How to install new door knobs

Wellllll…it only took a year. (I say that a lot don’t I? It only took a month…six months…a year.) And I’m still not completely done. But 98 percent of our doors are rid of their look-away-or-the-shiny-will-blind-you brassiness.

WHOO!!

There’s a few reasons it’s taken so long. First, the order was messed up back when I ordered in February (of 2010!). Second, uhhh…I dunno why. I get easily distracted by other project I guess.

Oh look, a butterfly!

Ha! No really, it’s like that.

So it took a while. I ordered our new oil-rubbed bronze beauties from an online source called Your Home Supply. A sweet reader recommend them and their prices were pretty fantastic. Almost half of what I found at hardware stores.

But there were a couple issues with my order – a few of the knobs had damage, I had accidentally ordered two slightly different bronze knobs (there’s oil rubbed bronze and dark bronze – watch that) and many of the pieces (knobs and hinges) just didn’t arrive.

It took a couple weeks of calling, leaving messages and emails before I called one day and finally got a live person. She was great and took care of getting new knobs out to me really quick…but they still weren’t all there, even in the second batch.

Sheesh. So…I guess I’d say try them out at your own risk? I think if you had an issue, they’d address and fix it, but it may take some time and persistence on your part.

The prices are pretty great – so it may be worth the trouble!

Anyhoo, I’m finally getting the last of the knobs installed. I’ve been meaning to show you this process forever, so here we go!

Here’s a before shot of the brass knobs on my son’s bathroom doors:

I don’t know if I’ve ever showed you that room? It’s pretty darn cute. ;)

There are a few tools you’ll need, depending on your knobs. I needed a pencil, hammer, chisel, Phillips screwdriver and a drill (last two not pictured):

You may not need the chisel, but more on that in a bit. :)

I start with the hinges – so easy! Use your drill to take the old ones off:

You don’t need to take the door off – just replace one hinge at a time. Take one old one off, put a new one on.

You may need the hammer to dislodge the old hinge. It’s most likely been there for a while, and it will need a little push to get it off. (I knock it from below the hinge a few times and it works great.)

So once your hinges are on, you’ll be squealing because it already looks so good, but it’s time to move on.

There’s three kinds of knobs – you’ll want to be sure to get the right ones. Privacy knobs are for bathrooms and bedrooms and they lock. Passage knobs don’t have a lock and turn freely – so for closets, etc. Dummy knobs are for spots like double doors – remember you’ll probably need two, one for each side of the door.

This was the door to the bathroom, so it took a privacy knob:

It’s so simple to take the old knob off – just use a Phillips screwdriver to take out the two screws:

Take them out, and the two knobs will come easily apart:

Here’s where it got a little dicey with my first shot at this…a year ago. :)

Our previous hardware had a small round hole for the latch:

The new hardware did not. :) It had a plate the latch was installed in. I thought this was going to be a major pain in the booty to deal with when I first realized this, it’s not a big deal at all. Hang in there folks…this is the fun part. ;)

Place the new latch in the hole, and hold it in the right spot. Then trace around it:

Then, bust out your chisel and your Tool Man grunt and get to it.

First, place your chisel along your lines, and use a hammer to tap the chisel into the wood, going around your tracing. Then take the chisel and angle it so you can start chipping away at it, again using the hammer as you go:

You want to mortise out that area so the latch will fit flush, or almost flush. It doesn’t have to be exactly right – just check it as you go. You’ll think you’re taking off a ton of wood, but it would be hard to make it too deep. Just keep checking here and there.

I gotta tell you…using a chisel is way fun. :) It makes me feel all woodsmith-y. I like it. And it’s fun to see the instant gratification with each tap of the hammer.

Once you get the depth right, just screw the latch in:

It’s time to get your new knob, WHOO HOO! It will look something like this:

Just take them apart, and put the part with the long pole into the latch. There’s a curved part on the pole that you’ll want to match up with the curvy part inside the door:

It won’t go in if you have it wrong, so no worries. You just have to match those up. Then place the other side on the back, and put your new screws in:

I use a Phillips for this as well, with towel or rag up against the knob. I didn’t want to chance messing up the finish on the knobs.

Here’s an important tidbit…most times the part of the knob with the screws will go on the inside of the room or the closet. With passage knobs, it doesn’t matter where you put them, but I like having them on the inside of the door.

The important part – ALWAYS, always have a screwdriver with you and stay on the side of the door with the screws while installing. You’ll need to test the door here and there, and once and a while there may be a little something off. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes the door can latch just so in the process and may get jammed. You need to be able to take the knob off (with your screwdriver) if the door gets stuck.

I had a few sweaty moments over the course of changing out all of the knobs in our house. And one of my BFFs may or may not have locked herself in the bathroom when this happened. Not just the bathroom – her little bitty potty closet. We (I?) laugh about it now, but she says it was so scary to be stuck in there, with no way out. (She busted the knob to get herself out.)

So anyway…keep the screwdriver, stay on the screws side, or at least have someone at home while you’re doing it. ;)

OK…we’re almost there peeps!! SO CLOSE. The only little bit left is the strike that’s in the door frame:

The new strike comes with the knob. You’ll just remove the old one, and install the new one like you did the hinges.

This is where you want to heed my earlier advice – you’ll need to test the door with the strike – sometimes things get a bit off in the process and they don’t fit perfectly together anymore.

No biggie – just move the strike around a little, or chisel out a little from behind it, and you’ll be good to go!:

Isn’t she lovely? Isn’t she beautiful? :)

I’m gaga over the contrast of the white doors and dark hardware:

Right up my alley baby!

I know I give brass a hard time…a little too much of a hard time? Maybe.

Sorry Brass. Nothing against you…I just don’t like ya. Your Antique Brass cousin? LURVE. Shiny you? Notsomuch. I’m so not sad to see you gone. :)

So there you go…even with the mortising, it doesn’t take that long once you get the hang of it. Now I can get the whole door changed out in about 20 minutes. I’ve had a lot of practice over the past year though. :) Only two more to go…and I’m DONE.

If you don’t have to chisel, you could change out these in ten minutes easy. Swear – I promise you can do this!

Here’s the before and after, side by side:

Classy. ;)

I also used the chisel to mortise out the hinges for our new pantry door last fall. It’s the same idea – just trace the hinge, then chisel it out. It doesn’t have to be perfect – it’s covered in the end!

Now that I’m used to using it, I’m want to get my chisel on and make some kind of woodworking masterpiece someday…after I finish the knobs that is. :)

Table runner wall art.

OK, well I kinda lied about the not mentioning molding for another month thing. It wasn't deliberate, I swear. This project just kind of came to me today and molding was the perfect touch to finish it off. Sorry. Not really. :)

So I was feeling the itch for a Goodwill trip today -- it's been about a week, and after that long, I start daydreaming about it, and getting hives at the thought of something totally fab and perfect and lovely that's there waiting for me rightthisminuteandI'mgoingtomissit!!

Whew. So I needed to go. I found a few goodies for under $10 -- the other items I'll show you soon. This one, I just couldn't pass up. It was a table runner, all beady and natural looking. I feel in lurrrrve.

I stood there with it in my hands staring at it, not baring the thought of putting it down. But I couldn't figure out where in the heck I would need such an odd sized table runner. It's only 31 inches long.

So I thunk and I thunk and I thunk and it hit me -- I knew just where it was going.

Over the toilet.

Yeah, that's right. For the longest time, this is what I've had over the toilet (such an ugly word) in our little room in the master bath:
Don't ask. I have no clue what I was thinking. I was thinking spa I guess? It didn't turn out well. And towels over the toilet? Um....that's just not good. I mean, we didn't use them, but still...

So I had a vision, and it turned out exactly how I had hoped! First, I just nailed the runner to the wall using little finishing nails and my hammer:

I used my nail sinker thing (the technical term is totally escaping me) to get them in close enough to the wall so you couldn't see them:

Most of them I was able to just push in with my finger.

I didn't take pics of the molding process, because I think you've seen enough of that over the past couple of weeks. ;) But I added some thin molding I had in the garage around the runner to finish it off:I spray painted the molding before I hung it, but it still wasn't just the right tone. So I just brushed some of my walnut stain right over the top of the wood, and now it matches perfectly!

Because I love it so stinking much, I took a ton of pictures, so bare with me:

I'm not sure what you would call the style of our bathroom, it's a little traditional, a little fancy, a little nature-inspired. But this works, no matter what it is. :)

How gorgeous would this be in a dining room -- in a set of three on the wall hanging horizontally? FAB!

The before again:
The much lovelier after:

Total cost? Four bucks baby. And it took about 30 minutes start to finish, to complete. All during nap time, with time to spare to watch my stories. ;)

I know, by the way, what many of you are thinking. Why worry about this little wall in this little room that no one sees? Well, we see it numerous times a day, obviously. And ummmm....well....have you read this blog? Helloooooo, it's me. ;)

I will decorate anything if I can do it for cheap!

I can tile?

I pose that title as a question because the answer is questionable. The walls haven't come down yet, so I think I was successful. Maybe, YES, I can tile.

There are a few large projects in our home that I have avoided because of FEAR. Plain, good old, I-am-a-big-huge-sissy fear. One of them is the marble that surrounded our tub. It has bothered me for over a year now, since I added the molding to the walls around the tub here.

The marble is a creamy color and the walls are bright white. For normal people this would not be a big deal, but it made me twitch a bit, cause as you know, I'm not normal. I have been wanting to take off the marble surround and replace it with tile foreva.

So Saturday morning, I thought, what the heck, I'm going to go for it! What's the worst that could happen? Uh, believe me, the "worsts" were running through my head.

Sister helped me take off the marble -- I used razor and a pry bar, being careful not to dent the wall as I took off the marble:

This house was built very well, but we have found the one thing they skimped on -- all the tile in the house was glued down, instead of mortared. Makes an easier job for me, so I'm cool with it. Hubby was working downstairs and I didn't even mention this little project was going to happen -- he didn't know about it until he walked in and saw the mess. There was just a brief flash of complete panic on his lovely face, but God bless this man, it didn't last long. He has faith in me. :)

I didn't take pics of the installation part of this project, because I was working like a crazy mad woman to get it all done before my son woke up from his nap. You basically take the mortar and mix it like the directions say -- water and the mortar, mix it up -- that's it! Make sure to do this outside with a mask on.

The directions say to put the mortar on the surface and the back of the tile, but I did a couple with the backs covered and quickly found it didn't need it -- there was way too much and it was spilling through the tiles.

You know how on HGTV when they mortar, they just slap it on the walls and it goes on like butta? Yeah, it didn't work like that. I would swipe it on and it would pretty much just fall right off. It was fab. Next time I won't put quite as much water in as the instructions call for.

This is how it looked before the grout:

One thing I have learned about tiling is you can't judge it until you have grouted. Grouting just makes all the difference in the world:

To grout, you use the same mixer thing that attached to the drill and water or grout enhancer. I got the enhancer ($5) because it's supposed to help reduce the possibility of mold:

This part was much easier then the mortar:

My back was keeeeeeling me at this point, so I tried to sit for most of this part, but it didn't work out that way for long:

(See the Pepsi and popcorn? Sister was trying to give me energy food.) You'll notice I taped off the area around the tub with paper -- this was a life saver both during the mortar process and the grouting. It made for much easier clean up! The hardest part of this WHOLE process was wiping down the tile after grouting -- it felt like Groundhog's Day -- over and over and over. (And over.)

I still have some paint touch ups to do and some caulking, but for now, it is done:

I wouldn't have done it quite so tall, but some of the drywall tore of as we took off the marble, so I had to go a bit higher than expected:

I love how it ties the creamy of the marble tub, the white of the walls, and the green accent color all together! Yes, I am a happy crazy woman.

And yes, that's beadboard around the tub -- I just glued it right on the marble a while back. LOVE it! Here's the before before, from a couple years ago:

Here it is today. YAY!:

I'm going to do a little accent of this by our sinks to tie it all together, and I'll take pics of that process start to finish -- I won't be so sceered next time. Then, I want to rip out the shower surround and tile that whole thing, then the floors, then, then, then... Now, if I can just get those fixtures on the tub replaced, I'd be in heaven.

If you haven't seen my interview at houzz.com today, go here to check it out! Make sure to comment there for a chance to win the Ballard pear! (See previous post.) Your comments over there are making. my. year. by the way. I am so honored to inspire you. I can't thank you enough for your support.

The cutest little bench you ever did see.

I do love a garage sale, don't get me wrong. I do. But I find them hard to attend with a two-year-old. He loves to drive by them to look for "choo choos," but can't stand it when I try to run up a driveway real quick. Not a fan. He must see it all first hand.

So obviously, lately it's just not something I do much. Last week, I realized I love Thursday garage sales. First, it's the first day of the sale, and who goes to a sale on Thursday? Uh...no one. Score! Secondly, the Bub goes to daycare on that day, so Momma is free to jump in an out of the car to her heart's content. Double score!!

Last Thursday, I found this cutie little bench for five bucks:
I had been looking for something to fill a spot in our bathroom. It was perfect! (What I love most is it was made by the grandpa at the family garage sale. Hand made. Pitter pat.) At first, I was going to paint the bench out in white, and then cover the seat with foam and fabric. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked it just as it was.

Psych!! Push-sha! Like I could leave well enough alone, seriously. No really, I realized I didn't want to change it up as much as planned. I liked how simple it was and didn't want to mess with that. Then I knew what I wanted to do. I roughed it up a bit more by using a flathead screwdriver and a hammer:

I sanded the whole thing down, then used my walnut stain to deepen it up. Stain is extremely easy to work with -- a foam brush and a rag is all you need. Brush it on, wipe off the excess:

I finished it off with some tung oil and L.O.V.E.D it:

But it still needed something. I got more of my shower curtain fabric and made a little cushion:

I wanted it to look spa-like, but all the sudden it looked Asian spa-like. Nothing against it, it's not our room. So I made some tweaks:Just moving it to the side helped a ton! Then I added some tufting by sewing two buttons on. It was almost there...

I took a wire basket from above the kitchen cabinets and filled it with rolled up towels that were on the tub surround:

Ahhhh...yes! Only fifteen steps later, I got it there! Love it!!!

You think I can sew a cushion? Whateva:

Hot glue baby. Who's gonna know? Uh...don't answer that.

Total price: $5 for the bench, $3 for the fabric and less than a buck for both buttons. (The foam was leftover from another project.)

Awww yeah...