I recently refinished a dresser with different hardware for a client. We could have painted what was on her piece, but she found some others with a bit more detail. Here is the before:
This is the hardware that she ordered and brought to me to replace.
Pretty classic, but still brassy. It needed paint.
The hardware did not fit so DH screwed new holes for this hardware and I painted it. Worked great!
The key to switching out hardware is measuring the little holes. If you have an older piece and/or vintage chances are newer hardware will not fit perfectly. There are ways around this.
Switching Out Hardware.
1. Take off the old hardware that is ugly & distracting
2. Measure the holes where the screws went
3. Search online and in your hardware store for hardware that fits
4. If you find some that fits – great! Leave it as is or paint it depending on material
5. If hardware does not fit, but is close you need to drill another hole & fill the remaining hole with wood filler. A bit of a process, but totally doable.
The piece turned out great. 
It is now in the nursery awaiting her baby girl 🙂
I recently did a tutorial on painting hardware. Check it out!
Wonderful transformation!
thanks for the great video 🙂