Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but I am really excited about this weekend. We don’t even have any major plans but this first week back to school was pretty busy and I am just excited about reconnecting with the family unit. With our August Sweet Clover sale over already, the kids back in school, and Chris having a busy work week, I felt sort of like a deer in headlights this week. There were plenty of things I could do, but I was just frozen, unsure of what my next move should be. Have you ever been there? So I just remained pretty aimless, and worked in all sorts of directions- organizing cabinets, shuffling furniture, painting a dresser, restyling my kitchen shelves for Fall. That last one let me to today’s post because I have this cute little wooden box shaped like an apple with a brass lid. The lid was tarnished and speckled, so I decided to reach for Barkeeper’s Friend, a product I always have on hand to clean my stainless steel sink as well as my glass cooktop. It worked so well that I wanted to share with you how to make aged brass look new again, and with very little investment, time, or effort.
This little apple box stores all of our chalk, and I love that it keeps it out of sight, stowed away in a cute accessory. And of course, with Fall around the corner, an apple is a great seasonal touch. It’s lid was a mess though, tarnished and mottled. Next to the lovely warm wood it looked terrible.
I pulled out Barkeeper’s Friend and tested a small area to see how it would work. I dampened a paper towel (any rag or cloth will work), and sprinkled some Barkeeper’s Friend, a powdery substance, into a little dish. (When I am cleaning my stovetop or sink I sprinkle it right onto the surface, but with the shape and size of this apple box lid, this method worked better.) I dipped the damp towel into the powder and then ran it in little circles on the brass lid. Here is a look at what happened after just about 5 seconds.
Amazing, right? I finished the entire lid, repeating the dampen, dip, rub method. When I was finished, I took a clean cloth and wiped off any residue and film. I had never seen brass so shiny- or at least since the late 1980’s brass fixture movement. That leaf really catches the light now.
The apple looks right at home on my Fall shelves, which I will be sharing in a couple of weeks. For now here’s a little peek at that.
Of course, I couldn’t stop there. If you know me, you know that there are so many other brass pieces in my house that were just waiting to be revitalized. Recently I had contemplated selling my precious brass deer… They’ve been happily living on my hearth for quite some time now. To refresh your memory, here they are just a couple months ago.
I repeated the same method I used on the apple lid on these guys, and now I am so glad I hadn’t brought myself to sell them. They’re striking, thanks to Barkeeper’s Friend. Also, as you can see, I haven’t changed my mantle at all; at least I still have fresh flowers.
Now that I see these two photos together, the difference is dramatic! I can’t tell who’s shinier- the deer or the disco ball?
They’ve literally got a glint in their eyes now. And ears. And tails.
There are still a couple of little spots I need to spend more time in, but overall this was a ridiculously easy way to make my vintage brass look new again. And little brass candlestick on my shelf, I am looking at you next. Nothing is safe from Barkeeper’s Friend. The moral here is that with a little bit of love and sometimes help from a friend, we can all find our sparkle again, right? I know I’ve been looking for my own, so maybe this easy little task was a great reminder to me.
Hope you shine brightly and have a fantastic weekend!
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