How to Paint Drawer Pulls - Kitchen Update on a Budget

When I bought my house in 2006 I loved the size of the kitchen but HATED the outdated linoleum floor and kick myself in the butt for not having the buyer put in a new floor before I bought it, but you live and learn, right???

The house is older, about 70 or more years old, and has been renovated a few times throughout its lifetime. I think the last renovation of the kitchen was done in the late 80s or early 90s.....judging by the almond colored appliances and hunter green diamond patterned linoleum! (ugh!!!!)

So needless to say I have wanted to do a kitchen makeover ever since day one, but money doesn't grow on trees......well at least not in MY yard anyways! LOL

Luckily the cabinets have been painted in a soft cream color to blend in with the almond color appliances, and the counter tops and back splash are neutral as well, so I decided that I would have to live with it for a while but there were a few small things I could do to update the space until I was ready to do a full kitchen makeover.

The thing that stuck out the most to me besides the flooring was the cabinet hardware.

They were brass pulls with a white knob in the middle.



However, I needed roughly 30+ knobs and after pricing new knobs it was going to cost quite a bit to replace all of them and I felt this was an unnecessary cost considering in another year or two I was going to renovate the kitchen anyway.

So I did what every thrifty chick would do and
I painted them!

It was the BEST. DECISION.EVER!

 

So let me walk you through the process.

Here is what I started with. Cream colored cabinets with all the pulls removed. 

 

 

 

 

 

And there they are. The boring brass drawer pulls that need to go.

Before painting, I scrubbed all the pulls in the sink with hot water and an scouring pad to remove any grime or grease build up, and to give the finish a light buffing.

I HIGHLY recommend doing this to prep your handles.

 

Then I sprayed the handles with a coat of this spray primer.

 

 

 I let them FULLY dry over night, then gave them two coats of my favorite go-to Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint, and let them dry in between coats.

 

 

 

And voila! Instant update! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now my drawer pulls coordinate with my oil rubbed bronze light fixture, and stands out against the cream color cabinets and yellow walls.

 

 

 

 

 

This project was SO easy to do that I was kicking myself for having waited so long!

 

It is labor intensive because you have to remove all the hardware, scrub each piece, then put them all back on once they are dry, so its not hard work, just tedious but so worth it! 

 

We also added a medallion above the oven, and quarter round to the base boards to finish off the floor, so  that helped update the kitchen as well, but these drawer pulls really brought everything together.

 

And now, even thought the kitchen still needs to be updated, it is more tolerable and not such an eye sore.

 

 

Now, for an update:

 

This project was done last Summer, (I know, bad blogger for taking so long post), but need to tell you that the drawer pulls have held up WONDERFULLY.

 I do not have ANY chips or rubbing off of the paint.

 

Absolutely NONE!

 

Before I tackled this project I was worried about the durability of the paint and because I was on a tight budget I was fearful of getting it started only to find out the paint would not look right so that is why I took extra time to prep the handles by cleaning and scuffing them up with the scouring pad AND for more assurance I used  a primer too, so I don't really know if these two things made a difference, but I know that they are holding up beautifully and even my friends and family were surprised at how nicely they turned out...................and I have a few friends who are wanting to paint theirs now after seeing how mine have held up.

 

So I am completely happy with how they turned out and would do it all over again!

 

 

 

As for my total kitchen makeover, well, that will start this winter, but for now it looks much better and will do until I decide on what I want to do with the flooring.

 

(There are SO many flooring choices that its hard

to chose one!)

 

 

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

 

Jennifer

 

 

 

 

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