How I’m Restoring Century-Old Hardware (in 3 steps)

My vision for the comfort cottage has always been for the space to be warm and inviting while reflecting a vintage-style interior. I've salvaged just about everything I could from the existing house when we demo'd to reuse during the renovation. One of the items available (in abundance!) for me to salvage at the house... is doors. There are so many doors at the house! I knew I had to get organized because I want every doorknob in the main house and guest cottages to be unique. To prep, I unhinged every door, moved them to my workshop, labeled them, and removed all their hardware (if it even had any!)

Next, I went shopping for the missing knobs on some of the doors. I visited a local antique hardware store and spent 4 hours making my own doorknob sets out of salvaged pieces. Taking the time to plan and make my own sets ensures that the results I'm going to get are genuinely one-of-a-kind.

Each set includes:

• 2 plates

• 2 doorknobs

• Mortise lock

• Strike plate

• Threaded spindle

My goal is for each room to have its own style direction. For example, I may do all-metal doorknobs in the main bedroom or ceramic knobs in all the doors in the pantry and coffee bar.

Grouping the knobs in smaller collections ensure that I'm making the space look cohesive instead of having a random assortment of doorknobs in the rooms.

3 Easy Steps to Restore Vintage Knobs

Stripping the paint off the knobs was so much easier than I thought it would be and it only requires a crockpot and white vinegar!

Step 1

Lay your hardware in a crockpot and fill it with enough water to submerge them. Set the pot on high and let sit for 6 hours.

Step 2

The paint will literally strip off once you remove the hardware from the crockpot. It’s SO satisfying, LOL! I used a pair of tongs to remove all the paint but scraping lightly with my nail was most effective.

Step 3

Once all the paint has been completely removed put the hardware in a plastic container and submerge it in white vinegar for 2 hours.

Remove the pieces from the vinegar soak, wipe them down, and you’ve got yourself restored century-old hardware! These beauties are now ready to be repurposed at the cottage. The process is so easy, just a bit time-consuming since, you know… I have SO many doors, haha.

Do you guys know of any other ways to restore hardware? Let me know in the comments below!

XO, MaCenna