A few weeks ago, we spray painted our tarnished door handle on the front door. We loved it so much, we decided to spray paint door knobs all over our house! Say bye-bye to your brass knobs with this cheap and simple project.

How to Spray Paint Door Knobs with Rustoleum's Oil-Rubbed Bronze | www.livelygreendoor.com

1. Remove

We only have nine doors in our house, so this wasn’t too bad. Keep track of the screws – you have to paint those too.

How to Spray Paint Door Knobs with Rustoleum's Oil-Rubbed Bronze | www.livelygreendoor.com

2. Clean

We used super fine steel wool to buff the brass, them cleaned it up with liquid deglosser. See the difference? The scuffs help spray paint adhere to a slick surface.

How to Spray Paint Door Knobs with Rustoleum's Oil-Rubbed Bronze | www.livelygreendoor.com

3. Spray Paint Door Knobs

I painted the knobs with my favorite oil rubbed bronze spray paint, by Rustoleum (it’s primer + paint!). It took about three coats, with drying time in between. The knobs had to be rotated to get the undersides and such. As for the screws, I set them upright by sticking them in a piece of packaging foam.

Spray Paint Tips: Always apply coats lightly and evenly. Don’t get the can closer than 12 inches to what you’re spraying. You want layers of a fine mist, not globs that drip.

How to Spray Paint Door Knobs with Rustoleum's Oil-Rubbed Bronze | www.livelygreendoor.com

4. Let Cure and Install

We let the paint cure for a day before reinstalling (except for the outside door because, well, we had to lock the door overnight, haha). Letting the solvents evaporate allows the paint to really harden.

How to Spray Paint Door Knobs with Rustoleum's Oil-Rubbed Bronze | www.livelygreendoor.com

Update: If we had to do it over, we’d spend ~$2 a pop to replace the plates in the door frame. They’re scratched from the latches! The door knobs, a year later, are in tip-top shape. Check it out!

How to Spray Paint Door Knobs with Rustoleum's Oil-Rubbed Bronze | www.livelygreendoor.com

4 Responses to How To Spray Paint Your Door Knobs

  1. Melissa says:

    I absolutely love this idea! My husband and I are getting ready to try this little DIY out ourselves. Quick idea, my grandmother uses those tiny little clear rubber pads that are about a centimeter in diameter and places them on the strike plate right where the latch hits it initially. It completely stops the scratching on the strike plate, because that scratching happens even on store-bought strike plates. It also doesn’t look bad or out of place. I didn’t even notice them until this year, and she informs me that she’s been doing it for over ten years!

    • paige says:

      Oh! That’s a great idea. Good tip on store-bought latch plates scratching too. I need to get on refreshing these.

    • Audrey says:

      Where do you find the clear rubber pads?

      • Paige says:

        I would check out Lowe’s or Home Depot in the same section they have the felt pads that go under furniture legs (around hardware and the 3M sticky hooks). It’s the same kind of thing you’d put on the inside of a cabinet to keep it from slamming. We haven’t tried it (mostly because the small scratches don’t bother us) but I’m sure it’d work well (and for cheap!)

Leave a Reply