Knob Revelation

I had painting (as Jeff says "always with the painting...") on the agenda yesterday so it was rather unfortunate that Plato picked that day to turn into a vomit machine. I'm working on the skirting board that runs down the stairs - tedious TO THE MAX. I knew when Plato was about to throw up because Sascha would show up at the bottom of the stairs like "Hey, um, I think he's about to...(sounds of retching in the background)... yeah, do that. Again."I have a sneaking suspicion that she was not actually so concerned about Plato, but wanted to solidify her position as the de-facto favorite for the next 10 minutes. Of course, when I think Plato is about to barf my first reaction is to call his name hysterically/stupidly, which makes him come running to me (on the newly carpeted stairs with the wet paint). Then I have to not-so-gently shove him back downstairs to a non-carpeted area. Poor Plato. He got his revenge by puking in our bedroom at 3am this morning, so I don't feel so bad for him anymore.

My philosophy with the whole painting thing is to not try to do too much in one day and not to stress about getting it all done RIGHT NOW. If you don't really feel like painting before you even begin for the day, you're really going to hate it after about 30 seconds, you're going to hate it the entire time, and you probably won't do a very good job. Sometimes I just need to take a day off to look at pictures of houses with white walls and trim to get my painting mojo back. I was browsing Remodelista (you know, that blog I'm weirdly obsessed with) and came across some photos of architect Elizabeth Roberts' brownstone in Brooklyn. I had a knob revelation when I saw her kitchen.

I've been having a hard time picking handles/knobs for our wardrobe doors. I showed you all those super  cool ones from Sugatsune, but none of them seemed quite right. I think the combination of the really shiny white doors and the flashy hardware was a little much. I love the simplicity of the white on white here. Turns out the knobs are from Ikea and cost like 2 pound for a pack of six. I was so excited that I went to Ikea again yesterday. I didn't even tell Jeff because I was kind of embarrassed. My secret is out now though, I guess.

Before I bought the knobs, I hadn't attached the doors because it would have been pretty annoying to open and close them without handles of any sort. Plus, I knew it wasn't going to be easy - those doors are really tall and surprisingly heavy. Each door has four hinges that you have to line up just right and then there is the matter of minute adjustments to the hinges so they all hang straight. I have to say thank you again to the handyman who spent so much time getting the frames level. That made hanging the doors so much easier.

Easier, but definitely not easy. Phew. I was so wiped I only had the energy to take this crappy phone picture before I cleaned up. My good camera was all the way downstairs, you see. As excited as I am about the knobs, I saved that for tomorrow when I'm fresh. Bad things can happen when you're tired and there is a drill involved. I only have one shot at each of these doors so I'm a little nervous. I have to remind myself that it won't be the absolute end of the world if I mess up and have to get another door - at the very least it will be a reason to go to Ikea again.

PS Plato is fine. Maybe this will teach him not to snack on sticks while we're at the park. I wouldn't want to swallow bark, much less regurgitate it - but that's just me.

PPS I wish I could do a little copy/paste action on that kitchen into our house.