DIYbanter - View Single Post - Decorating question: to paint or not to paint hardware

wrote:
1. I'm repainting my door. The previous owner had painted the hinges
and the little slide lock white along with the door. I think it's lame.
Am I right? Those pieces should shine in their brass or copper or
bronze beauty, no?

My previous owner had done the same thing throughout the house, on both
doors and windows. I'm now in the process of either stripping all this
paint or (more often) just replacing the hardware.

I would say never paint door or window hardware. It's not meant to be
painted and definitely doesn't need it to extend life. These are all
finished pieces as is. I think painting them is poor from a design
standpoint and also just looks sloppy, because it's obvious that
whoever did the painting just didn't go to the trouble to either cover
up or remove the hardware when they painted.

2. I'm repainting my wrought iron banister. The previous owner had
selected a swampy diarrheal darkish green with a shade of yellowish
puke. And also painted the screwes that by which the banister is fixed
to the floor. I think that those too should show naturally, but here
I'm not so sure. Could leaving them unpainted, which in this case would
amount to replacing them, lead to an undesirable industrial look. Or
will it, as I hope, look cool?

This is a tougher one. I'd probably paint the screws. It depends on
what they actually look like in relation to the iron bannister.

I think it comes down to whether the screws look they're part of the
structure of the bannister or not, and whether they're the same
material (obviously they're not iron screws, but they are metal). It
would be different if you had a wood bannister with brass screws or
something. But you can always try it unpainted and see; screws don't
cost much.