When we enter the lakehouse through what we deem our main entrance, we're greeted immediately by the hallway and a whole lotta doors. The hallway originally boasted beige paint paired with oak trim and doors. Combined with worn out gold door hardware and boob lights, the overall look was a little disappointing to come home to:
I wanted a brighter and more welcoming entryway and hall. The first step was to paint the walls, ceiling, and oak trim white, along with all of the woodsy doors. Next we ditched the lights in favor of my cheap and trusty Ikea lights. We collapsed the previously separate smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector into one sleek unit from Nest. Then we hung my DIY triptych (which fills the wall, making these humble little abstracts look much more grand), along with my framed Hungarian embroidery. My little thrift store painting got a new, slimmer frame (the refurbished one was dented during the move). Swapping out the dinky and dated brass knobs for more substantial, mid-century inspired Juneau levers from Sure-Loc is the latest update. We still have more to do, but here's our much happier hallway:
I'm (almost) always Team New Hardware, but this change is special because I've wanted this exact style of door lever for years. Even though I loved our little $10 silver knobs in the townhouse, their main attributes were cheapness and newness. They were good enough (spot the hideous "before" ones here), but not really enough to make me say "wow".
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| Small knobs in the townhouse |
The Juneau levers, on the other hand, are gorgeous and have a beautiful scale to them; they have presence, which you can see in the side-by-side comparison with the old doorknobs (above). With simple, straight-forward doors like ours, a lever with some wow-factor adds some much needed visual interest, while keeping in line with my vision for an uncluttered, modern look.
Whenever I do a product review I like to take some time to really test out the product so I can tell you something beyond, "it's shiny!". You've likely spotted the levers in action in the bedroom, the laundry room and the bathroom. Now that we've put them through the ringer, I can report that we're really happy with our Sure-Loc levers. They were straightforward to install. The only trouble is that they are not perfectly straight (I'm talking about millimeters here); they have a slightly hand-made look to them which is really subtle and something we determined we liked. Mechanically, they have a firmness to them when you open and close doors - there's a really crisp mechanism inside. Fingerprints show up a smidge on the brushed finish, but they really popped on the sheen of the former gold knobs.
Disclosure: I was provided six Sure-Loc levers for review but was not encouraged to provide a positive review. Many bloggers accept complimentary product for their homes and I know some readers wonder if they would have chosen the same item, had it not been provided for free. I thought I'd share the background details that are sometimes elusive on product reviews: after tracking down the style I wanted, and then falling in love with other styles from their inventory, I contacted Sure-Loc about a partnership and am thrilled that they were excited about working with me. I would have purchased these levers had they turned down my request (shhh, don't tell them). The Juneau levers are stylish, well-made, and are exactly what I envisioned. I can't imagine the hallway without them. If you're interested, you can find them at Direct Door Hardware.
