Kitchen Cabinets: Knobs & Pulls

Now that you have painted, refinished or replaced your kitchen cabinets don’t forget the knobs and pulls. Perhaps one of the easiest and most dramatic changes you can make, even if you do nothing else to the cabinets is to replace the hardware.

All home improvement stores and/or hardware stores have knobs and pulls. You can find ultra contemporary, traditional, or even whimsical! They can really vary in price and some may need to be ordered, so shop around.

Some of my favorite places to shop are Home Depot, Lowe's and Ace Hardware. But also look into Ikea contemporary styles and good pricing. Restoration Hardware is a great place to shop online for historical products and replacement parts. Also check out places such as Habitat for Humanity and other salvage stores in your area for great deals, especially for replacement or vintage items.

Be Creative. I was invited to visit a home of friends that had been renovating their 1970’s home. I was so impressed with their kitchen. They had glazed their cabinets in a deep green and made all the handles for each door and drawer from 1/2" copper plumbing pipe. It was great! The handles on the drawers were almost the length of the drawer; at the end of the pipe they had attached plumbing fittings to make a 90 degree angle. It was not only a clever solution that expressed their personalities, but it looked expensive and was an amazing effect!

"Oops" Paint

Times are tough out there, but we also need to do some things to perk up our spirits. Spring has sprung! Whether you just purchased your new home or not, you look around the house and it needs some "perking up". Painting can make dramatic changes with minimal costs.

One of my favorite money saving paint tips is to check out the "oops" paint. Each time I go into a store that sells paint, I walk through the paint department. It is true many times I walk on by, but other times I have found, not only my best deals, but my favorite colors! Excellent paint is sold for ridiculously low prices, perhaps someone made a mistake when mixing it or the person ordering it changed their mind. I have often purchased quarts of paint for $2 ; $5 for a gallon; $15 for five gallon container.

I have never been disappointed by the paint that I have purchased this way. In fact, the paint that I loved the most, both in quality and color was a "boo-boo". The greatest part of buying this way, if you would ever need more of the color, the stores can "scan" a sample of the paint and re-mix it to the exact combination (granted, the addition may not be $5), but certainly removes the fear of running short in the middle of my project.