus tax and shipping. So instead of buying pricey new hardware, I decided to give what I already had a face-lift. I removed all of the hardware with a flat-head screwdriver (you can buy one at a hardware store for a dollar). 

I read online that steel wool and a cleaner called Bab-o would remove the tarnish and bring back luster, glimmer, shimmer and shine. They lied (see picture above)... I scrubbed until my arms were tired and only splotchy portions of the handles shone. After all that work, the handles looked uglier than when I started... at that point there was no turning back.

Equipped with a can of Krylon gold spray paint and an old sheet to protect my hardwood floors, I got to work. I opened all the windows in my apartment, put on clothes that I didn't care about and tied a scarf around my nose and mouth to prevent paint inhalation (thanks Carol). I laid all the handles out on the sheet and sprayed away. Did I mention this was my first time EVER using spray paint??? It was really easy once I got used to spraying lightly. Once everything was coated, I stepped away, admired my work and waited a few hours for them to dry.

About 4 hours later, I reattached them to my desk with the screws and a flat head screwdriver. The shiny updated hardware looks so much better. This project cost me absolutely nothing (that's right $0) because I already had all the materials. It would cost you about $5 for the spray paint and if you don't have any old sheets, you can always use a dollar store plastic shower curtain as a tarp. 

What do you think of the results? Would you try this at home? Do you have any DIY projects that you are itching to do? Leave your comments below.

xX Helene