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Posted by Kristin Abraham Jan 18, 2007 |
The walls are painted, most of the trim is painted. The closet doors are painted and one is installed and the main door is painted. I've done so much I didn't want to shortcut the process so I decided to purchase all new door hardware.
I'm a silver/white gold/platinum sort of person. I just don't like the look of gold or brass and my condo has these horrible aged brass looking doorknobs so why not replace them?
The first shock came at the hardware store. Now The knobs were about what I expected, around $17 a piece. BUT for just $10 more I could get these snazzy ones that are oval rather than round. I debated and the impractical side won. I spent the extra $30 for three doorknobs that are oblong. Not a shock. And then I got to the hinges. Each door needs 3 hinges, each hinge cost $9! That means I need 9 hinges at $9 which is going to cost at least $81, not including tax. Almost $100 in hinges alone?! What a colossal rip off. But what could I do? I knew I should shop around or go to Restore, but I wanted to get the project done today. So I sucked it up and decided I'd eat Ramen noodles for the next couple weeks.
Then I got home and realized my hinges don't work like my old ones. I like hinges where I can just hammer out the pin and move the door if I'm bringing in big furniture or painting etc. These appear to lock permanently so I think I'd have to unscrew them every time, which seems ridiculous, but I'm not planning on repainting them so I guess I go with it.
And the doorknob itself. The old one came apart pretty easily. The new one's locking mechanism didn't want to go back in the hole, the old metal piece was still inside and it was greatly impeding my progress. Also, the locking part had a plate and my old one did not. This was not good. I couldn't return the $27 knob because in opening the hermetically sealed box I had to destroy it and basically cut it into a snowflake. My frustration was mounting.
Then I decided to read the directions. It was quite evident then that I should use my screwdriver to pry off the plates and then I should install a small circular one with a collar, like my old doorknob. Then I was to hammer the locking mechanism into place. I began hammering and it moved, I figured it was sliding into the metal cuff that was stuck inside my door but pretty soon that cuff popped right out the hole. Perfect! Now the locking mechanism went right into place.
Getting both knobs to line up and then holding them in place, with the knob twisted so I could tighten the screws was a bit tricky and I could have used another hand or two, but I managed and my doorknobs are installed!