I am using Behr primer with paint on my cabinets and in the process of wet-sanding them down to a nice polish. We like the paint color and just stayed with Behr cause this is what we started with. After a few coats, the paint definitely needs time to dry between coats. I made the mistake of putting one on top of the other after a few days of drying and the paint stuck together. But once their are hung on the cabinets we will use those gel pads on our doors to prevent the doors from rubbing against the bases. All in all- I wish I would have done more research on the paint- but we just stuck with the paint to keep it uniformed. I finally gathered enough courage to talk to a local painter about getting a better polish on my cabinets and he told me about wet-sanding! Do your research and another thing he told me; paint with a brush and THEN back roll... don't dip your roller in the paint- just back roll... Before In the process...

lkremodel, which style and finish did you mean? I went to Lockhouse but didn't see anything different. I went to 3 Emtek dealers today. I saw your Rectangular Full Length one. Did you know how massive that thing is? It's really big and heavy. Make sure you see one in person first. I'm considering the smaller rectangular one, the rectangular monolithic. But it's so plain! Plus it has a curvy handle, and my door is all straight lines. I saw the Arts & Crafts one, the one I wanted, but the ORB finish is just not going to go with my black-leaded glass. It's way too reddish, and the hammered texture in the middle really shows the brassy color. About the texture: depending on the method of casting, some have more texture than others. So, the sandcast bronze ones have kind of a rustic look, not totally smooth. The Wrought steel have the roughest finish, like pebbly, but on a small scale. Those are the ones that come only in black, rust and satin steel. The cast brass ones are all smooth. I'm really striking out here on Emtek. I will have to look further to find an Arts & Crafts one in black, or get the Wilshire in Pewter. It's not black, but it's at least a little darker. Sigh.

Resurrecting an old thread - I have been considering painting the door trim the same color as the door. I was happy to see this post that said it was stunning - but I can't find any pictures of this at all (other than some wood doors that have wood trim). Does any one have any pictures of door and trim painted the same color, or is there some design reason why this is rarely done?

Think long and hard about painting a fireplace if it is a working fireplace. Think too about how long you are going to be in the house. If you are planing on moving anytime soon I'd think again about changing the fireplace. A good option if you aren't going to be in the house much longer so you can still get what you want is to use inexpensive plywood to cover over the brick and then paint. Brick typically needs to be cleaned well and primed before painting. It's not easy painting brick as it will suck up lots of paint and applying it is not what I'd call a fun day of painting.