pour améliorer: Lock it Up!

Up until now, our entire new downstairs area has been completely un-lockable. Anyone could have just walked in and made themselves at home. We probably wouldn't have even heard them, thanks to the acoustic-rated insulation I had installed between the ceiling and our upstairs floor.

But that is the case no more!

Somewhere along the line, I decided that I would have black door and window hardware, to play nicely with the grey, white and black colour scheme I had settled on for the outside of the house (see here for how that turned out). I didn't realise at the time how difficult that would make my life! Black door handles (and window hardware for that matter) are incredibly hard to find! My choices were extremely limited, which of course meant that I was paying a premium for everything.

Nevertheless, the new black entrance handle on the front door (the only door in the downstairs area that isn't brand new - I scavenged it from a demolition yard and made the carpenter figure out how to hang it in its slightly-warped state) looks beautiful, doesn't it? Especially with the original key hole still in place on the door? I just have to figure out how to mask the original door handle hole next to it.

The windows also got their share of black bling, with little lockable teardrop handles and spur catches at the bottom. Actually the colour isn't black, it's called antique bronze, and it's essentially a very very dark brown, with little tiny rubbed touches of bronze on the extremities. They certainly look the part.

I considered the option of leaving the black there, on all of the outside windows and doors, but going with a cheaper, brushed steel look for all of the internal door handles. But for the sake of consistency and not cutting corners in order to save a relatively trivial amount of money, I decided to persist, and bought black passage sets for the three internal doors as well.

I'm glad I did. They certainly add to the overall look, I think!

We did strike one snag with my lovely handles, though. Although granted, we would have had the same problem with any handles, really. They threatened the un-dented-ness of all of our lovely walls, since they stuck out from the door itself so much.

A quick zip down to Bunnings to buy some $1 plastic door stops and a bit of fiddling around though, and that problem was solved.

But let's not leave it there. Next under the general category of 'hardware' falls the wardrobe doors!

You got a brilliant sneak peek at them in my last post about the lighting going in