Somethin' Salvaged: Glass Doorknobs Add Sparkle to Kitchen

Before

After

Before

After

Earlier this year I designed my kitchen cabinets and found someone to build and install them, but yet someone that would allow me to finish them. I wanted the kitchen to be more in harmony with the rest of the house and tried to take it back to it's 1916 roots. That meant painting and distressing the cabinets to give the feel of stepping back in time.

Today I made some major finishing touches to this kitchen!! Because I didn't want to buy 8 blinds, just to make all windows match, I opted to splurge on cordless honeycomb blinds for the windows on the west side of the room. So then I needed to hide the 2 blinds so it didn't look off balance. I decided to hang some fabric in a swag above each window to help camo the fact that there are only 2 blinds. I first thought I would just use drapery corbels and pull the fabric through...not so easy to find on a budget...plus how would I hang them without ruining the trim? Then I got the idea to use glass doorknobs! I felt not only would they work, but they would be a great way to accent the crystal chandelier! (See the Pickin' In Salt Lake blog for the story on the chandelier!)

I bought several miss matched knobs on ebay then cleaned them up with steel wool. (There was even a PURPLE one in the lot I bought! See how I used IT below.) I had several wooden dowels that had been the curtain rods for the windows when we moved in. I used those to extend the knob out to give a place for the fabric to rest. Then I cut extra 1x4 trim into a small square and drilled a hole in the middle. After staining the square to match the trim I glued it all together. (I probably should have stained the dowels too, but you really cant see them.) I used my nailgun to tack it in place, 2 nails for each block. Something that should not leave much damage if they ever need to come down.

I'd have to say the hardest part of the project was the swag. I ended up just ironing the end seems over with some sticky fusing stuff...can you tell I don't sew! I think it will hold up okay, time will tell.

Next let's take a look at the island. It was a find from the Salvation Army. There were actually 2 of these things and they turned out to be speakers. I am guessing they came from a church but I don't know for sure. They were marked $35 each and the tag said they even worked. They had just put them out on the floor and I knew I had to have them! They were EXTREMELY heavy because they are made of oak, and the 2 barely fit in my small SUV but I made it work. I removed the speaker and guts with a sawsall then built a little shelf inside it. The padded fabric insert came out easily and I just ironed a cuff on some sheer fabric and put it over a tension rod hung on the inside. My good friend Ranae gave me a piece of granite and ...there you have it...my new kitchen island!

I made the kitchen table from 2 separate tables. The top is antique but the base was plain and clearly new so I swapped out the base with a clawfoot pedastal that I got for $35 at an auction. The finishes did not match and I don't like to use stain so I just rubbed brown latex paint into the wood and gave it a weathered, uneven look, then put on 3 coats of polyurethane to make the top durable. I am now on the lookout for 2 more oak chairs to make the set complete.

So... this is my new kitchen and I reallly have to say I LOVE IT!!

Oh...I almost forgot....the floor was made from 2 dead maple trees we cut down out front when we moved in! It's not traditional maple, like a gym floor, an old timer in Utah said it was probably Big Leaf Maple...whatever that means. Anyway, Wayne surprised me by saving the lumber and having the idea to make it into flooring! Good call Honey...Love ya.