Pretty Provisions for the Home; Door Knobs

 
Hello there!  Today I am going to share with you a home décor related project.  I know that this is typically a crafting/stamping blog, but since most of us are crafty in other areas, I thought it might be of interest.

Above you can see my project that I am showcasing today. On my pantry doors in my kitchen area, I had plain brass knobs (Silly blogger didn't take enough before and during pictures).  I thought this would be a perfect spot to add some fun.  These doors are dummy doors, so that you don't turn the knob to open, you just pull it to open.

I had an idea in mind, so off to the architectural salvage yard Tate and I went.  We traveled down to Charlotte in hope that I can find what I wanted.  Two hours and a lot of digging later, I found what I think might work.  Chris was with Mackie at a regatta, so I didn't have him to tell me if it would work out or not, but I took a gamble.  Here is what I found:

 
Pretty rough looking right?  I had a hard time finding two of the same back plates, and two glass knobs that were the same and had a chrome base.  I didn't want to go back to brass, so this was the hardest part.  I originally wanted crystal knobs, but they did not have two matching chrome based crystal knobs.  I was told that older homes had door knobs that were chrome on the bathroom side of the door, and brass on the hallway side, so most did not work for me.  I felt that since they are right next to each other, they needed to be pretty similar.
 

This is what they looked like after I cleaned the glass knobs.  I was afraid to "wash" the metal bases since I didn't want to loose the vintage look, but one was rusted more than the other, and it bothered me a bit.  I ended up washing them with dish soap and a soft brush and most of the rust came off but still left a nice vintage feel.

I also picked up at the salvage yard old rusty screws so the screws would match the base plates.  I spent about $45, on these door knobs and back plates, so all and all not too bad.


Here are my doors all ready for installation.  Be very careful when you pull your old knobs off, the first one we did pulled the paint away, so we had to do some sanding, filling, and repainting.  Now is also a great time to repaint the doors to freshen them up.




Here they are finished!  See how well they cleaned up?  They make me smile each time I open them up.  They can be seen from my kitchen, breakfast nook, and family room, so they really add a ton of sparkle.


Since these knobs and back plates are about a hundred years old, we had to come up with a way to attach them together and on the door.  Chris brought home bolts that would screw into the glass knobs.  He drilled a hole through the door, making sure to line them up perfectly first, attached the back plates on with my old screws, making sure that the drilled hole was in the correct place, then just threaded the bolt with washers through the hole and into the glass knobs.  Be careful to not tighten to tight as you can strip the threads on the knobs.


Here is the finished results, you can see the new paint color as well, it looks like a whole different area, I am super happy on how it turned out, I have two more sets of these type of doors in my home, so I will be doing those as well!

So, what do you think?  Is this something that you would try yourself?  If you have any questions, please email them to me.  Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you are inspired to think outside the box for your home décor projects, enjoy!

Comments

Traci Davis said…
Way to go...they look great!
Patti Willey said…
Great job! Both of you to figure out how to apply this spindle knob as a dummy! Flippin' gorgeous! Love the patina of the back plates and their shape! Score!
Unknown said…
Nicely done, Sandie! Can I be next?
TanyaM said…
LOVE the knobs Sandie! I have seen them downtown before, just don't remember if they were in pairs :)
I like to "sprinkle" old things in with the new too!!
KT said…
Terrific results! You truly are Wonder Woman!

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