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If you want to make a statement in a room or with a piece of furniture, changing out hardware like drawer pulls and knobs can make a big impact. Or adding them in the first place helps too! In my opinion, if something needs to be opened and closed, it needs a knob! Knobs on everything!
Knobs in the Dining Room
Aren’t these pulls gorgeous? They look like they were meant to be here always, but they weren’t. This enormous cabinet (it is 6 feet long) came with the most pathetic little knobs.
I had to search for a before picture because it has been so long. This picture could serve as a before picture for many different aspects of this room! But, seriously, look at those dinky little black knobs. They look so sad!
I’m glad I took pictures back when we installed the new pulls, because I had forgotten some of these steps. I used a piece of paper and the pull itself to make a stencil to get the holes in the right places.
We brainstormed different ways of making sure the holes were straight up and down. I thought about using a level against the two holes, but that would involve trial and error … I wanted to get it right quickly. Then I remembered we have a laser level! This was definitely the answer! I secured the laser level onto a chair across from the cabinet and made the vertical line pass through the hole that was already in the cabinet for the dinky knob. We could feel confident we were drilling good holes! This wasn’t something we wanted to mess up.
And here it is … after new paint, after the decorations filled out, after there was trim installed and the floor was re-done.
I love this cabinet now. The new knobs make a serious difference. Seriously, what an inexpensive tiny project with HUGE results!!!
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Knobs in the Kitchen
I personally refinished the kitchen cabinets when we moved in (more on that coming very soon). Of course I wanted to get knobs and drawer pulls on everything. The trick with very repetitive knobs and drawer pulls is putting the knob on the same place on every cabinet so it looks unified.
To get the consistent placement of the knobs, I made a little stencil that fit perfectly in the corner. I taped it into place and marked the spot for drilling the hole. I folded the square to get the center-point.
There are a million cabinets in this kitchen, so it took a while, but I can only imagine it taking sooo much longer to do it any other way.
I refinished the cabinets in my kitchen months ago, but just last Saturday I finally finished the raw wood strip just below the new white counters you can see in this picture. I haven’t taken new pictures of the kitchen yet, but it looks so much better with all stained cabinets!
I’m not sure how people survive without knobs in their kitchen. Really, your open drawers and cabinets while you’re cleaning or cooking, and your messy fingerprints have to palm the actual wood cabinet every time. Yuck. Knobs are so much cleaner, and they look good too.
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Knobs in the Studio
Up in my studio, I have pretty knobs left and right. When I re-did this coral cabinet that used to be in my kitchen (see the makeover), I didn’t picture it in my studio holding planner covers, yet here it is. And those knobs look just as gorgeous as they ever have.
When I put together my studio back in Arkansas, I painted all of my Ikea drawer sets blue. I love blue. I also added blingy knobs to the drawers. Like I’ve said, even if it was designed to work without knobs, if something opens and closes, I want it to have a knob. They are just easier to use and look better!
If you’ve ever shopped in my little blog shop, then you’ve seen this end table. It is where I put everything to take shop photos. It was originally an orangey-reddish oak, but I stripped it and stained gray/white. (If you look closely, you’ll notice that I also use it as a painting surface sometimes and forget to cover the edges. Also, hello goldfish cracker hiding there! That’s a surprise I didn’t notice while taking this picture.)
And the makeover of this little end table needed some drawer bling. Couldn’t make it look totally different and keep the same boring knobs.
Knobs aren’t just about looks. They add functionality and ease of use.
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- Accent Ceramic Knobs (I couldn’t find the same blue ones in the picture, but I love these!)
- 30 mm Crystal Knobs
Knobs Around the House
My girls all have IKEA white dressers. They are very plain and simple, and in my opinion, benefitted greatly from the addition of knobs. These are similar to the crystal ones in my studio, but much bigger. Since the drawers are large, I wanted to make sure the knobs were the right scale.
I think these knobs will add a lot of life to the dressers. I can only imagine how quickly the finish on the drawers would wear out as the kids gripped the top of the drawer to open and close over the years.
The biggest win is that my girls LOVE the knobs. They think of their dressers as so fancy now. Considering they are IKEA and inexpensive, that definitely deserves to be called a win!
I’ve included this picture to show you the un-sung hero in all of this. He comes behind me and drills all the holes! I usually do all the marking, but he is there with the drill making MY project a little easier. (I say MY project, because he’s usually going about his life innocently when I say “Hey, let’s do this project right now.” He is a good sport to just go with it most of the time!)
You may notice we are using the same hardware in the bathroom that we used in the kitchen. Partly, because I like the way it keeps the house unified. And partly because I bought them in bulk. You can see the AFTER pics of this bathroom if you haven’t already.
I’ve shown you a lot of knobs and pulls all over my house. And I haven’t even finished putting them all in yet. I won’t be done until every cabinet and drawer has a knob or pull.
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Other Hardware to Consider
And it isn’t just drawers and cabinets that benefit from a hardware update. We are changing out all of the door hardware as I paint doors. The new brushed nickel against the navy blue makes a huge difference! And the hinges before were just the icky ones builders use that they just paint over. Beautiful brushed nickel hinges … ooh la la!
I love dark doors.
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- Satin Nickel Door Knob for bed/bath
- Satin Nickel Door Knob for hall/closet
- Satin Nickel Door Knob with key-lock
- Satin Nickel Door Hinges (pack of 50)
- Satin Nickel Door Stops (I have these, but as the picture shows, I haven’t installed them yet! Always something to do.)
From my home to yours,
Mary
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Hey Mary, your stencil templates are good, but did you know hardware stores sell a cheap little template that can be used for all kinds of knobs and cabinets. It’s a little rectangle that has a bunch of different holes in it, and an edge that hooks on the edge of the cabinet. It can be used over and over and It will make sure your holes are perfect no matter what spacing-for roughly $5. That’s what the contractors use. I never knew it existed until recently!
I didn’t know about that, but it sounds awesome!
On the black paint for the interior doors do you use flat or gloss? Brand and name?
I use a gloss that will hold up to all the use doors get and all the times they get touched. I’d ask the paint store people for recommendations – be sure to tell them you are painting doors and they’ll help you get the right paint.