OK I just debrassed my house as it is going on the market next week.

I got lever style doorknobs from Build.com (or it might have been buildirect). Anyway, Copper Creek I think was the brand. Very reasonable, they look great, but a touch rickety on my hollow core doors. Oh well. I think they were about $20 each.

I got hinges thru Amazon. A dollar a pair I believe it was. Very reasonable.

I got cabinet pulls through Amazon. A dollar each. Allison I think was the brand. They look fantastic though not what I would have chosen for myself. More transitional style than contemporary but better than bright brass that was starting to turn green (heh).

I also did my cabinet hinges because they were double demountable and visible. There were no deals anywhere on these so I got them through Amazon as they were the cheapest.

I did new bathroom light fixtures as well. Through Amazon.

I believe I spent about $550 but about $200 of that was for the double demountable hinges.

Good luck!

If you're talking door knobs, you can find five packs for 35.00 on Ebay or even cheaper. 10-12/piece for lever handles.

A realtor told you to swap out your brass hardware as part of readying a house for sale? I'm speechless.

I'd also find a different realtor, but that's me.

That's a smart realtor who knows that buyers don't care much for brass these days. It tends to make the whole house look dated, causing buyers to take into account how much it would cost to update when thinking about making an offer. Do all buyers hate brass? No. But, enough of the market does that it's smart to update to ORB, brushed nickel, or chrome in prep for listing.

I wouldn't change out brass unless it was in bad condition (no different than any other finish as far as that goes). If it is cheap gold colored stuff and not brass or even a good quality brass plating -- well, maybe it's worth it. I would consider good brass hardware a neutral or possibly a plus. Cheap stuff or anything in poor condition and need of repair or replacement in any finish would be a negative.

we are currently looking at houses, and would buy a house full of brass ... but only at a discounted price.

Brass is the latest trend and so is sea grass wallpaper!

I don't think the 90s brass we are talking about is the latest trend. Sorry!

I looked at upscale, newer houses in my neighborhood, and every single one had either ORB, brushed nickel, or chrome. If that's what people associate with "upscale", I'd exchange the hardware.

I got all mine on ebay. $10 or less per lockset and $1 per hinge.

I'll be swapping out my brass when I put my home up this spring, but only because I'll be taking my Baldwin Brass with me. : )

There ya go!

I used directdoorhardware.com , about $16 per knob ($200 for the house) and they have held up beautifully. They replaced a defective knob rapidly, no questions asked. I got hinges off ebay also less than $1 each. I paid my teenager $1 per hinge to change them out. He did one at a time so that the doors did not have to come off.

We also had to buy a drill template/bit combo at HD for about $20 because the cross-bore for the shafts of the new knobs (the hole in the side of the door) was bigger than our old ones. The template also comes with the circular drill bit for the larger bore (the one on the face of the door) but we did not need to use that. Websites like DDH have the bore size information that you can match to your current doors.

Great!! Thank you everyone! All these little repairs add up, so this is all really helpful!!!

I found some deals on Overstock. Look for discount codes - I get 12 - 15% off emails all the time.

We're not talking historic brass here...

I've got a bunch of shiny brass ball passage and privacy sets. Want to buy them? Plus some brass wire pulls...they were called "European" when I bought my house. You can buy them online now for 50 cents. I guess my dollar pulls are a 100% enhancement!

I wouldn't use it on the strike plates, but you can spray paint all the hinges and maybe the doorknobs for little of nothing. I couldn't, for the life of me, find oil rubbed bronze bathroom lights and fixtures that I liked, so I spray painted the brass ones we had, and they turned out great. My temporary fix has been going for several years now and until I saw this thread I had all but forgotten we painted them. The technique we used was to first paint a flat bronze paint on them, then painted the oil rubbed over that a couple of hours later. I found the technique on the web so if you are interested just look for it.

Lots of people have done it, it is a LOT more durable than I expected. We did it on our hand towel holder and years later there is not a single blemish on the paint (yeah I just went and looked at it.) Anyway, best of luck.

I did that too and used Krylon ORB to spray paint all of the builder grade, cheap-o "brass" or "brass-looking" fixtures in our old house. I am not opposed to brass when it is done right but these were downright hideous. It was going to cost us thousands to replace the door handles and other fixtures. We had to touch them up a bit before we sold as there were a few chips, but they held up pretty well.
http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2508446/painting-brass-doorknobs

Builder grade brass and Sea Grass wallpaper may be trendy on HGTV or Garden Web, but not in the real world of real estate. Your agent is right on... low cost and big impact.

Grasscloth is beautiful.

I'm all for making inexpensive changes that have a disproportionate impact. But make sure that you're not shooting yourself in the foot. If you're changing nice brass, especially unfinished, for cheap builder grade pewter looking stuff, that is a bad idea.

We are finishing up a reno where we kept gold tone/brass look plumbing fixtures in the powder room and master bath and kept all of the brass door hardware. However, we stripped the lacquer coating off of all the brass cabinet pulls and changed them to an oil rubbed type finish, and changed out all of the cheap brass light fixtures for uncoated brass or oil rubbed bronze. Between that and new paint, it looks fantastic - the mixed metals are right on trend today.

bry911 and pipdog- my builder grade home has all flimsy hollow core doors and i am afraid that if i take the hinges off, they will not screw back in (nothing to screw to?) my concern is based on the hinges popping out of one of our doors and the only way we could get it the screws to stay in is with gorilla glue (carpenters we are NOT)

is there any way to paint the hinges in place? and what paint do you recommend?

op sounds like painting may be a better option

also contractor packs at HD may be an option as well.

You can paint them in place pretty easy. Use some plastic, use wide masking tape over everything, and go back and expose the hinges with a razor blade. Do the plate side with the door open and the hinge side with the door closed. Will be a bit of work to tape it all off but could be easily done.

My hinges were screwed into particle board so they were flimsy as well. Almost all took the new hinge. Those that didn't - used the old matchstick trick. That is, put a small sliver of wood in the hole, break it off flush, then that should tighten it up enough to take the screw.

As someone said above, you don't need to take the door off the hinges. Just do one hinge at a time.

Thank you all for your suggestions! All of these updates really add up in cost, so your thoughts/ideas are very much appreciated!

Painting the old hardware sounds good...a lot of ORB and nickel are usually just faux finished steel anyway...no bronze or nickel there!

Yes, but they are powder coated electrostatically, which is way more durable than just paint.

But, it does sound like some posters have had success with painting theirs, so it may be an option. For such little cost though, it seems a swap is in order. Most homeowners are not good DIYers, and agents and buyers are really good at picking out DIY jobs.

AHA! So that's why all the brass light fixtures, towel bars, doorknobs etc. in the local Restore - LOL.

Rustoleum is actually quite durable - esp for pieces not handled much - I used metallic black on some things that have held up quite well - including a cheap brass colored (not real) light fixture and some antique iron heat vent grates and cabinet latches. Of course do proper priming and prep.

Now, if it was SOLID real brass - I think that stuff ages pretty well IMHO. Google how to patina brass. Sure wouldn't replace with some cheezy cheap thing just because its not the latest trend (the minute something is trendy and embraced by the masses - rest assured its already on its way out!)

Pipdog, how big is the opening where your sliders are?

Three new homes in my area, Outer Banks, all have installed brushed brass, just like our house that was built a few years ago.

Same here. My realtor told me to de-brass door knobs and light fixtures. We had the cheap looking 90's "brass". I did see lots of deals online, but at the end it would be cheaper not to pay shipping and handling, and go to the local store. Funny thing our hinges were crome thank goodness, but the knobs were "brass". Our faucets and shower frame were already chrome, which made life easier. It was a festival of different finishes!

All in all, we switched 11 light fixtures, and 18 or so door knobs (including front door). Grand total of about $550 for materials.

I would not buy a house with brass fixtures since it does date the house. The smart people who use chrome will never have this issue. Even if it cost up to 1,000 it will make your house sell quicker.

My brother in law is looking at a house now with brass fixtures, wallpaper and parquet floors. It screams out dated and is overpriced to me. He is not the type to remodel so he will take a bath on this house in 20 years. It is in a very nice exclusive neighborhood.