I have lots of wrought iron, and this is what I found to be the most effective. I use wire wheel attachments on my cordless drill to take off any rust, obvious chipping and other rough patches, sand lightly with a sandpaper foam block (it forms better to the different kinds of surfaces) to rough up the painted surface, dust and clean well, then paint with a good primer and three top coats. I use Rustoleum in the spray cans, but I my iron is mostly outside. The spray cans are more expensive and messy, but I cannot duplicate the smooth surface no matter what kind of brush I use. I have also used spray paint indoors, but only after constructing an elaborate "tent" from boxes and plastic bags, and opening all the windows and covering everything within reach. Using spray paint this way would be the most timeconsuming part of the process, but worth a test run on a small section and comparing it with a handpainted section. If you decide to handpaint it, foam brushes work best. I use the new kind that are pads with a silky "fur" on the top...they make small ones meant for window sashes, but it can be time consuming and you can go through a lot of pads (they're cheap though). And if the new paint chips or rusts, it's a simple matter to touch up with a little sandpaper and paint. Hope this helps. PS: Also use plenty of protection -- My house was built in the 60s, and I bought it from the guy who built it, who left me every paint can he ever used on/in the house, so I have no lead paint.

Homemaker, we've discussed just what you're saying. I don't think we'll go with shutters. Some other reasons are that we don't want to drill into the brick, don't want to mess with painting wooden ones, don't want to mess with replacing faded or broken plastic ones. We want a low maintenance house...LOL! Miles, thanks so much for the mock-up. I like the white columns and the trimmed low Honeysuckle and the scraggly bushes gone. I also like the look of the shutters, but I don't think we'll use them afterall for the above mentioned reasons. I think we'd have to move the mailbox and the address plaque to get shutters on that big window which would mean more drilling into brick :-( Now, for the next part of our thoughts. Do any of you think it would look nice to pour concrete to the right of the porch the length of the house, to meet with the driveway, and make a small patio where the red pavers are, then have white square fence posts with wrought iron railing going from the porch and along the concrete? And should the wrought iron be black or white? Our house is awkward to get into and people like to park on the side street. It would be really nice to have a concrete sidewalk for them to get to the front door. Thanks again for the ideas and suggestions.

I just tackled a bunch of wrought iron furniture. The most important thing is to get the loose paint and rust off. I used a combo of wire brushes and wire brushes drill bits in both course and fine. I spent a lot of time on it because i don't want to do it again for a few years (ideally though I would have sent them to be sandblasted and powder coated). I only used a rustoleum hammered black paint without a primer but probably should have used the primer as well.

I prefer wrought iron railings to have the (don't know the term) bottom piece like your upper railing has, that doesn't attach to the treads at all. It's not as modern I guess. But the straight simple uprights (still don't know stair terms) in your inspiration photo might still look contemporary enough if you built it with the bottom thingie.