We finally had a reason to update the hardware on our front door — and the fact that the house would be on camera pushed us to get it done. A recent return to Lowe’s for some dead hydrangeas even refunded $80, which more than covered the roughly $50 cost of the new hardware. Here’s how we replaced our front door knob and deadbolt and refreshed the surrounding paint for a clean, cohesive look.
The old brass doorknob set clashed with our almost-black oil-rubbed bronze porch lights and black shutters, and the deadbolt required a key to lock from the inside — an annoying design choice. Replacing the hardware solved both the stylistic mismatch and the functionality problem, so out with the old it went.
The new oil-rubbed bronze knob and deadbolt went in without much fuss. The only issue was that the existing hole for the knob was slightly too small for the new set. A makeshift chisel — in our case a flathead screwdriver and a hammer — quickly widened the opening. During removal of the old hardware a bit of red paint also peeled away, which we addressed next.
At first we tried a quick paint-over after light sanding, but the edge where the old paint met the new remained visible. To get a seamless finish, we applied spackle to fill the uneven ridge. After it dried we sanded the patched areas smooth and painted over them for a uniform surface.
We finished with a few coats of Valspar’s Fabulous Red to match the rest of the porch. The paint brought the whole entryway together and hid the previous flaws. Here it is while drying — already a big improvement.
We also added a bull-ring knocker for extra character. It took a trip to a specialty hardware store in Richmond (Pleasant’s Hardware) to find the right piece, but the $23 knocker matched the new oil-rubbed bronze finish perfectly even though it was labeled “antique bronze.” It complements the Quickset knob and deadbolt and completes the refreshed look of our front door.