handles and headaches

 

When I was renting this house out, I once did a painting job in an amazing apartment in Brighton. It was in a beautiful Regency building in a posh part of town called Lewes Crescent. It has views over gardens and the sea.

 

Lewes Crescent

 

The owner was restoring the original features, so I did faux woodgrain and marbling, and gilded some decorative cornice (sorry, no pics). Anyway, he was taking all the handles off and replacing them. He was mixing all the original features with completely contemporary fixtures, fittings and furniture. It looked beautiful, very eclectic.

 

I did some scrounging, not something I like doing, but he was throwing out MY perfect choice for a handle.

My perfect choice has always been glass knobs, with stars etched into the back end.

 

 

He was literally throwing them out, I couldn't believe it. I don't know if they were original or 20th century replacements but when he said yes, I just ran for the hills back to my place !

 

They sat in a basket for over six years, waiting for the right doors and when I knew I was returning to this house, I went to count them (because I knew my house had handles that I'd never liked) - and there they were, 12 old and slightly shabby identical crystal door knobs with brass back plates.

 

12 knobs equals 6 sets -

I have 6 internal doors -

HALLELUYA !!

 

Now for the headaches. I asked my brother to fit them.

Doors one and two went well.

I love them on my old pine doors.

 

The doors downstairs only have ball catches, so there are no spindles, it was just a case of screwing them on.

Upstairs, there are four doors, that didn't go so well.

The spindles I had didn't fit, they were too short and tapered.
My dear brother decided that door No1 upstairs (the bathroom) didn't need the spindle, because the catch didn't fit anyway, and it had a little hook, as a lock.
That worked, till the warmer weather came and the door slightly swelled, and I got stuck in the bathroom after a shower, unable to turn the handle, because it was spindleless !
OMG
I shouted for him to come help me, but he always has his tv too loud, so I looked around and found the bottle soap and managed to push the spout into the gap and release the catch.

I pushed the spout in here to unlock the catch

 

There might have been a rather loud conversation that day !

 

I came home another day, to find doors No. 2 (the toilet in a cupboard) and No. 3 (the guest room) all done.

HOW EXCITING

So I did something quite normal, I used all the handles and closed the doors !

 

 

It's a natural thing to do because I just love them, especially on all the chippy, shabby doors upstairs.

 

Ah, big mistake, the toilet door opened ok, but I couldn't open the guest room door. It was shut tight !

I called my brother, who started talking about kicking the door down !!

YIKES

In the time it took him to repeat this, I rushed down stairs, got a screwdriver and a pair of pliers and took the handle off, and used the pliers on the spindle and the door opened !

PHEW

 

What a headache, my brother had decided that if he pushed the short spindle into the inside door handle, then at least whomever was in the room could get out, we just couldn't get in !

DUH

Have you got a headache now too !

 

The doors remained handleless for a while

 

Eventually, my dear brother went and bought new spindles, and cut them to size.

Slight headache - I normally do the measuring, but at least I have 6 doors, with 12 old crystal and brass knobs,

looking pretty perfect to me.

 

Answer, I never shut any doors if I'm on my own in the house, (especially not the 'toilet in a cupboard' door as

I'm claustrophobic too !).

 

Better answer, buy a little kit for every room - a screwdriver and some pliers.

 

 

And if you ever want to stay (and you're all welcome !) i'll provide you with a little bucket,

 just incase you get cut short in the night and you can't get out ! 

 

And if you need to use the 'toilet in a cupboard', don't turn the knob on the inside, as you may squish your fingers,

because it is very close to the door frame.

 

 

And it's probably why all the handles were lever handles, like this -

 

 

YUCCY !!

 

And the moral of this story, if you want something doing, probably best to do it yourself !

 

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