DIY Door Update to Change Hinge Colors Quickly

How to use Rub n Buff to change hinge colors for a quick and easy door update without removing them from door frames.

One of the quirks nobody tells you about old houses is the old door hinges you inherit with decades of previous owners’ paint mistakes.

I finally got tired of looking at our 60+ year-old paint splattered hinges and wanted to change our door hinge colors without the hassle of removing them from the door.

Sure it’s not the “correct” way, but it does the job in just 5 minutes for an easy DIY door makeover.

(Robert is currently immobile from a recent knee surgery, and I figured why not try this wild idea to fix a small detail on my own that was driving me crazy?)

Tip: You can remove paint from door hinges by placing them in an old slow cooker filled with water and a few tablespoons of liquid laundry detergent for several hours. The paint should peel right off of the metal.

To be fair… that blue paint spot on the hinge is from us with a painters tape fail. ?

But I also wanted to change the color of hinges entirely without actually replacing the hinges.

How to Change Door Hinge Colors with Rub n Buff in Minutes

Enter: Rub n Buff.

I use this Rub n Buff miracle stuff on everything.

See Also: Rub n Buff Colors Tried and Tested

Here is what the colors look like before buffing them out.

This post barely warrants a tutorial, if you’ve ever used Rub n Buff before but here it is anyway. ?

Supplies

• Rub n Buff in your choice of color
• Small paint brush or disposable vinyl/latex gloves
• Disposable plate
• Dry, lint-free rag
• Painter’s tape (optional)

Step 1

Place painter’s tape around the hinges still attached to protect the front and side of the door from getting any Rub n Buff on the surface.

Step 2

Apply a dime-sized amount of Rub n Buff to a disposable paper plate. A little goes a long way, so don’t go overboard.

My favorite brass / gold shade is European Gold because it’s slightly less saturated than the other colors. But if you wanted to change your door hinges to a silver color, the Pewter and Silver Leaf shades would work well too.

I love how this muted gold pops against the Sherwin Williams Smoky Blue color we used.

Step 3

Using your small paint brush or just your gloved finger, apply a thin layer of Rub n Buff to the metal door hinge.

Step 4

After letting the Rub n Buff dry for about 1 minute, rub away any excess with a dry rag or a clean, gloved finger until it shines.

Easy DIY Brass Hinges

That’s it! So easy!

Eventually, we’d like to change out our door hinges entirely, but considering this was a spur of the moment decision, I’m really impressed with what a difference it made to upgrade these eyesores on our doors.

We swapped the outdated 80s door knobs on Olivia’s closet doors with this pretty antique brass double door knob set. They remind me of the talking knob from Alice in Wonderland.

Tip: Rub n Buff doesn’t work well on exterior doors or door hardware that is frequently touched like knobs, but you can use this tutorial to spray paint door knobs that I used on our old faucets.

I’ve used this method many times and it holds up beautifully! Make sure not to skip the sanding, priming, and spray lacquer steps for extra durability.

We’ve slowly been addressing the decades of bad paint jobs underneath all of these interior doors’ paint layers upstairs that started to fail, and even though I absolutely despise paint stripping, there’s a good chance that’s in our future too. I’m really not looking forward to that project.

But correcting the peeling paint layers underneath from decades of previous owners not correctly prepping/priming, changing out mismatched door knobs, and touching up these door hinges has already made a world of difference!

Would you Rub n Buff your door hinges? I can’t believe I never did this before because it’s awesome!

DIY Door Update Ideas

• The Best Trick for Painting French Doors
• DIY Mirrored French Closet Doors
• How to Paint Doors and Make Them Durable
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