Today I took the door off the closet under the stairs and replaced the brass hinges with nickel ones. I also replaced the brass door handle set with a nickel set.

This is a solid core oak door. And I’m starting to get too old and puny for jacking a 40-pound door around, but I got it rehung. Puff, pant, cuss.

When most of This House was completed, people (and Judy and I) preferred the shiny, almost gold colored, brass door hardware. Then, as we were working on the last addition, brushed nickel – kind of a dull silver – began taking over the marker.

And, in the way of shiny objects, we decided the nickel was so much more elegant than the polished brass. And, so began the process of swapping out door handles and hinges. Here we are 12 years later, still swapping.

And now I’m told brass is making a comeback. Sigh. But I think the new in thing is solid brass, which isn’t quite as shiny as the old brass coated stuff we have, and probably a lot more expensive. I am going to doggedly stay with the nickel.