White is my favorite color. It matches with everything, it’s timeless, and you better bet I still wear it after Labor Day (who made that dumb rule anyway?). We were lucky enough to already have a white kitchen when we moved in, but since our house was manhandled by flippers during its lifetime, it looked fairly builder grade with boilerplate granite countertops and silver cabinet hardware. While we’re not trying to invest in new countertops right now (ie. we just bought a house and we don’t have the coins for that), I wanted an inexpensive kitchen upgrade for a bit more character.
Updating your kitchen hardware is one of the easiest (and most inexpensive!) upgrades. One day, we will live in a house with true long cabinet pulls that require two drilled holes, but since I didn’t want to mess with putting another hole into my cabinets this time, the Brainerd Classic Button 3-in. Matte Black Bar Cabinet Knob was the perfect solution.
They’re $4.48 each and I had 36 knobs to replace in my kitchen. I ordered 40 in case a few came damaged. However, since all of the knobs came in tact, I ended up replacing the ones on my bathroom vanities as well. And because twine makes everything better, I decided to hot glue some twine to them. I spent a total of $179.20 on the knobs, plus however many pennies it cost for two glue gun sticks and some twine.
A couple hours later, I had a set of new, rustic/nautical/whatever twine means to you-inspired kitchen cabinets. And because everyone loves a good before and after, here is the before:
And here is the after!
It’s a subtle, but striking upgrade to the cabinets (and yes, I was making pasta in the ‘after’ photo, hence the little pot that appeared!). Here’s a few other angles of the kitchen now:
In case you’re wondering what it looks like to put one of these knobs together, here is a video tutorial:
A few tips:
– Always place the dot of hot glue on the back of the knob to cover up any excess glue.
– Make sure you wrap the twine taut against the knob so there isn’t any excess slack.
– Wait about 10 seconds for the hot glue to cool down a bit before trying to press the twine into it at the end so you don’t burn yourself.
– Use scissors at the end to cut off any excess twine hairs.
This is also a renter-friendly upgrade as you can easily keep your old knobs tucked away safely somewhere to put back once you move (or if you’re like me and you’re a commitment-phobe). I hope you found this helpful and that it just goes to show – little updates can make a big difference!
“True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” – Leo Tolstoy
Leave a Reply