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Boiling Paint from Window Hardware

Yesterday, I did many things (it was my "day off"...bwah ha!) but one of the most interesting was trying out a suggestion that I read long ago to boil old paint off of some window hardware.

You see, we need some curtains. We took the greasy miniblinds off of the windows so we could work on OPENING the windows and didn't have the heart to put them back up. They are so hard to clean. So I've been picturing period curtains, hung halfway down the window to provide privacy and let in the sunlight. My timetable sped up when the dog began barking at our neighbor...a lot. She was in our dining room and he was in his. He is a excellent neighbor and she's not the brightest bulb, but...these houses are CLOSE.

I dug around in the basement and came up with some old curtain rod hardware...not nearly as old as the house, but old enough to be interesting.

The most interesting type, to me, is on the end in the above photo. A barrel shape with some deep groves cut into it. And under the paint, the patina is a bronze-ish color. (My dad tells me that these are still available at some hardware stores...I'll check that out when I have used up what we've found.)

So, I deposited the ones that needed the treatment most in a pot with water, set it to boil, and buried myself in a media project.

It worked relatively well. I'm sure there is something that I skipped because I didn't search around for the original recommendation. Some paint boiled off immediately and some had to be chipped off with my thumbnail, but it all came off.

So it's CURTAINS soon. Temporary--until I actually free up some time to make ones that I like better--the ones left over in the house of course. :) No more barking dog.

Why do we reuse? Because we would love to afford to buy old/new and just can't swing it right now. "Working bathrooms" come before "pretty." Bummer, eh? And it's always good to recycle old parts when they are working and when you can.

(To wrap up this entry, I wanted to call out a delighted "hello!" to some old friends at Table Talk via Salon.com. This group, besides being one of the wittiest, smartest, most fun, fast moving on the web today --you may preen now, I think Micki Sue would say ;) --is a group that I miss terribly. For those who are into Houses, you'll find the groups at American Bungalow and Fine Homebuilding's Breaktime Forum to contain some kindred spirits...)

Posted by jeanne on November 18, 2003 at 9:26 AM (2)

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