Loudest House On The Left: Rome wasn't built in a day, (even by artists)

I wasn't sure how I wanted to start my "operation re-do." Which projects would I start, which ones would be a good "test the waters" of my potential? Is there even a method behind choosing? I looked around my brand new home and thought, "how can I make it look old, shabby chic?" Which by the way is a new word for me thanks to my best friends baby shower I am planning. Lauryn has a classic style, simple and elegant that screams class. In fact, I'm convinced she alone invented "shabby chic." I've always idolized her ability to pick her choices of anything based simply on what she likes and VOILÀ, it's perfect, as if in some cosmic way everything she liked all went together like they were made to match. Okay, I can do that, I see things everyday that I love, it's when I find more than one thing and I try to "match and style" them together that falls short. That's the part that makes my head hurt. Maybe they don't go together, maybe they do, but I always feel like I need a professional to tell me they match before I'm convinced I picked two or more coordinating items. I'm stressed now just by writing this. But I kept "Lauryn's Method" in mind as I looked around my house. Most of my trim and details is pretty standard builders grade. Sure we upgraded baseboards, wood floors, granite etc. but the bones of the house, the small details are the plain Jane in every standard home built these days. I looked around and made mental notes of all the things I could change to "Craftsman Style" it up, while keeping what I liked incorporated, because overall I have to LOVE my house. I'm not gonna shoot my foot off to save face sort of speaking. I wasn't gonna completely turn my house into a place I didn't feel comfortable in just to keep with a theme. I needed to find a happy medium, a way to use the charming Craftsman style features with my crisp clean white and grays. So I took inventory of things I KNEW I could change (there I go again with the delusional assumptions,) well, the things I thought I could possibly change, door trim, interior doors, chandeliers/light fixtures, facets and fixtures, fireplace trim, crown molding, stairway banister, wall wainscoting, door knobs, the list went on and on. I felt overwhelmed already. Still using the "Lauryn Method" I headed out to Lowes. I thought to myself, "doorknobs would be the best first step in this endeavor." So I browsized the aisles telling myself pick what you like, give no thought to style or whether they match the doors, (I'm changing them out eventually anyway) as long as I pick what I like I can't go wrong." There's so many I like and so many choices that fit my theme. There's door levers and door knobs, they come in polished or brushed nickel, chrome, pewter and antique bronze. I have cheap builder grade silver door knobs now so anything is an upgrade. Craftsman style has a lot more choice than I thought.

This classic doorknob with the black plate (above) always caught my eye. It's in all the blogs and Houzz.com pictures for "Craftsman Style" and I loved them, but it was just a doorknob, shouldn't I class it up a bit? Maybe get something out of the norm? My front door and back door have levers on the interior side, wouldn't that be weird? And just like that the "Lauryn Method" disappeared from my mindset like the puff of smoke I was now exhaling under the extreme pressure. LOL

Then I came across these gems. (Below Pic) wow! They scream my name with a statement! How charming are they?

But again, "just door knobs." So maybe I should steer towards levers. I'm already over analyzing whether levers and knobs belong under the same roof completely throwing my plan out the window along with remembering I have no business trying to analyze style in the first place.

Okay, now we're talking. This is cool, right? Maybe? I kind of like it. It looks old and rustic but is that Craftsman? I think it could be classified as Craftsman, right? Maybe more medieval? Or modern? Are they the same? FOR PETES SAKE THEY'RE DOORKNOBS! Maybe I should skip this one. Next.

Now this one I can work with. Similar to the one above without the medieval flare. It has that classic Craftsman doorknob plate but with a lever. The box says "contemporary door lever," contemporary? no that won't do. I don't think it looks contemporary but surely the people on the box know more than me. So I decide that it might make my decision easier if I look at the type of doors these door handles will go on in the future. I say "future" because during this over analyzing mind draining trip to get simple door hardware I'm noticing these things are expensive and with 28+ to buy that eats up my budget.

So I head over to the door department and scroll through my phone. I fell in love with my options

I've narrowed it down to either a 3 panel or 5 panel.

I noticed that the new door choices would even look good with my plain Jane silver doorknobs. The picture above shows the 5 panel with a doorknob similar to what the builder put in my home. Maybe I should just focus on the doors first? But then my mind starts wandering, "if I do the doors now it would make sense to do the door trim at the same time, but that envolves cutting wood, painting, and power tools. I don't have any of that yet. My tool collection consists of a hammer, a phillips screwdriver, power drill with 4 drill bits and a tape measure that is broken to stick at 17 1/8" plus that seems like a heavy job to start with so let's just focus on the doorknobs/levers, back to the door hardware aisle I go.

Just like the knee jerk pick of my house I walked up and instantly pulled 12 of these door levers, appropriately picked for the doors on the main level of my home, i.e. Privacy, passage and dummy.

I don't know why, it's not Craftsman, it's not one that originally caught my eye and I'm pretty sure it actually clashes with the straight lines panels on the doors that 10 minutes ago I was in love with. SMH!! UGHHH I shouldn't be allowed to make choices like this. I loaded them up and here they are, (pictured below) all throughout the entire first floor of my home!

Well, this isn't turning out so good! Eh?

(SIDE NOTE- Installing "new" NEW door hardware will be featured in an upcoming blog)

Here are mine, aside from the fact that I have severe buyers remorse from picking these the way I did they actually suck for many reasons, mainly, no matter how tight I got them on the base plate shifts.