Rocking the hardware

If you have been following my blog you know I'm a sucker for all things old: old houses, old books, old art, old furniture, and more.
In keeping with that spirit I do hold a not-so-secret love for the old door hardware in our Ugly Duckling. Ages ago I talked about and showed you pictures of how upstairs not one room has matching door hardware and some of it -style-wise - even pre-dates our house which makes you or at least me wonder how and why it ended up here.
Downstairs - between living room, dining room, library, kitchen, laundry room, half-bath and vestibule - our little old house features a total of three different types of door hardware, but at least they are more in keeping with the age and style of our house than the ones found upstairs.

Just like upstairs, however, they have repeatedly been painted over or caked with paint along the edges marring their aged brass patina - a look that is flattering to nobody ever. It's just sloppy.

I was surprised how easily they came off. Despite the fact that some screws were worn down and almost blank on top, I was able to carve a slit deep enough for the screw driver head to find purchase into the top and unscrew them.
After that it was a walk in the park.
Dirt of almost one hundred years had collected between the escutcheon and the door - yuck! - where it had found a way through the keyhole, I guess, including parts of bugs and other unpleasantries. Double yuck! Fortunately, nothing was alive!

 I love love love the look of aged brass patina. There is just nothing that has that same warm honeyed glow and luster.

I didn't want to mar the hardware anymore than necessary by scraping with sharp tools nor loose too much of the patina so I gunked the hardware all up with gobs of stripper. It smells great while you wait for the paint to shrivel up and come off.

Once clean I decided to give the hardware a brief spray-over with Rustoleum's Metallic Brass spray paint. Not a full coat, mind you, just a brief misting to even out the color variations, scratches and other markings while preserving the aged patina.

 This also required only a minimal paint station set-up. I'm telling you, a quick-fix like this - set-up and goal achieved in minimal amount of time - is good for the soul as you pick away at the more Sisyphus-type projects like stripping stair case spindles or the like.

Not like I would know anything about that.
Nuh-uh.

This is the "After" - a vintage escutcheon all shiny. It appears almost new, with enough of the old patina showing through the refresher coat of paint to create the "well-loved through the ages" kind of shine that makes my heart go pitter-patter.