How to Paint Brass Finished Finds

Before:

After:

So many adorable things are in an outdated shiny brass finish, much like this sort of awesome table, one of my thrifty finds for the Craft Room Redesign Project. I read all of your advice, then looked at the space, then still couldn't decide, then just went for a bright shade of red.

There's a few tricks to re-painting brass finished items, but overall it's easy peasy. Imagine what you could do with cheapo thrift store brass light fixtures! Find out how to repaint brass after the jump...

What do you think of the red? Have you re-painted anything brass or brass-finished? Tell us abuot it in the comments, or post a picture on facebook. You could win some adorbs ueklele fabric!
How to Paint Brass

So I found this table for $44 on ebay.


I love that it swivels to save space, so I can fold it up when I need to pull out the fold out bed for guests.


I also just thought it had potential to be neat-looking.


First you need to check if you item is actual brass or just brass finished. The first sign is that actual brass is super heavy. The best way to check if it's actual brass is to stick a magnet to it. Brass is not magnetic, but brass-finished metal is. If you are out thrifting and don't have a magnet, you can give the finish a little scratch. If the scratched area seems white or silver, then it is just a brass finish. Kinda hard to see in the picture, but the scratch proved that this was just a brass-finish table. Score, because re-painting brass requires some etching into the brass that is a pain. Re-painting brass finish is way easier.


So first I removed all of the glass (it just lifted out) and the rubber stoppers between the glass and the table (those little black things):


Now we just have our table frame:


Now your supplies. Cleaner, towel, and steel wool or scouring pad. Clean the table well.


Now use your steel wool or scouring pad and rub it all over the frame. You'll see it leaves some scratches in it, we are preparing it to hold the spray paint:


Lay down a tarp or plastic sheeting and shake your spray paint really well. Always buy two cans of spray paint, you will always think you can do it with one then have to go to the store for another can. Give the piece a light coat of paint all over and let it set for an hour or so:


Give it a second coat, then a third if necessary. Keep the can 12" away as you spray to avoid drips. Drips are your enemy. Don't be in a hurry.


Let it dry overnight. You can seal it with a sealing spray as well. Then put your stopper and glass back in (or whatever accessories).


What do you think? Do you like the red? Too eighties or just ballsy enough? I know y'all aren't superfans of the tinted glass but I couldn't bring myself to mess with it just yet. Each pane is a different shade, there's some 80's-fab about it that I like, though it looks better in person than in photos. We'll see how it looks all put together, then I'll make a call.


I can always go back and repaint it if it doesn't fit in with my final look, but I think once you see what I did with the chair and couch, you might like it.


Throw some plants and crafty books on there. I love Handmade Marketplace and Handmade Beginnings so much.


Jacinda gave me those pencils years ago (they have my name on them!!) and they're like my favorite accessory ever.


Voila.