How to update vintage handles

Vintage handles can be so pretty and often suit the piece of furniture far better than more modern replacements. Over time they can get grubby, worn and the colour can fade. Just because they look past their best it doesnt mean they have to go in the bin! A couple of easy steps can make your hardware appear as good as new! This is a picture of the bedsides before I started work on them. You can see the handles aren't in the best shape.

First job is to remove them from your piece of furniture (obviously!) Once off, they need a really good clean to remove the years of grease, grime and goodness knows what else! Once this has been done you can update them in a few different ways. This example is one of many but it achieved the look I was after for this particular commission. 

Once clean and dry, I sprayed them with gold spray paint to give them and even coverage and to cover the existing tarnished finish. Then I painted them with Dixie Belle Gravel Road which is a warm, dark grey. I didn't want full coverage but just enough to cover the bright gold from the spray paint. The grey helps give a smoky, faded feel to the handles and creates some depth. They look pretty awful at this stage but stick with it!

Once the Gravel Road was dry, I took my Re-Design with Prima Gilding Waxes in the colours Diamond Dust and Amber Lights. I used a small brush to give full coverage with Diamond Dust which is a vintage, pale gold. Once this had dried, I used a small artists brush with Amber Lights - a brighter, warmer gold - to warm the tone of the gold slightly and to create some depth so that the handles didn't appear too one-dimensional. Prima Decor waxes dry permanent and very hard which means they require no additional topcoat.

Here are the results once dried and fixed back onto the painted bedside tables. I used the colour 'Tea Rose' from Dixie Belle Paint. 

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