Lions And Doorknobs and Hardware, Oh My!

Okay so there are no actual lions in this post.  As we are trickling down to the end of the renovation, we find ourselves focusing on all the maddening little details like doorknobs and hardware.  We've added some new doors in the renovation, and because we're all about the old-stuff-looking-old here, we're doing our best to find doorknobs that match what we've already got, or at least fit with the style of our house.

So the top row of the above picture is some antique pocket door hardware that we picked up at a local antique store.  I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure it's Victorian era (I'm thinking 1870's to 1890's), so it may not be completely appropriate for my 1910 house.  It's pretty and it's close enough as far as I'm concerned. 

On the bottom row, far left we have a c. 1935 crystal knob and Art Deco backplate that I salvaged from my Grandmother's house.  Warning!  Sad back story ahead:  My Grandmother was a life long renter, and when the good friend that owned her rental house died, she left the house to a local church.  They decided they didn't want to deal with my Grandmother and her drafty old house any more, so they opted to tear down her house and build a larger parking lot that they didn't really need.  So my poor Grandmother, after having lived in her rental house for 50 years, was summarily kicked out at the age of 83, and now lives in a retirement apartment.  At least the heartless bastards nice God-fearing church folk let us salvage what we could from the old place, which in this case lead to me being the owner of dozens of Art Deco crystal knobs.  Sadly, these knobs are a bit small in scale compared to the rest of my door hardware (the knob in the center in the bottom row is an original one from our house), and aren't really going to be practical to use.  All is not lost though- we plan to take a few of the knobs and use them as hooks for towels and such in the master bath, kind of like this inspiration photo I found on pinterest:

Sorry it's a bit fuzzy, but you get the idea.

Oh and I guess I should mention that the far right doorknob in the first picture is an antique set that we found at a local antique store.  It was the closest match we could make to what we have in the house. It's pretty darn close and I'm happy with it.

 You know you like staring at my knobs.

So the above photo is the actual door knobs that are original to our house.  We have crystal and two types of metal.  We took the photo for reference when we were prowling antique stores to look for matches.  I'm including it here because I thought you guys might be curious and because it allowed me to make a dirty knob joke.

On top of trying to match up doorknobs and doorknob hardware, we've also had to figure out hardware for the rest of the house.  You know, all the little stuff you use every day but don't think about much, like drawer pulls, cabinet knobs, and latches.  It's very important for us to try to make our house look as historically accurate as possible, so we can't exactly just waltz down to Home Depot and pick something out.  Fortunately, we have the magics of the internet to help us, and I think we found some great "new old" stuff.

So let's start off in the kitchen.  These are going to be the crystal knobs for the kitchen cabinetry.  We have one in our rental house, and I know it dates from about 1920.

 

This is a pic of the actual glass knob in our rental house, so you get an idea of what the knob will look like in situ.

 

 

 We decided to go with something a little bit different for the bin pulls on the island.  The shape is historically accurate, but having it made mostly out of glass is a modern touch.  I think it looks kinda like a mason jar.

 We found a pair of these antique handles at the same antique store where we found our doorknobs.  These will be used as handles for our refrigerator.  The fridge is faced with cabinet panels so that it will look like an antique cabinet itself.  Pretty clever, no?

 

This is a modern handle that we found to match the antique set we are using on the fridge.  We'll be using these on the dishwasher and appliance garage.

We have a built in cabinet in the back of the hall that will match the cabinetry in our kitchen.  To distinguish it a little bit, we've decided to go for latches instead of knobs as the hardware.  This one is modeled after latches found on old Hoosier cabinets.

 

 The hubby picked out these hinges to match the latches.  I think they look pretty cool.

 

 This will be the drawer pull we use for the hall cabinet.  I think it looks good with the latches and hinges we've chosen.

 

For the cabinetry in the office, we've decided to go with a simple aged knob.  We didn't want it to detract from the lovely leaded glass in the cabinets themselves.

 

 And finally, we've decided to go with simple milk glass knobs for the built-ins in the master bedroom and master bath.  It's the same style as the crystal knobs in the kitchen.

 

So that's it folks, more than you probably ever wanted to know about the hardware in my house.  I'll leave you with this video.  It's what I always think of when I think of hardware.

But basketball's a peaceful planet!

Tune in next time for a fascinating post about something else.