Adding Character To Your Home Using Interior Door Knobs
New homes often seem to lack the character and charm of their older predecessors. Below I’m sharing how simply switching up your interior and/or exterior door knobs can instantly add character and charm to any home.
The interior door hardware in this post was gifted by Nostalgic Warehouse. This post contains affiliate links where I will receive commission from your clicks and purchases. You can read more on the privacy and disclosures page.
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Our home was seriously lacking character
I grew up in Kansas City, in a neighborhood where historic homes are seemingly on every corner. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in New England where historic charm is literally etched into the landscape of our countries history!
When my husband and I embarked upon our major home renovation, it was important to us that we incorporate vintage and reclaimed elements into our home. In doing so, we would be adding in layers of warmth and character… character of decades past that so many new homes and remodels seem to lack!
All that said, I realize that having the opportunity to completely gut one’s home and begin with a blank slate is not an option for most. There are, however, simple ways you can incorporate character back into your home! One such example is the simple task of switching out a door knob!
Swapping your dated door knobs with vintage inspired knobs
Swapping out your builder grade or dated knobs for newer “antique” door knobs is a great way to achieve instant character! Door hardware is the jewelry for your home, and shouldn’t be overlooked. Additionally, changing out a door knob is easy and can be done without the need to hire a handyman or woman!
For our home renovation, we decided to use door hardware from Nostalgic Warehouse. We previously installed their oiled rubbed bronze door knobs in our cabin, and were not only impressed with the quality of their hardware, but also loved at how instantly it transformed our space! (Read more about our cabin here)
When considering our interior door sets, my husband and I knew we wanted to incorporate antique door sets, such as crystal and porcelain knobs into our home. We have both long admired the look of an antique door knobs using any combination of crystal, white or black porcelain door knobs. Porcelain door knobs were often used in older homes dating back to the early 1900’s… homes that were oozing with character that feels storied, warm and inviting!
Lucky for us, we didn’t need to scour the internet in search of antique door sets as Nostalgic Warehouse offers all of these options with customizable backplates and shapes all in one place.
Do all the door knobs in my house need to match?
This is a question that gets asked a lot and the answer is… no, they don’t! Of course, if the idea of mixing and matching door hardware makes your head spin, there certainly isn’t anything wrong with matching the door hardware throughout your entire home either!
Choosing door hardware (or anything for your home) is a personal choice and whatever makes you happy is always the right choice!
If you do, however, enjoy the look of varying door hardware keep reading as I spell out the key ingredient to keeping your doors cohesive as opposed to busy.
Which Antique Door Knobs We Used In Our Home
However before I share, let’s take a look at the “antique” door knob choices we chose for our home renovation. Personally, we had a hard time choosing between all the beautiful choices. Do we choose black knobs, white knobs or crystal glass knobs?? And to that my answer is… we used all!
Throughout the majority of our home, we used a beautiful white porcelain knob. However, we did switch things up in various zones of our home, using black porcelain knobs in some and crystal knobs in others.
By zones I mean the floor or level of our home, or in some cases, areas of our home that a similar door color.
For example, we have a mixture of stained and painted doors throughout our home. Wherever you find a stained wood door, you will also find a crystal glass knob. While all painted doors received either a white or black knob.
In our basement, the walls are painted a soft white to keep things light and bright! We decided to use black porcelain knobs on this entire floor and treated it as it’s own decor personality. Adding black door knobs was the perfect way to not only add character, but also to provide some much needed contrast and visual interest to the otherwise white space.
On the top floor, however, we used white porcelain knobs, except for the stained laundry room doors. The laundry closet received crystal glass knobs. Breaking up the door color and door knob style in this hallway prevented the space from feeling like a hall of doors!
How to Mix and Match Door Knobs
So how do you achieve a cohesive look when mixing and matching door hardware? The answer is by having a consistent backplate color. In our home, for example, we used an unlacquered brass door plate for every interior set within our home… regardless of knob selection.
Keeping this one element consistent yields a cohesive aesthetic and allows for variation between your knob selections.
I do, however, also recommend keeping your knob color consistent per each room. For example, in our girls’ bedrooms we decided to vary the backplate between the entry/bathroom doors and their closet doors. The entry and bathroom doors received unlacquered brass, long plates with white porcelain knobs while closet doors received an unlacquered brass, classic rosette with white porcelain knobs.
Keeping the backplate color and knob similar prevents this room from feeling disjointed and allowed us to differentiate the uses of the doors within the bedroom without making it seem busy.
So now that you know the secret to mixing and matching door hardware will you give this a try?
Let me know if the comments below!
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