Finished piano island… back to the kitchen.
if you’re new to the piano, start here! This is part 7… here is: part one, two, three, four, five, six
A refresher: we live in an old Victorian house + I love old/giant/impractical objects = an antique grand piano kitchen island.
The last time you saw the repurposed-piano kitchen island, we had designed the storage, and built and installed the drawers… but we still needed pulls for the drawer faces.
We couldn’t finish the front without knowing exactly what the hardware would be.
If you’re new, this is the post to read to understand the how/why of the design details… here’s the series of piano posts: getting it, epic quest, deconstructing/gutting, debating design, building drawers.
This is where we were:
It took me THIS long to find handles that I loved.
Which is the precise problem with trying to create what lives in your imagination, rather than simply going to the store and choosing from options that actually exist.
I wanted something brass. That was large. And appropriately fancy. And of course old. And I needed three.
And just to make it impossible, I also wanted something recessed into the wood so that the hardware wasn’t disrupting the line/visual/some detail I have in my head that doesn’t matter to anyone else.
I thought I might end up compromising on something like this; choosing simplicity and BEING FINISHED, over MORE LOOKING.
But then these finally showed up.
***
I spent the last year digging through boxes of hardware at auctions and salvage yards…and I also saved about 900 search-term combinations on eBay.
Every phrase I could think of related to: brass/antique/hardware/drawer/pulls/Victorian/ornate/heavy/giant/recessed/fancy.
Which meant I spent a lot of time wading through ebay-notification emails… and plenty of time being disappointed when I found something I really liked! But ARGH! Was only one or two, rather than the set of three we needed.
The front/face hides a double-decker drawer that provides a LOT of storage and organizing options, while keeping the exterior appearance simple and true to the original style of the piano.
We skipped hardware for the skinny drawers under the piano, because you just grab the bottom/under lip.
I was a little bit worried that trying to grasp the centerpiece/handle bit would be an issue, (obviously I ignored this possible problem in favor of visually getting exactly what I wanted) but it turned out fine – you don’t actually pinch the center bar, you just put your fingers underneath the handle’s lip, like a cup pull.
New topic: The last time I wrote about the kitchen, we took out the half bath and ripped up the floor in the addition… at the time, Elvis was reaching the end of her vet’s-best-case-scenario-hypothetical-timeline and the LAST thing I wanted was to have a lot of chaos if she was fading. I cannot overstate my gratitude that she is somehow still here! And my preference would be to continue to postpone all kitchen stuff indefinitely and spend whatever time we have left taking her outside to supervise the squirrels.
HOWEVER. Elvis and I live with this other person… and this other person has some scheduled vacation time coming up. And if he doesn’t get to use it work on the kitchen, his head will explode.
And seeing as how the man drove 14 hours in two days to make all my dreams come true, it does seem like the very LEAST I can do is try to keep his skull intact. So. We’ve ordered windows for the back wall… theoretically, it will look like this… BUT FANCIER.
Now I have two important announcements: 1. My career as a motivational hoarder is beginning! I will be in New Hampshire, in October, speaking about self-actualization through Giant Fancy Things.
A gathering of New England’s best antiques, vintage and re-purposed dealers in a huge Victorian barn built in the late 1800’s. — Sage Farm Antiques, Autumn Spectacular, October 7th-9th… Facebook event page.
Magically, this will put me 20 minutes from my best friend, AND allow me to shop a BARN FULL OF GFT’s (and also SFT’s— SMALL fancy things, and also hopefully BFT’s— BROKEN fancy things)… and if they give me a microphone, a kitten, and a Marine, my life will be complete. I really, really, REALLY hope that I’ll get to meet some of you! (But please do not try to buy anything I am interested in.)
2. I am LIVING for this necklace.
It’s BLUE! It’s SHINY! It has TASSELS! It’s WEIRDLY LARGE!
But to truly drive yourself crazy enjoy the necklace as I have, you have to buy two… then you have to remove the fringe from one and add it to the other… This should take roughly 14 hours, and involve two pair of needle nose pliers and a deep desire to stab someone; and also give you ample time to question your life-goals.
I had more to say about this, but then I remembered that I have already written an ode to necklaces. I revisited it, and I still like it. It’s an early post, and I use the s-word; because it was before I rooted out any offensive element of my personality so that I would appeal to as many people as possible… leaving only the bland shell you see before you today.
May 5, 2016 @ 11:25 am
I love that the windows you chose seem to be taller than the room – you’re living my dream!
May 5, 2016 @ 11:25 am
Well, you have achieved perfection. Those pulls, on that island, could not be improved upon. Your refusal to settle for less (and a hearty ugh to those pulls on Amazon) has paid off. Congratulations!
Perhaps I can persuade my husband that a weekend in New Hampshire would be just the thing. I would so love to see you in the flesh, and possibly meet you, if I could navigate through the admiring hordes.
May 5, 2016 @ 11:29 am
So excited to see the final result! The first blog you did about the kitchen island was the first post I found by you and I love everything about it. I also like in NH and will do everything I can to see you speak! That’s awesome!
May 5, 2016 @ 11:33 am
That hardware is perfect!
And a special meow-out to Elvis. You hang in there! You can do it.
May 5, 2016 @ 11:44 am
Every time there is a post from you in my email box I get super excited! I enjoy your sense of humor and I always end up cackling inappropriately. Please check in more often. Love, love, love your use of GFT’s!
May 5, 2016 @ 12:02 pm
Love, love, love it! The hardware is amazing. It was worth the wait.
I will see you at Sage Farm Antiques in the fall.
May 5, 2016 @ 12:05 pm
Hi Victoria–I’m the one who asked if you’re an Aries because my 6 year old Aries daughter sounds like you–anyway I have 2 questions: what sign is your husband (I’ll need to keep this in mind when she brings home candidates someday!)? And, I live in the great state of NH (Live Free Or Die!!…where will you be speaking??!
May 5, 2016 @ 12:14 pm
Love all your posts and great ideas. I love to re-purpose too!
May 5, 2016 @ 12:32 pm
PERFECTION – I am truly in awe – this is really the top of the tops!
And YES, Elvis is still alive AND Paul stays married to you – and you’ve managed to decide on the windows ….. so many exellent news!
Congratulations and also congrats to you for speaking aboout all your fancy GTs…. Wish I would be able to be there – but France is just a tad too far to pop over! Should you ever fancy buying the Eiffel Tower; let me know – I’m sure we can arrange something 🙂
May 5, 2016 @ 1:46 pm
These are indeed the perfect pulls. Good things happen to those who wait (and keep looking). So worth it!
May 5, 2016 @ 1:58 pm
The pulls were worth the wait!! So glad you didn’t settle on the nautical brass ones.
It’s wonderful how you always find the perfect accoutrement, GFT, BFT, SFT, etc…! It is a skill and talent you’ve honed to perfection.
May 5, 2016 @ 2:19 pm
You are anything BUT bland.
I need for you to never, ever change.
May 5, 2016 @ 2:27 pm
I love it! What a wonderful idea!
May 5, 2016 @ 3:16 pm
OH MY GOD! I love you and your posts and your obsession with GFT’s. And NOW, I will actually get to meet you because I live only 10 minutes from Sage Farm in New Hampshire! I’m so excited! I can’t wait for fall! But I’ll be keeping up with your posts until then! YAY!
May 5, 2016 @ 3:28 pm
Love the hardware! So glad Elvis is hanging in there. You have a whole new career opening up as the official representative for United Hoarders of America. You will have even more money for all sorts of GFT’s, SFT’s, and all sorts of FT’s (fancy things) in general.
May 5, 2016 @ 3:29 pm
Shut the front door! I LIVE in Rochester, NH! Not only am I thrilled that I’ll get to hear you speak but I had no idea this event was taking place. See you in October!
May 5, 2016 @ 4:28 pm
You are some “bland shell!”
May 5, 2016 @ 5:56 pm
I too have that constant nagging problem and I completely feel your pain — trying to create what’s in your imagination. Please do let me know if you ever figure out how to get that to work!
May 5, 2016 @ 5:56 pm
Here’s to Elvis! Just so you know, and so other people can do this…I put her name in one of my very often used passwords so that every time I sign in I send some healing love thoughts to Miss E. Mightn’t hurt if everyone else did it, too!
May 5, 2016 @ 6:31 pm
Those pulls are PERFECTION.