An inexpensive upgrade

When we bought this house, I knew the brass, curvy doorknobs throughout the upstairs had to go. 

I love gold, but we all know how dated these polished brass handles are. 

My goal was to replace them all right away with matte black knobs, but I must've had pregnancy brain, because I ended up with some 'meh' oil-rubbed bronze ones that were big and round and had that burnished gold distressing I didn't want.  They sat in a basket for about two years while I put the project off.  I finally got around to it this year, and decided to sell all of the knobs I'd already bought and put that money towards these beauties.

I spent twice the money on these knobs, but I loved the flat, modern profile and matte black finish.  I had never changed out knobs before, so it was a learning experience for me.  Overall, the process is very easy...but I had a couple snags with the screws that set me back a little.  I started by unscrewing everything, keeping note of where it all connects.

Then it became clear that there really isn't much you can do to screw this up.  The spindle of one knob goes through the latch mechanism to the other knob.  The biggest mistake you can make is to install the latch facing the wrong way. 

I almost did that myself, the curved part has to face the direction of the door frame so it closes smoothly. 

These knobs came with the rounded faceplates attached to the latches.  I had a lot of trouble removing the rounded latch faceplates to put on the squared ones.  I ended up bending the metal backing of the faceplate each time I pried them off, but was able to bend it back relatively easy.  I needed the squared off face plates, and I still have some work to do on these doors. 

Another pet peeve I had was that the screws they give you to attach the knob to the inside of the room are brown/aged brass in color, much different from the color of the knobs themselves. 

The screws were very close to the center spindles, so I would tighten them as much as I could by hand before using a screwdriver.  A couple of the knobs had gunk in them, and it made the screws very hard to turn.  I had to put the screws in and out of the housing with a screwdriver while it wasn't on the door to loosen everything up.   

Once the knob was replaced, I used my drill to remove the screws from the strike plates and replaced all of those.  I've got some painting in my future!

The final step was to use the drill to remove the screws from the hinges and replace them one by one, no need to remove the door totally. 

I kept the Gatehouse hinges I had bought years ago, and they matched the black knobs very well. 

I had no problems with the functionality of the new stuff, EXCEPT for our bathroom door.  For some reason, the door wouldn't shut correctly with the new hinges, even though they were exactly the same thickness and size.  The strike plate was in the same position as well, so I ended up having to spray paint the old brass hinges black for that door.  Annoying, but it worked.  I love the new knobs and hinges so much!

And while I couldn't match up the lighting exactly right, here is a great before and after to show how much more striking the black hardware looks in the hallway. 

This project cost me $215 for all 7 knobs and two boxes of hinges.  I think it was such a small investment for a lot of impact!

The hallway

While I work on finishing Ashford's room, I wanted to share the little transformation in our typical '70s ranch' hallway.  Here is how it looked when we first moved in.  Dark, boring, empty....but accessorized with a cute kid!  To be fair, this is an awful photo, so it's not really a fair representation.

We do get some decent light in this hallway during the day, as you can see in this photo from the floor refinishing project.

This beauty was in there, with broken bulbs stuck in the sockets.  I had already thrown away the glass cover, but I'm sure you are all familiar with this style of light!  I liked the brass, but the style was not ok...so I replaced it with a $10 special from Menards until I figured out what I really wanted. 

Here is the boring, dim replacement, complete with medallion to cover the peeling popcorn texture. 

And months later, I finally found the light I wanted...brass to match the door knobs and hinges, flush mount, not a boob light, stylish, unique, wide enough to cover the peeling popcorn, and bright as the surface of the sun with 4 bulbs!  Find it here, but be sure to call them to get the best price!  I got it for $120 so I am pleased.  It's not great quality, but it's fine and too far away to notice any flaws.  (It isn't quite flush on the edges due to the weight of the fixture)

I actually had to reduce the wattage because it was too bright with four 60 watts.  I also found cute round bulbs to increase the style of the fixture.

With the new light, I was inspired to finally get a runner for this hall.  I am using our zig zag runners in the lower level because they didn't go well with the wall color up here.  I went to my old stand by Overstock, and found this beauty!  

I wanted a tufted rug rather than a flat weave, and it needed to look good with the orange rugs in the living room, and the gray on the walls.  It was a happy bonus that there is red to go with our little cabinet in the hallway.  Here is everything all put together...

It looks so fresh and clean now!  I also love that the yellow in the runner echoes the yellow moorish tile rug in the guest room.  

My fancy white mirror found it's home at the end of the hall, and the little vegetable cabinet got a mini makeover with some gold spray paint for the knobs.  I may paint the entire thing one day, but for now it works.  I have to repair the doors and mesh, after that happens I have some baskets that fit perfectly and will hold some miscellaneous items. 

I have plans to add a gallery wall to the large area between the bedrooms, but I'm not sure what that will look like yet.  

For now, I'm really pleased with how nice this dark hallway turned out!  I would love to add some can lights one day, but that is on the 'would be nice, but probably will never happen' project list. 

For this space, I spent around $25 in trim, $120 for the light, $70 for the rug (after Overstock rewards) and $25 for the gallon of SW Popular Gray that we used throughout the main level.  Not bad since most tufted wool runners cost at least that amount!  Still to do in the hallway - clean and shine up all the doors and casings.  I may have to restain, some of them are in pretty bad condition.  I'm not looking forward to that project! 

Trimming the house

Hello!  This post is not a (very) belated Christmas decoration update, but instead a peek at our new white baseboards.  Just in case you are offended that my blog didn't provide any Christmasy inspiration, I submit the only good holiday-esque photo I took this year...and that isn't even our tree!  

I could not get this child to sit remotely still or even stand by our tree, so I put a cookie on the branch of my mom's tree and told him he could eat it if he could find it.  Success!  I had to act fast though, he can sniff out a cookie like a bloodhound.  So, back to our baseboards!  We started our installation in the dining room because it seemed like the easiest space to handle. 

It was exactly as I had envisioned it with the pale gray walls.  We had this space between the back of the cabinet and the floor that needed to be addressed.

We got a simple lattice trim to cover it, I will either paint it white to match the trim, or paint it the color of the cabinets.  I'm thinking it will be the cabinet color - whenever those get painted!  I'm not even close to deciding on that. 

The problem we have on the main level is all the tile next to the hardwoods in the entries and kitchen.  We don't have a table saw, or any other way to rip the trim to fit over the tile, so I'm not sure if we will buy the tools we need, or hire it out.   

I was a little worried about the area butting up to the coat closet door.

Luckily, the little piece on that side fit fine and the door was not a problem. 

Every little piece of trim that goes over the ugly bare spots is a victory!  I was worried about the white trim looking weird with the white tile, but I think the paint color I chose (Behr Popped Corn) looks fresh without being too stark against the creamy tile. 

The real test of how this was going to look was in the hallway.  There are a lot of doorways with original 70s casing.

I was unsure about keeping the casing and doors dark when this was going in. 

But when it was all in, I liked it much more!

I think it will be even better when I get more things on the walls, and a new brighter light fixture. 

The next thing up was addressing the stairs.  While I really like the rich look of the wood, I knew the risers and stringers needed to be white to match the baseboards. 

I used my absolute favorite primer, BIN to prime everything.  It looked terrible but was ready for paint! 

I freaked out a little because when we refinished the treads, there was a little build up of poly on the edges, so it made a clean line with the paint almost impossible.  Also, these stairs probably weren't meant to be stained, the treads are cheap pine and not super even along the edges. 

Even still, it looks pretty good after two coats of paint!  I still have to buy and stain some cove trim for underneath the lip of the treads to make it look more finished.  I also have to figure out how to transition the top of the stairs to the hallway trim.  Oh, and restain the handrail. 

Here you can see I also have some caulking to do!  So, that is what I've been doing since December.  I appreciate everyone reading the blog, even though I don't post very often.  I have been working on other spaces over the holidays, too...I hope to post about those sooner than a month from now this time!  Does anyone have any tips on ripping the base trim to fit over the tile?

Project fail/redemption

I have this thing I bought.  I don't know exactly what it's called, but I got it for $14 at a thrift store last summer.  Isn't it cute?

I knew it had to be painted, because while the piece is cute, the wood was not.  The obvious choice would be white.  But you see, I had this little area in my upstairs hallway that I didn't really like.  It was so....boring.  And I'm trying to add more color to my life.

So, I did this, with the intention of replacing the little white IKEA table:

This is the leftover paint from our front door (and the same color as our dining room), Behr Antique Red.  Awesome color.  With the addition of the new red bin thingy, the old white mirror was not pleasing my eyeballs.   

I decided I needed something different, outside of my comfort zone.  I found what I thought would be perfect, six (small) gold bamboo mirrors from Burlington Coat Factory. 

Good potential, eh?  I spent lots of time cutting out same-sized cardstock and hanging them up and see where I wanted the mirrors to be. 

And when I got them all hung...eh.  Me no likey.  Too small?  Too low?  Too gold?  Not enough mirrors?  Not sure, but I really didn't like it. 

So I decided to throw up one of two Target mirrors I had laying around the house. 

I liked it, so I did it one better and put up both stacked on top of each other.... 

YES!  LOVE!  The old knobs were replaced with these guys from True Value:

I sprayed them with Rustoleum in 'Lagoon.'  They are too cute. 

If you're wondering why I didn't paint those little blocks red, it's because I tried painting one and it looked like a child's toy box.  So they stay wood.  I added a little tray for my watch, earrings, etc.  I'm always losing those damn things. 

I think the mirrors look delightful with the frames I already have up on the other wall. 

Also, friends, something really stupid has happened to me.  I lost one of the knobs that I had just bought an hour earlier.  I've looked everywhere for it, can't find it.  I'm praying they just didn't put it in the bag, otherwise I'm the biggest scatterbrain ever.  I will figure that out later!  This makeover cost me 8 bucks for the knobs, that's it.  Provided I actually get the third knob..doh!  The little gold mirrors cost $20 total, but I'm returning them.

I'm so happy with my dramatic little wall!  What do you think?  I plan to store TP in the bins, as we are desperate for a spot for it.  Tres chic, right?