Home Hardware Redecorating Series - Bathroom Makeovers

How many times have you looked at your bathroom and thought it could use something new? It can be hard to know where to start. Certain aspects about a bathroom can feel restricting, especially if it's a very small apartment bathroom, or if it's a very old and grungy one.

A Small Bathroom

If you are renting, you might not be allowed to do anything drastic, or maybe you don't want to have to repaint it back to the original off-white that it came in when you decide to move. You can choose to install new hardware, or a few nice pieces of home hardware or bathroom accents that you can easily remove later and take with you when you move. Just don't forget to keep the original hardware, and put them back before you go!

Customize your bathroom and make it feel more like you, with some stylish cabinet hardware, like the beachy, sea life themed style.

  

You can also add some great organization and convenience to even the smallest bathroom with the right bathroom accessories. Double hooks, as well as mounted mirrors that swivel and mounted soap dishes are what you need. They come in many different styles and colors.

  

An Old Bathroom

You might not have the money to do the major bathroom renovation that you're dreaming of, but you can make some significant changes with bathroom accessories to spruce it up. A new shower system or a new shower head or sink faucet can make a big difference in the overall look of a bathroom.

  

5 Out-of-the-ordinary Ideas for Using Home Hardware

Many types of home hardware have uses outside of the standard, you just need to think outside the box! Being innovative is a great way to change things up and help make your home look a little more interesting, or to save some money.

Here are a few different ways to use home hardware that you might not have thought of.

Hooks...

… To Hang a Curtain

Get a piece of scrap wood, or a new piece of wood and paint it or stain it to the color you want. Use scrap wood that has faded paint would be good if you like the “shabby chic” look in your home. This piece of wood needs to be long enough to span the top of a window, and only needs to be a few inches wide, and about an inch thick.

Install single hooks about 3 or 4 inches apart across the board, or at least so that they are distanced from each other evenly. Get a curtain with loops at the top, and hang them on each hook, with the edges of the curtains meeting in the middle, so you can pull them apart to let the sun in during the day. You can also do this for a shower curtain, or wherever you want to hang a curtain!

… To Re-organize a closet

Take the rods out of your closet, and install hook racks along the inside walls. Install some up high, as well as some lower, so children can reach to hang their coats. This is a much more convenient way to hang coats in a closet.

House Address Numbers...

… On a Planter

Get a box planter that is big and noticeable, and one that will match the outside of your home. It should be up high (like on a porch railing, or even attached to the front of the house), or at least clearly visible from the road, with a flat front so you can easily install the numbers. Add plants, just not ones that will hang in front of the numbers.

… On a Monogram

Cut out or purchase a large capital letter of your family's last initial. Depending on the shape of the letter, arrange the house numbers so they read evenly spaced, from left to right (straight or diagonally), or top to bottom.

… On a Shutter

Get an old window shutter, or a new one in the color you want. Install your house numbers onto the shutter. You can get extra creative and decorate the shutter in different ways.

What Home Hardware Brands are the Best to Shop for a New House?

Shopping for new home hardware can get complicated, if you are looking for hardware that matches with existing hardware, or if you're getting all new hardware and want it to blend seamlessly across the board. This means you should find brands with a wide selection of collections and finishes, so you can find your style, and find all the types of hardware and accessories you need – towel bars, tissue paper holders, cabinet knobs, appliance pulls, etc. – and have them all match.

This specific instance would be if you are remodeling or you've had your new house built, and now you need to start adding the useful and decorative hardware and home accents. Using the same style and/or finish across your home, from the doorbell to the hinges, can make it look much more polished and cohesive.

We've compiled some of the best brands for just this purpose. The following brands have a big variety, and don't specialize in just one style, like modern or vintage. The following are also examples of what to look for in other brands.

Note: It can be necessary match finishes from the same brand, even though another brand has the same type of finish. The shades and tones in the finish can vary greatly from one brand to another. For example, brass from one brand might be a little darker, or more yellow in tone from another brand's brass finish.

Brand: Hickory Hardware

Why They Are Great

They have a huge variety of collections with different styles and finishes. Let's say you just put the vintage -looking cabinet hardware from the Queen Anne collection throughout your home. The finish is a bright gold-toned brass with a little bit of a weathered texture. You can shop their other home hardware, right down to the door stops, and bathroom robe hooks in this finish.

Brand: Hawk Hill

Why They Are Great

You can do some one-stop shopping for your door bell button backplates, House numbers, cabinet knobs and appliance pulls in collections that cover these things, or collections that go well together. For example, you can grab house numbers in copper, a rustic-looking door bell backplate in weathered copper, your cabinet knobs, appliance pulls or cabinet pulls in the same rustic bronze that is signature of that brand.

Brand: Alno 

Why They Are Great

They have several different collections for bathroom accessories , which are versatile enough to match with any other cabinet hardware or home accent collections. They also offer a wide variety of finishes, to make the job of matching even easier. They have modern styles like the Contemporary 1, 2, and 3 collections, as well as Eclectic and the rustic Hammered or Mission collections.

Some other brands with a big variety of products: Top Knobs, Liberty Hardware, Laurey, Jeffery Alexander and Amerock.

Keeping Your Bathroom Organized in Style

Keeping your bathroom organized and neat is an important part of good housekeeping, and you should be able to do so in style. You might have unique tastes in home decor, and your bathroom should be able to reflect that.

If you have a certain image in your head of what you want your bathroom to look like, and you have all your decorations picked out, don't just settle for plain bathroom accessories and home hardware! If you have a specific style in mind, there are bathroom hooks, shelves and even toilet paper holders that will match. You might think these things are a little trivial, but they make a big difference in the grand scheme.

This bathroom hook is from Belwith Keeler and is in the style of art nouveau. It's so much more exciting and decorative than any standard, boring bathroom hook that you'd find in the your local store, and it will do the job of keeping your bath robe or towel off the floor.

Even something as utilitarian as a grab bar doesn't need to pass on the style of your bathroom. Add a lovely grab bar like this one from Alno Creations for safety by your shower or by the toilet.

Your bathroom probably had a very standard and plain mirror when you moved in, but you can replace it with one that will go well with the other decorations and hardware in the room. This beautiful mirror one by Jeffrey Alexander would fit in with a romantic, fanciful bathroom.

A toilet paper holder is easy to remove and install, so adding one to your newly redecorated bathroom wouldn't be a big deal. Especially not if it looks as nice as this one from Alno Creations. It would look best in a very modern and polished bathroom, with a slightly ultra-modern twist.

Do you want a medicine cabinet that isn't just like all the other medicine cabinets? This Pegasus beveled mirror also doubles as a place to store all of your medicines and other bathroom necessities.

Decide Which Finish is Best for Your Home Hardware

There are so many types of finishes for home hardware, it can be hard to decide which one is right for your home. You might even have decided on the perfect theme and the perfect colors, but with so many beautiful and versatile pieces of cabinet knobs, bathroomhooks and other essential pieces, it can start to get confusing!

First, you should consider the basic color scheme of the kitchen or bathroom where you plan on installing your new home hardware. Does it involve mostly cool colors or warm colors? Cool colors are blues, greens, purples and pinks, or shades that contain these hues.

If your bathroom features cool colors, one special kind of finish that would work well here, is verdigris. Verdigris gives the look of oxidized copper, which if you look at an old penny that has been oxidized, has a bluish green color. It also has a rustic and old fashioned feel. It would go great in a bathroom that has an aquatic theme.

Next, think about the basic décor aesthetic of your kitchen or bathroom. Is it more polished and modern, or does it have a very country, shabby-chic or rustic feel? Your finish should definitely match the aesthetic.

Chrome home hardware would be perfect for modern, ultra modern, or even a fancy or “romantic” theme, depending on the style of the cabinet hardware and hooks, right down to the toilet paper holder and even the soap dish. On the opposite side of the coin, antique iron, antique bronze or antique copper would go well in a rustic style atmosphere.

Then, there are the more versatile finishes available. Oil rubbed bronze home hardware is very popular, and it comes in many different shades of the same basic neutral, ruddy brownish gold. It's neutral, because it would go well with both cool and warm color schemes. Nickel is also very versatile, comes in variations like polished, satin and even black nickel, and is also considered largely neutral.

Now that you've answered these questions, you can narrow down your search for the right home hardware finish. Next, you can focus on the shape to go along with the overall style and feel of the room or rooms.