The First of Many: I did it myself...

Well hello there lovelies! How are you all enjoying this wonderful mild weather!?!?! We are totally making use of our screened in porch area and using it for everything you could think of... meals, reading, coffee breaks... I-need-to-scream-into-a-pillow-before-I-lose-my-mind areas..you know- the usual stuff. :)

Anyway, I decided to start this week off right- as in, start ticking off the items I have accumulated on my mental "I need to get done" list. This diy was super simple and a perfect starter project for the faint diy-er at heart ... or if you just want to kick things off with an easy project...this is the one ya wanna do! When we bought the house we knew we didn't really like the gold door handles on all the doors in the house... yep, every single one was gold. Now, there is nothing wrong with a gold door knob, mind you, but the Mr. and I tend to gravitate toward darker finishes so we really wanted to carry that over into well, the door knobs. Only problem is, I am a cheapo and I hate to see a perfectly good anything get tossed out just because it's out- dated....so hmmmmm, what to do?!?!? Well, I decided to dig around the internet for some ideas...and whataya know!?!?! I found this lovely blog and a diy that was similar to what I wanted to accomplish. Armed with at least the assurance that it could be done, I headed over to the hardware store and literally sat in the spray paint aisle for a decade... the workers gradually got older every time they came back to check on me lol... I just really wanted to get it right, and get the look I wanted and I just really hate doing things twice... like my dad always says, " measure twice, cut once." (you carpenters out there will appreciate that).

I finally decided on this heavenly can of Rust- Oleum Metallic in Oil Rubbed Bronze and

hoped it would give me the look I was hoping for...

...and boy did it work! I am so happy with the results! I will say though, that because the handle is an odd shape you really need to figure out how you are going to secure it while spraying...because you want an even coat, no drippy marks and good coverage...I found that staking the back part into the ground was the best, because the newspaper I used on the first coat ended up sticking to the wet paint...and wouldn't come off without taking the paint with it. In all, it took 2 1/2 good coats, thought I would imagine if I had staked it down like I did with the second coat it may have only need 1 1/2 coats...

( this was taken right after I sprayed it...the paint is still wet, but you really can't tell!)

here's a before and after shot! Whataya think huh?!?! Not bad for $5 and change...! Best part is...all these handles got a second life out of the deal... and I didn't have to spend a ton to replace them all!

ps... I realize that the handle looks different...I forgot to take a before shot so I just snapped a pic of another handle in the house...they are all the same gold color so don't shoot me!!! lol...

even better part is... this only took like 10 minutes to do...if you don't count dry time...which was 1 hour per coat....

what projects have you all been working on lately? Any recommendations you have that I may want to add to my list, feel free to send my way! I would love to see pics/links to your projects as well!!

Happy Monday and Happy Crafting!!!