I’m just finishing up a bathroom in my 120 YO house. All of the hardware in the bath is chrome, while all of the hardware in the rest of the spaces (window sash locks, sash chain, etc) is brass.
I need to replace all of the door hardware in the house b/c it’s a cobbled together mess. Since I’m buying new knobs, escutcheons, and hinges, how do I approach the hardware finish for the closest accuracy?
Do I order chrome knobs for the bath and brass in the adjacent room? What about hinges? Or am I overthinking the thing?
Thanks for any advice.
Replies
You are right that chrome was generally used in bathrooms and kitchens. Rejuvenation has a lot of excellent period repro hardware, awesome quality, not cheap.
Here's a link to their "advice" section, it has some of the info you may be looking for http://www.rejuvenation.com/advice_ideas/index.html?iqg=deb4d6563c32468b6dfbb95eea9b62cd
Get your hands on a catalog from VanDyke's Restorers - they are, of course, on the net, too, but I like looking at the actual page - they have a terrific range of hardware, including some iron lever latches that adapt to those horrible tube latches, which I hate but have many of - and they are not quite as expensive as Restoration. My house is 300 years old, so I'm looking for a little different look, but they have a lot of brass -
What to replace the hardware with will depend quite a bit one the architectural style of the home.
Designerhardware (.com) sells many different lines of high end door hardware. Baldwin, Ashley Norton, Emtex, Rocky Mountain and several others produce some nice re-production hardware.
Its up to you how far you take it. It is easy to overthink things, but wow can you spend a bundle in the end. I picked out an entrance handle set I liked, and it was $2300 (yes, only one). If money is no object, great, I would have an architect help out with these decisions. If not, then I would focus on the areas that are important to you and stick to a consistent concept.
Brad
The question I have, restated:
Hardware in one room (bath) is chrome. Hardware in adjacent room (bedroom) is brass. How do I treat new door knobs? (One brass / one chrome OR both brass OR both chrome)
Brass on the brass side, chrome on the chrome side - the better hardware manufacturers provide this option - otherwise, you just do a little swapping.
Good luck with your old house!
I know Baldwin offers different finish/knob/Est... from side to side in the images line. Thats what I am doing in my bath since my bath fixtures are chrome.
I would match the hinge finish to the knob finish on the hinge side.
Brad
Rasher,
You are looking for a hardware set with what's called a split finish. It used to be very common. Everyhing on the bath side would be chrome; hinges, knob, escutcheon, door stop etc. Opposite side would match the rest of the house.
Remember that some hardware needs to be handed when it's ordered in a split finish.
Do I order chrome knobs for the bath and brass in the adjacent room? What about hinges? Or am I overthinking the thing?
You aren't overthinking it at all - proper hardware requires a great deal of thought.
Now, you said your house is 120 years old ... is that really close (ie 1889)?? If so, and if you are really restoring c. 1889 bathrooms, they didn't have chrome in use then. Typical door hardware might have been mineral knobs, porcelain knobs (both of which you can still get in antiques or reproductions, or possibly metal - but NOT chrome, which didn't come into widespread use until the early 30s.
However, if the bathrooms were added at a later time (quite possible) then you need to get an approximate date for their addition - this was common (adding bathrooms) in the 20s and 30s since newer houses were being built with them.
Prior to 1930 or so, an alternative to brass on the interior side of a bathroom door would have been nickel (which does tarnish) - chrome came along and quickly replaced nickel in the early 30s.
Here's what a c. 1889 bathroom might look like (faucet not original):
View Image
meticulously restored 1889:View Image
circa 1889 sink with original fittings and hardware:View Image
c. 1900 bath:View Image
You may be able to tell from these if your bathroom is from a later period. By the way, dates are *usually* stamped into or inked onto the bottom of porcelain sinks and the underside of toilet tank lids.
Jeff
PS - if 120 years old was +/- 50 years (ie a wild guess) please say so!PPS - post a pic of your hardware/bathroom if you can't date it and I'll try.
Edited 3/10/2009 10:12 pm ET by Jeff_Clarke
I believe you are right, the last home I was working on that was built in 1913 was nickle in the bathrooms and not chrome. Worn away on the window latch hardware ( casements with keepers and stays) and the other fixtures were in pretty good shape, considering the age.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
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In my house (1901) we have chrome on the bath side and something black and shiny on the public side. The first floor has fancier knobs, but the more utilitarian doors (basement) have either black or brown knobs.
Something to consider is that that 1930's or earlier "chrome" isn't really chrome. It's usually tin plate over brass, which has a deeper, more luxurious looking finish than does chrome. Rejuvenation has lighting fixtures with the old tin finish, and they show the difference from what's in Home Depot or others. I've also found their products to be easier to keep clean and shiny, as well. Try to preserve that shiny tin plated door hardware on the inside of your bathroom, but if you can't, Rejuvenation has good substitutes. Also, replacement chrome door hinges are readily available. Chrome (tin) metal and white china fixtures are standard for a 30's bath when disease was a problem at that time and sanitation was paramount. This was also why bathrooms then had so much tile -- so easy to keep clean and sanitary. Now I see younger people ripping out that beautiful tile in their old bathrooms, and it's saddening.
Pre-1930 - Dull nickel or polished nickel - generally not tin.
Jeff
Jeff, below, is correct. If it was built before 1935, the interior would most likely be polished nickel. The exterior would likely be brass and mixing the finishes on door latch sets was very common and can still be done with many manufacturers. The brass would not have been polished and lacquered. It probably was raw brass and tarnishes quickly with use. "Antique Brass" finish was developed to imitate this, but this modern finish varies a lot in quality. You may have more problem finding unlacquered brass for the outside than finding polished nickel for the inside. Try Rejuvenation in Portland.
http://www.rejuvenation.com/index.html
or buy it from a recycler like Hippo Hardware and have it replated.
"The brass would not have been polished and lacquered."Lacquered no ... polished, probably, depending on how many servants you had and how busy they were doing other things. The Victorians were very interested in bling ;o).
Jeff