If you are someone who reads DIY magazines or watches DIY Network or HGTV, there are ALWAYS a lot of tips that are given out by people to do certain jobs. No doubt, if you are one of these people, you’ve heard about stripping paint off of hardware in a crockpot.
I actually used a giant roaster. But it has a slow-cooker level. So that’s awesome. We have a massive holiday party every year and we cook a gigantic amount of soups in the giant roasters for some 40-80 people depending on the year and the weather.
Generally, the soups look much more delicious than this. Lead paint stew. Yum!
And, don’t worry, frequent guests of our party : once I used this for paint stripping, it became my dedicated “Home Improvement Crockpot.” Because, everyone needs one of those.
All the hardware at the Cottage had been heavily painted over, but it was really, really detailed and crazy gorgeous. I love when anything involving paint stripping can be done with the last amount of chemicals possible, and this was just water and laundry soap. Put it in, let it soak, and cook it overnight. So trying this was a no-brainer. And I knew the hardware was going to be remarkable when it was done.
Here’s what they looked like.
A few other kitchen implements were destroyed in this process. But here’s how it all played out:
It just peeled off in sheets. SO GRATIFYING.
WHY WOULD YOU PAINT OVER THIS OH MY GOODNESS TAKE TEN EXTRA MINUTES AND PAINT AROUND IT. People.
My heart almost stopped when I realized it was COPPER. I figured it was brass or pressed tin. BUT IT WAS COPPER. Swoon.
Before (or, kind of during) :
After. I dare ANYONE to say that they like the cream paint better then this copper. It’s freaking amazing.
And since I used a roaster, I could do a WHOLE 900 Square Foot house in one shot.
Please. For the love of everything, don’t paint your hardware. And if it’s painted, start working on making it beautiful and we can be best friends. Because this is what gorgeous quality looks like.
Yeah, I just don’t get people who paint over door hardware. It always looks so cheap and tacky, regardless of what the hardware looked like. Is there a “How to decorate like a slumlord” book out there giving people ideas?
Thankfully, no hardware was painted in our house (or woodwork either!!), but I’ve had to strip a fair bit of salvaged hardware I’ve bought. The crock pot method does work great! Unfortunately the paint-slathered big cast-iron heat register I recently bought will not fit in my crock pot 🙁
“How to Decorate Like a Slumlord” would probably be an amazingly successful blog.
I actually have a giant roaster that I use for lager pieces like heat registers!