FARM HOUSE/COTTAGE DOOR HARDWARE

I am a big fan of architectural details in any way shape or form that will give my home a timeless look. Though my home was built in 1998, I chose an elevation that that was modeled after a Pennsyvannia Farm House/Cottage. While many fabulous new homes have the high columms at the front entry, I wanted a look that would make it hard to tell what year the house was actually built.

On the inside, though spacious, the house was really a typical base model with no specific details. I have since added transom glass over my large interior openings, picture framing below chair rail, and beadboard in my craft room and laundry room.

I still want more. I love the old door knobs with back plates and keyholes that used the old skeleton keys. Some were brass with georgous glass handles, some were very ornate with very intricate designs, and some where just plain rectangles with plain knobs. I love the latter. I went on line, checked out ebay and many restoration hardware places and the cost for even the reproductions are over $100.00.

Now I have alot of doors in my house. approximately 30 including closet doors.

I want every door to have a back plate on each side, even inside the closet.

The house was built with brass door knobs and brass hinges everywhere through out the house. I have slowly replaced all the hinges and knobs with oil rubbed bronze hinges from Lowes Home Improvement at a VERY affordable price.

I have been searching everywhere on the internet, ebay, and restoration hardware stores for "escutcheons" or backplates that would fit the standard knobs I purchased from Lowes. The internet offers a reproduction set that costs $129.00!! for 1 door. No way can I afford that.

I decided to make all my own. I came up with an aluminun rectangle plate measuring 3” wide by 8 ½” long, and has a 2" diameter hole that modern door knobs such as Schlage and Kwikset will fit through. I purchased special screws that match the oil rubbed bronze color. I just removed my door knob, lined up the plate on both sides of the door making sure they were level and at the same height on each side, and making sure the plate was centered over the hole( so that when the knob was replaced it would be centered over the plate evenly).

Take a look!! I snapped a few pictures of the doors through out my house.

Here are a couple pics at Christmas time. I think the door hardware looks great on french doors.


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A couple of friends of mine have asked me to make them some of these back plates and I did make extra. If anyone is interested, I am selling them on Ebay at meadowcrestgirl. Thank you for looking.

Adding Transoms With Glass

I will be linking up to Susan's betweennapsontheporch

My home was built about 13 years ago this November 2010. When building the home, my husband and I were more concerned about being in a great location and getting as much space as possible for our budget. Location can not be changed and adding more space with remodeling can be a nightmare and expensive. So we were lucky enough to have a 4000 square foot, 2 story home built on almost three acres in a great suburban area outside Tampa Florida. While I love my floor plan and space, the house was built with all builder grade items including kitchen and baths. Over time, I have installed all hardwood floors, put up chair rail and picture framing in almost all rooms. (All by myself btw) The crown mouldings in my foyer, living room, and dining room are the only extras I got with the house.

One detail I have always loved in older homes is transom glass. Back in the day, homes with transom glass windows between interior spaces were typically hinged and would open to allow air flow and to let in light from other rooms. I love the home seen in the movie "Somethings Gotta Give" with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I love the architechure and design of the whole house, but especially the transom glass seen in this room.



I have always wanted inside transom glass windows and this past weekend I picked one of my smallest openings that leads from my dining room into my kitchen and went at it! Unfortunatly, I was so busy I did not think about the 'during' pictures. I will take them before, during, and after for the next 2 openings that are planned.
It was remarkably easy. Remember now I have installed hardwood floors, beadboard, and chair rail, so I am familiar with the words "square" and "level", And I have the greatest compound sliding miter saw!

Here is a view from my kitchen into the dining room. The builder built these huge soffits over the cabinets which I hate. I know the soffits over the stove hide some pipes and vents that go to the second story, but he went a little overboard. The tall doorway leading to the dining room did not have room enough to install wider mouldings. This was the biggest challenge to make look fantastic, but I really think what I did helps. I made the height 81 inches so that a door could easily be installed. Here is the before:



Here is the after:

I think it makes a terrific impact from the dining room!


Here are the next 2 openings I will be working on: The entry to the family room(on the right). By the way, all the openings you see were originally just dywall. Last year I encased all the openings with wide mouldings.


And the small entry from the living room to the hallway