Rich details

After we purchased our 120-year-old house, there were many surprises in store for us. As we painted each room, we found that the hinges on the doors were hand-crafted original brass and copper masterpieces full of rich details. However, they had been painted over numerous times, which made it impossible to see their original beauty. At some point a previous owner had decided that it would be easier just to paint over them than to remove, polish, and replace them each time they renovated a room. Maybe they didn’t feel the hinges were important enough to warrant all that work. Or maybe they decided that somehow they looked better painted. Either way, I am certain that the person who created the hinges never intended for them to look the way they looked now.