The new hardware for our doors arrived over the weekend and so this little makeover chapter has come to a close. A beautiful, fresh close. Here's a reminder of how our doors were looking before we dove into spraying them with a coat of white paint:
And now, new knobs, too!
We went with a simple black (okay, oil rubbed bronze--but from a distance black) knob with a squared off backplate. There's a push lock on the side of the knob for privacy, too!
I love how these feel a little special without being fussy or ornate. There was a question last week on whether we considered any other knob besides a black one. Yes! We actually looked at an antique gold one, similar to the knob we put on our last home's pantry, but we soon realized we really wanted a nice sized backplate for our doors and these won.
Once we knew what we wanted, I went searching for the best price. Door hardware can add up pretty quickly so it was important to do a little leg work to find something that fit the style we wanted (squared edges, not rounded) for the lowest price. My favorite tip to achieve this is simply using google image search. I 1. found an image of what I wanted. 2. saved it to my desktop. 3. uploaded it to google image search and it brought up all the places it was sold with a price. It also showed me similar images that I could browse to see if there was something I liked even better.
I found that Door Hardware 4 Less (not the easiest website to navigate, but they make up for it in prices!) had the best price at 26.80 for a privacy set and $25.80 for a passage (we needed one of those for one of the double doors leading to our room). Bada bing. Bada boom. Installation was really straight forward. We did have to notch out a few latch holes where we needed them to be deeper. Chris used a chisel with a sock taped to the top (so it wouldn't wake Faye Faye) and it went fast.
One more before and after coming at you.
Although we plan to do all of our doors the same way, we only did these 4 upstairs doors for now. We find doing a little chunk at a time to be so much more manageable. There is so, so much to do in this house, our brains would explode if we didn't take it a little at a time. So, we'll tackle the downstairs when we start working more down there. I'd like to see that sometime next year, but wouldn't be surprised if it didn't happen until 2016. We have a lot on deck for next year but it's always fun to do these smaller, big impact projects too.
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Still love the look of these three years later! :) Would love to know - are you still happy with your's? How have they held up? My husband and I are building our own house and I'm seriously considering these knobs. Although they are well priced considering other similar options, it's still a bit of an investment for the number of knobs we'll need. And, I'm a little bit worried based on the mixed reviews they receive about denting and scratching. Any thoughts? Thanks so much!
I really love the knobs, but two have dented. :/ It actually doesn't bother me too bad, it's not like they dented on their own--someone opened the door way too hard. But I'd get them again in a heartbeat.
Thanks so much for the quick response! So appreciate it especially with all that you have on your plate right now :). A couple of a dents is not a huge concern to me, and the fact that you'd re-buy them gives me confidence! Thanks again!!
Hi, i am looking online for these . i did check Amazon warehouse deals as Nancy suggested and am seeing everything listed as 'used' ….. is that the norm for the warehouse deals, do you know? Also, i see that some customers are saying the door knobs 'dent and scratch easily' and are not as 'sturdy/durable' as they hoped (they aren't 'well made' don't 'feel solid') Since you all have had them in your home for a while now, i was wondering your thoughts/reviews after wear and use. thanks so much!
We really haven't experienced any of that and I only can recommend buying an Amazon warehouse deal if it's in like new condition, myself.
Hi!
What kind of hinges did you end up ordering!? thank you!!
We just got black hinges from Home Depot that fit our existing holes. Worked perfect.
Saw these knobs, and had to copy! I ended up finding them on Amazon, and most parts in their 'warehouse deals'. Damaged packaging, but product is fine, and saved some money! Just thought I'd pass it on. It looks like they have a lot of hardware in that condition.
Ahh! I love Amazon warehouse deals. Gotta remember to check there next time. Thanks, Nancy!
I love it when you guys do posts with small/relatively inexpensive/relatively quick projects - that's about all I have the time and money for at the moment, and it's really hard for me to get motivated to do the small things sometimes. I love seeing what a big impact it can have, then I get re-motivated to do something little. Step by step, I'll get there!
Also, doors are on my list right now - my fixer-upper came with flat panel doors with multi-toned metallic doorknobs that are just hideous. I can't afford new doors right now, but I'm hoping a paint job and new knobs (maybe a little molding to add some interest?) will work for a short-term fix.
When we first moved into this house, I was certain I wanted to "replace this" and "tear that out." And I am always and forever amazed how a little paint can change my whole perspective. I've seen amazing things happen with flat-paneled doors and just that. Good luck, Wendy!
Mind blown! Thank you for sharing the tip about Google and images. I can't wait to try it the next time I find some obscure painting on Pinterest. I've been planning on painting our doors and replacing the hardware for some time now. I hadn't thought about changing the hinges but it makes such a big difference. That's good advice to just do a few doors at a time rather than tackling them all. I think that's why I've been putting it off. We have an disproportional amount of doors for our square footage (five doors in our bedroom alone!) and it seems overwhelming.
Very YHL ;) Love them!
Love the new doorknobs. Spraying the doors was one of the hardest things we DIYed, what a disaster...we ended up rolling because we could not get an even coat. Yours look GREAT. Did you do this outside or create a plastic tent in your garade? What color / brand is the paint? Thanks!
We did it in our garage with just one sheet of plastic drop cloth on the wall. What kind of sprayer did you use? We have tried so many crappy ones and finally found a fool-proof one with our Flexio. Check out this post with all the details: https://chrislovesjulia.com/2014/12/our-might-as-well-be-new-doors.html
They look great! We actually choose the same knobs for our downstairs, but we went with a slightly less expensive egg knob for the upstairs.
The knobs look good. And nice tip about google image search. I've never used that before.
So pretty!!! Fresh paint and new knobs completely transform any door. Bravo!
These look great. Loving the idea of the big backplate, I feel like it will help keep the white door from getting grimy. Our old doors were painted poorly and the slightest nick of the fingernail makes little flecks of the white paint come off (revealing dated yellowy beige). I see new doors and doorknobs in our future!
I LOVE those knobs. I was hoping to get something similar in our new house, so thanks! In our current house we have the oil rubbed bronze, but in a simple egg-shaped handle and I love them. Found them for a steal at only $15 each!
Door knob twins, ha! And we got ours from the same place! A coat of fresh paint and hardware makes such a difference, right?
Really!?!? Haha, not surprised.
Totally understand about doing it a little at a time. I've been replacing doorknobs over the last couple of months as a way to spread out the cost. I should be done by January and am so excited haha! Little details can really make a big difference.
Hold the phone - you can upload an image to google and search?! This is amazing!
So funny… I did a post a while back about the original (we think) glass doorknobs that are throughout our old house, and whether or not we should replace them. And one of the replacement knobs we were considering is the one you chose! I liked it because it's simple and classic, and would work with any decor and type of home (ours is a Craftsman Foursquare). We're hanging on to our old glass doorknobs for now, but they are slowly falling apart one by one, so we may be in the market for these ORB ones sooner than later. Thanks for the tips on searching for the best price!
Your glass ones are so gorgeous, Laura. So sad they are falling apart. :(
LOVE the new knobs. What a big impact such a small change makes!
Doors look great! I would love to update all of our door knobs at once, but I just added it up and it would be about $500 so probably not going to happen anytime soon. :(
Question... Can you explain the chisel with the sock taped on it? I don't understand how you could chisel with a sock? Thanks!
Haha!! Sorry if that wasn't clear, the sock is taped to the HANDLE of the chisel to help mute the impact of a hammer against it when chiseling. Hahaha. Yes, a sock taped on a chisel would not work very well.