Knob love

Hey heeeeeey! Happy Friday!! We have a busy but fun weekend planned – it feels like the first weekend in a long time that hubby hasn’t had a band function or event. I just realized today we don’t even have a baseball game this weekend, so I’m looking forward to just hanging out with my boys and having a great weekend!

I stopped by Hobby Lobby this week to look for some knobs for the powder room vanity – there’s still so much to do in there but sometimes I allow myself a “fun” project here and there. It gets me even more excited about getting it done. :)

Over the past few years Hob Lob has been my go-to place for pretty, funky decorative knobs and they didn’t disappoint this time either. They have such a fun selection and I think they are always half off now, so you really can’t beat it!

I loved this nautical inspired compass knob:

I may have to go back for those for the Bub’s bathroom redo…which will come when I’m ready to face bathroom redos again. ;)

This bicycle one was adorable:

I have a girlfriend who loves bikes and this reminded me of her. ;)

They have a HUGE selection of painted ones too – I absolutely loved all of the color on these:

And if you want something more subdued there are a ton of glass options too:

I loved that aqua glass one – I wanted those but they didn’t have enough.

These button knobs were just too stinkin’ cute!!:

I’m still trying to think of where I could use them. How fun would those be in a craft room or toy room?

I thought these mercury glass-looking ones were pretty too:

So elegant – and I think they were $4 each and half off? You can’t beat it people!

These spigot handles were adorable too, and would be super cute in a bathroom:

Ohhhh my goodness…I just thought of a fun way to use these! I may go grab a few to put on my potting bench outside for hanging my gardening tools. Adorable. (Don’t go grab them all umkay??)

They have a ton of hooks and handles too – this one would look amazing against a white dresser or vanity:

Awesome, yes?

I wanted something with with a big pop of color but also a simple design for our vanity, so I went with these beauties:

The base (the white part) was actually a creamy color that looked dingy against the white drawers, so I taped off the knobs and spray painted it. They look SO much better!

I LOVE the aqua color against the white vanity (which I’ll tell you more about soon):

Knobs and hardware are another one of those little details that I love to change up – they can add some real beauty and interest to a dresser or vanity for not a lot of money.

Where do you find your knobs? Have you found some cool ones at Hobby Lobby? My only complaint about theirs is that they loosen up easily – much easier than others I’ve purchased. But the aqua knobs came with a washer so I’m hoping that helps keep things tight. Anyone else notice this?

Cheater crown molding

Progress people!! It’s happening in the powder room! WHOOT!

I know I said I wasn’t going to show you much more before the reveal. I lied. :)

I don’t know if I’ve told you about the crown molding in this room before, but I thought it was post-worthy, because it makes installing crown SO easy.

I think I have written about it, maybe? I don’t know, remember it’s been five years.

Anyhoo, last I left you I was showing you the new paint color, and in this pic especially you can see how craptastic the crown molding looked:

Spell check doesn’t recognize craptastic. WHY?

I had installed the crown years ago and then never finished it. I know! I’m surprised too!

(That would be sarcasm if you’re new here.)

I installed the primed molding and then put one coat of paint on the cheater pieces (that I’ll tell you more about in a minute) and that was it – no more paint, no caulk:

I did fill the nail holes at least – but the putty was still on there, I didn’t even sand off the excess. ;)

Soooo. It was time to fix that. I started off giving it all one coat everywhere but the bottom. I was able to cut in on the top of the crown because of that lovely gap, but the bottom (that looked the worst because of all the painting I’ve done over the years) needed to be taped off with my trusty FrogTape:

I used the yellow delicate kind because I had painted recently and because I just really like that version – it’s a bit thinner so it’s really easy to work with.

Everything got two coats and it looked SO much better. But crown still doesn't look just right till you get rid of all the gaps:

I still have these gaps in my office too, two years later and I still haven’t gotten up there to caulk all of it. Cause it’s about the most fun evah…can you blame me??

I used the little tool I told you about here to caulk and it worked great along the bottom and at the ceiling.

So now, the good stuff – I found these corner crown pieces years and years ago, before I knew how to cut crown molding:

Even if you know how to cut crown you know it’s still a major pain in the patoot, so these are AWESOME. They are just wood pieces you use on the outside corners (like above), and the inside corners:

So instead of learning how to cut the angles just right, (I showed you how to do that here) or if you don’t have a compound miter saw – this is the stuff for you. You just nail it in and then the actual crown only needs straight cuts that butt up against them.

I love the little architectural flair they give a room! They are kind of expensive, so now that I know how to cut crown I don’t use them anymore. If you just have a square room they wouldn’t be that bad because the inside corner pieces are cheaper.

Painting and caulking crown is one of those things I put off, but when it’s done I can’t believe the difference it makes. Here’s the before:

And the after – bright white and look Ma! No gaps!:

You’ll notice the wood planks have been painted too, halleluiah! Now I feel like I’m really in the home stretch! Just need to finish painting the door trim and baseboards, get the other trim up over the planks, hang a mirror and then I can decorate it a little!

Have you mastered the crown molding cut? Or have you tried these cheater pieces? Someday I’ll have crown in every room of our house – I absolutely love it. And if you can install it yourself the cost isn’t bad at all!