The Historic District

Corsetière maybe rather than spray paint you could look into some of the various techniques involving picking , electroplating and antiquing metal there are all sorts of recipes and I think you could strip them to bare metal and refinish them without paint in some interesting ways.

basically you could throw them in an acid bath or use paint stripper to remove paint and get down to the base metal and then use a solution to color the metal. The recipe you chose might reflect the final result. If they are aluminum you might have to take into account that some metals can get eaten right up by acid so it might take a little research and experimentation to come up with a technique you like. there is a ton of info if you look into it.

I used to toss parts into a muriatic acid bath and that strips any paint and rust off iron but I remember putting some parts int here that were aluminum and they were never to be seen again

this link might offer some ideas on some of the finishes you could do.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=pickling ... 94&bih=557

Not my house, but a friend's. Nice 1940s Cape Cod family home in flawless condition. We scraped the cheesy 70s wallpaper to reveal cheese-colored 1960s walls. I used a solution of hot water and fabric softener and the removal went pretty smoothly.

Scraping wallpaper 488 Park Avenue by James McInnis, on Flickr

Manalto, not cheesey 60's paint (it really is the colour of a well aged cheddar) it's a mid century design score.

phil wrote:Corsetière maybe rather than spray paint you could look into some of the various techniques involving picking , electroplating and antiquing metal there are all sorts of recipes and I think you could strip them to bare metal and refinish them without paint in some interesting ways.

The water seems to be taking off enough of the modern paint so I think I will be ok without chemicals. I think paint is the way to go with refinishing because the components are all different metal types. The canopy is brass, the floral elements are cast aluminum, and the leaves are steel! Such a mixed bag!

I made an exciting discovery today that my ceiling medallion that I painted to go in the first floor bath is the perfect style to go with these new chandeliers!!!! So I will just cast more and paint to coordinate!

You can see the polychrome decoration a little bit here:

I think it is supposed to look something like this:

That muted 20's polychrome always looks nice. Even in parts the de-silvered fixtures are looking much, much better.

Still : $ 5.00 !!!!!

Corcetiere, yes, I can see the polychrome. It is going look great when finished.

The porch is stripped but still needs final chemicals in the nooks and crannies. Soon I'll have pics of its primed glory !

I repaired the missing/broken putty last week and it was finally time to prime those windows. I patched all the holes I could see. The sills should be going in soon, so I figured that if those windows were primed or painted that would be a big step forward. After much rumination about what color to tint the primer I chose a grey/blue - then the local hardware store couldn't tint that color as my swatch was a medium base, so I had to choose something else. I picked a couple of samples(on the spot !), she was able to do one of them, and I walked out with a what looked like a grey-green primer. On the windows, next to the yellow brick it became much more blue - and actually looks like a pleasant color - which has set me back in my color theory freakout. The tint really helps me to see all the holes I missed filling, and also helps me to feel like some progress has been made. I can go back and do some more patching, before I commit to a liter of paint (ie quart) with an actual paint color.

I am dreading using the chemical stripper on the porch detail, but that should only take a couple of hours with some steel wool and a small brush. Getting that primed will feel like a big step forward.

(Bonus: record breaking temperatures with humidity, too)

* Yes, mismatched linens pretending to be curtains, with one whiter than the other.

I agree the color is nice next to the brick. When I was a kid, my family used to go to my grandparents' house every Sunday. We'd drive past a beautiful brick house the same color as yours that had its trim painted the color of aged copper. Verdigris?

I'm finding that color has less contrast with the brick than would suit my personal taste. I'd be looking at something more bold like a dark green or deep red. In general Victorians used to use dark colors on sashes (though not necessarily the casings), as it would make the windows look larger and would hide the muntins... only really relevant if you are looking for something of the period in the color choice of course