When it comes to decorating I am like The Princess and The Pea. It's got to be just right, no matter how small or it makes me crazy. How about you?
Several years ago, I mentioned that I was a selective perfectionist when it comes to home decor. I called it my princess and the pea syndrome
It's really not that big a deal, I mean, when I notice something that needs to be fixed or fluffed and I do it. Problem solved.
Princess pacified.
It only really becomes an issue when I need to get the prince involved. Then it tends to get complicated.
Take my pantry doors for instance.
A few weeks ago, I shared what this area looked like before the renovation. I had been digging through photos of the house and one particular picture caught my eye. I had taken it years ago, to showcase a space I lovingly referred to as my sentimental wall of shame.
You see, when we renovated the kitchen, I didn't want to hide or scratch my new bisque refrigerator, so I started hanging the kids' artwork on the pantry doors.
However, a few months ago, as the last of the college acceptance letters began to arrive, we all decided that it might be time to pack away the sweet treasures of old and start the next chapter with a clean slate...if you will.
When I looked at the picture, I noticed something I had never really paid attention to before.
The door knobs were gold. GOLD? Wait. What?
Who picked those out?
Everything in the kitchen was either chrome, nickel, silver toned or wrought iron. There wasn't a stitch of gold in the room.
I really don't remember the exact conversation, but I'm assuming that since the doors were one of the last things to go in during the renovation, I let the contractor grab some knobs when he picked up those doors.
The artwork went up immediately after, so I guess they camouflaged his choice (plus I was construction decision weary by that point and probably didn't care).
However, once I noticed them, now over fifteen years later ~ hello, where have I been ~ that was all I could see.
And it was making me crazy.
I need new door handles.
How hard is that to do? I asked my prince.
Not hard. I can do it.
When? I was beginning to twitch.
I don't know. Soon...
Yeah. Soon was an answer I didn't like.
Soon meant anytime from tonight to well, let's see, I've been married twenty four years and there are still a few "soons" that have yet to be crossed off the list from the early years. So soon wasn't going to cut it.
How 'bout now? My question was more of a statement.
How 'bout now, answered my prince, and off to the hardware store we went.
Fabulous.
The door knobs we needed are actually inactive. No mechanisms to mess with, but not many choices either.
Not willing to wait ~ or pay ~ for special order, we picked quickly and I was ready to leave.
Of course, that smart prince of mine pointed out that if we changed the door knobs, we had to change the hinges, as well.
Something neither one of us thought about before we left the house.
I won't bore you with all the details of that story, but let's just say it involved about a 100 different kinds of hinges, a call and FaceTime to a sleepy teenager with a tape measure and a very limited amount of patience.
On both ends of the phone.
Eventually, we scored what we needed and got to work. The old knobs and hinges came off...
...and the new ones went on.
Silver replaced gold.
The prince went back to his tv.
The princess was able to sleep again.
And order was restored to the castle.
Gosh, I love a happy ending.
Are you a selective perfectionist?
Looks wonderful with the new hardware and without all the artwork.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I agree...much better.
DeleteLove the easy to open handles in your handle change (and hinge change) adventure.
ReplyDeleteJoy
Thanks Joy! It was a fun change and inexpensive too....those are my favorite kind!
DeleteJust the other day I commented to my husband it amazes me that certain rooms are cluttered and disorganized but if the mini blinds in the windows are not open exactly the same it drives me absolutely crazy! Go figure!
ReplyDeleteHa! That is exactly what I am talking about Debi. So funny, seems as if many of us are similarly afflicted!
DeleteYes, I’m a selective perfectionist too! And my Prince often gives me the ‘soon’ answer. The new silvery handles are a big improvement!
ReplyDeleteThanks Melissa, I think so too. And I guess our Princes all come from the same fairytale...and the land of soon! 😉
DeleteI am definitely a selective perfectionist princecess. The rug must be centered exactly on tne furniture. But the rag curtains can be - nay! Must be! - ragged and uneven...
ReplyDeleteTotally, Nancy. As Debi commented above, the room can be in tatters, but if mini blinds are not even, it's a disaster!
DeleteIt looks great. And I like the shape of your new hardware too.
ReplyDeleteThank Lorri! I like that, too. It was a fun surprise to find them.
DeleteIsn't it amazing how changing out the hardware can make a big difference. Looks wonderful. I have the OCD everyday. My rug under the sink in the kitchen has to line up exactly lol! Happy New Week.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kris! I really like the way it looks now. I can't believe I let it go for so long. Didn't even notice, where was my head? And I am like that with the rugs, and the blinds and the bed... 😉
DeleteLOL- That kind of thing drives me crazy. In a couple of old houses we had there were no replacements to be found for obsolete hardware. I ended up spraying painting it in one of the hammered paint choices--(one was hammered bronze-one was hammered silver). It worked and THIS PRINCESS was happy, too. Happy Valentine's Day to you- xo Diana
ReplyDeleteWe've sprayed the old hardware around here, too. AFTER we scraped all the awful white paint off...what people do to old houses is criminal sometimes, isn't it? Can you believe that I didn't even think about spraying these? I don't know where my head was. In the end I like the new shape of the knobs so I'm happy. I'm pretty sure the prince is happy I didn't ask him to spray anything...
DeleteI love the new door handles! It's great that your prince is so handy too.
ReplyDeleteHave a Happy Valentine's Day Kim. :0)
Thanks Julie, I'm pretty happy with the new hardware. I like the color and the shape. Win, win. Have a super weekend!
DeleteI hear ya'! We have gold door handles throughout our home with all the cabinetry handles being chrome. We've talked about changing them, all 12, but haven't pulled the trigger on that "little" expenditure! I can well remember those days of magnetic letters and kids' artwork on the fridge...kind of miss it, actually! I'm glad the princess is at peace now!
ReplyDeleteWarm hugs,
Carol
I miss the artwork, Carol. I hung it all on the inside of the doors, so I see it every day when I open my pantry or get my coat. I wasn't ready to let go! And I think gold is lovely. I told my husband the day after we replaced the knobs, that maybe we should've just replaced everything else with brass instead. He was happy the knobs were already in place. He said it was much cheaper! Lucky guy!
DeleteYou really are a perfectionist Kim. I didn't even think of the hinges. Thank goodness your husband is in sync with you. It looks really great now all nice and clean.
ReplyDeleteHe has a very good eye and a contractor's brain, Mary. I wouldn't have thought about the hinges until I got home.
DeleteToo funny! How some people can't see the forest for the trees and some only see the trees! I was so taken with your pretty vignette sitting on the floor that I didn't even notice the knobs in the first picture. Then after reading and scrolling I saw the last picture and noticed the new knobs right away, thinking, oh, that does look so much better, and went back up to compare, and WHAT, the first pic was the last pic! Good job, they really do look nice, but I still love that vignette on the floor..Happy Valentine's Day..xxoJudy
ReplyDeleteJudy, that was me for over a decade. I never even noticed them!! When the room was clean, I was super happy...of course, I am much happier with them now. Thanks to my prince! I hope your Valentine's Day was wonderful. xo
DeleteYES!!!! I am also a selective perfectionist!!!! I was sure you were going to take these off and spray them! The new handles look great, Kim - I adore your kitchen, and the rest of your home! Happy Valentine's Day, sweet friend - hope you have some lovely plans with your sweet prince!
ReplyDeleteOh Debbie…look at you getting all crafty on me! Can you believe it never dawned on me to spray them? I’m slipping. 😉
DeleteYour door looks great both ways but I know what you mean. Once I notice something awry, that I had lived with for a long time, I want it fixed immediately. We would have had to hire someone to do that simple job though. No handy husband here. Good thing we have Jim, our own handy man.
ReplyDeleteYou know AnnMarie, sometimes, having a handyman for hire is the better way. No "soon" honey for you! Just call and done!!
DeleteIt would have made me crazy too! When I notice something that needs to be changed or fixed, it needs to happen yesterday. ;) Looks great with the new hardware.
ReplyDeleteYou are very handy, Kristi. I have seen your DIY skills! I bet you would've changed the hardware out of your own!
DeleteI am a selective perfectionist, too! Somethings matter a great deal and other things not so much!
ReplyDeleteI love the new handles, I’d like something similar on all our interior doors.
Deanna, I'm with you. Those handles had to go, but we have unpainted window mouldings and a water stain on the kitchen ceiling. Shhh..
DeleteI'm laughing picturing you twitching once you noticed it! It's funny how we never see something, then when looking at a picture, it's just glaring back. That's happened to me so many times after I post a picture on the blog. Ha ha! Glad you got it all fixed up and I love the new hardware!
ReplyDeleteOh Lisa, pictures are the best, aren't they? So many times, I'm like, how long has that been like that??? I'm glad this one's been fixed. On to the next... oh prince... 😉
DeleteLOL I think that you are nuts :) !! XO
ReplyDeleteHa! Deb you and my husband would get along perfectly!! 😉 xo
DeleteYour kitchen is gorgeous! And Yes - me too! We just got done changing out hinges for the very same reason.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Mari...and those silly hinges. The devil is in the details!
DeleteI love those new silver handles! Too funny you should mention this about contractors and the colors because we had new bedroom doors installed a few years ago. I specified I wanted silver door knobs. We didn't notice til much later - and I think it was my husband, which was shocking because I'm the perfectionist - that the hinges are gold! We still haven't changed them out. Thanks for the reminder. Guess what's going on the honey-do list?!
ReplyDeleteHa! That's so funny, Melanie. I have to admit, we have several of those kinds of things going on in our house, too. I don't know why I never noticed this before and I have to say I never would've thought about the hinges...well, at least not until we got home. 😉
DeleteI loved this post!
ReplyDeleteI've never thought of myself as a perfectionist.
but in that regard I think I must be. because I smiled all through this.
and the handles you got are the ones on my doors here at Safe Harbor! I love them!
hope you fixed your sweet prince a special little treat with lots of calories.
ya gotta keep a prince of a guy like that happy! :D xo
I love these handles, Tammy!! I was so pleased when we stumbled upon them. I really thought that I was just going to get the same round ones in silver, but to find a neat knob was so much fun!
DeleteAll grown up now! xoox Su
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly. Thanks Su!! xoxox
DeleteNothing about me is selective in any way, shape or form. Just keep me well fed and I'm good.
ReplyDeletexxx
Hahaha. Doreen, you always make me smile...and right now I am in a coffee shop with my family. We just finished pancakes at 4pm on a Sunday. How does that sound?
DeleteMy name is bobbie, and I am a selective perfectionist! And I, too, have a prince that says "Soon" all to often! Thanks for the big chuckle!
ReplyDeleteHi Bobbie! I love your comment. We need to stick together and I am glad I made you laugh. That is my ultimate goal. :)
DeleteOh girl, I do love your stories. You make me smile.
ReplyDeleteThe door handles look lovely.
xx oo
Carla
Thanks, Carla! That's really my goal. xxxooo
DeleteYes, Yes, Yes!!! It would also drive me crazy and your conversation sounds like many we had around here including the call home and the sleepy teenager taking measurements. LOL Love your new handles. So pretty! Enjoy the holiday weekend!
ReplyDeleteThanks Maria...it was a good chance to get a little more updated handle, too!
DeleteOh, the gold doorknobs would drive me crazy, too. I'm so glad the good prince was onboard with an immediate change. Looks great, Kim! Hugs.
ReplyDeleteHe was very helpful, Nancy! We ditches those "peas" quickly! :) Hugs
DeleteI have a friend who replaced all the gold doorknobs and hinges in her house. Like you, it was driving her crazy! I kept mine, and when we recently did a partial renovation on our master bath, we bought some beautiful gold faucets because we weren't planning on ripping out the shower. There's a lot of gold in our house, and when you start replacing it you have to be all in.
ReplyDeleteBut I get it. If everything else had been changed in my kitchen, it would've bugged me BIG TIME! There were some things in our house that was driving me crazy, and I rectified the situation PDQ! ;P
xo,
RJ
RJ, you know right after we changed the knobs out to match the rest of the room, I went on a little redecorating frenzy and brought brass candlesticks in. They looked so pretty, next to the sink, that I said to my husband, you know, brass is in now. We could get a new faucet. Then I realized we’d need new cabinet hardware and….and the old door knobs!! Hahaha. My husband said, are you kidding me?? He got lucky that I didn’t think about this a day sooner, because just door knobs was MUCH cheaper!!
DeleteHahaha!!
What a wonderful tale. Your life experiences and OCD tendencies resonate with us all!
ReplyDeleteLooking good!
Jemma
Thanks Jemma! I do like to tell stories and they always say write what you know! Poor hubby… 😉
DeleteNew hardware makes all the difference in the world. Have a lovely week Kim.
ReplyDeleteThanks Vanessa! I hope you have a lovely week, too!
DeleteLove this post, Kim. How did I miss it?
ReplyDeleteYes I am a selective perfectionist. Don't we have to be to survive? :)
Thanks Stacey....and yes! I think you are right...survival. 😊
DeleteThis just cracked me up because I have followed you long enough to know that you leave price tags on things that you buy for ages which would drive someone ELSE crazy! LOL XO
ReplyDeleteI think that I gave up a few years ago when between dogs shedding everywhere and grandkids destroying things Just Like Their Parents Had Done :)
That's so funny, Deb. I was just looking at something the other day and someone asked how much it was and I just flipped it over and there it was. Five years later. 😆
DeleteLOL. I used to love the story of the princess and the pea as a child (I still do, really). I first heard it in Hebrew and whoever translated the book replaced pea with lentil for some reason. I suppose princesses are more dainty around here because you have to be really picky to be troubled by a single lentil (or even find it at all). Still, who are we to judge royalty.
ReplyDeleteAmalia
xo
Oh my a lentil? That is a very dainty princess indeed! ps...I love reading different fairly tale versions. When I taught the littles, we did that often. Fairy Tales from around the world, but I must have missed your lentil version. Now I want to find it!
DeleteOOh...I notice them more now - because they are so pretty! I, too, can get pretty sticky about the little details...
ReplyDeleteThanks Gina! I am glad that's been remedied!
DeleteIts funny how the simplest changes can have such a huge effect. It would have driven me crazy too! We have to be careful because when you change one thing out it can snowball....ask me how I know?
ReplyDeleteOh that snowball effect is powerful, Cathy!! I know you know all about it…for better and worse!
DeleteThis post made me laugh because I'm in that life stage of art project after art project x3. I can totally understand how visually distracting it can be and if those were my doors I wouldn't have noticed the gold knobs for fifteen years, either. Now that I think about it, I may not be utilizing my kids art work to it full advantage, I should use it to hide all the doors upstairs that still haven't been updated. Problem solved for the time being! ha
ReplyDeleteBest camouflage ever, Audra!! 😉
DeleteFicou muito bem. Feliz semana Kim.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandra!
Deleteummmmmmmmmmmm, I have had silvery pulls for the master bath for several months. Does this mean I have to change the hinges too????that are painted 43 different colors starting in 1950???????
ReplyDeleteUhhhh I think I would have to call the king....never mind the prince....
Maybe I will just sneak the new knobs in and never let on that the hinges match the cabinet color, but not the knobs. You won't tell on me will you?????
Thanks for a huge laugh!!
Blessings,
J
Oh, J, we have those same hinges on every other door in this house. And ours have paint that dates back to the 1920s! Rest assured, those will never be changed, we’d be scraping white paint off forever. And after all, doesn’t white go with everything? 😉
DeleteYup, that's me. It would drive me bonkers. My hubby has an open shelf in his pub for all the special glasses and it drives me insane if they're not perfectly aligned, labels facing forward, from small to big and down to small again but the pub counter is one huge happy mess of whatevers. Go figure :D
ReplyDeleteHaha...it's that decorator's eye, I think. We focus on the details!
DeleteOh Kim! Your writing always is pure delight! What a fun story you made out this all-too-common dilemma to be! I'll be thinking of the princess and the pea quite often now, ha! I live in a home with lots of "peas" and a not so helpful prince (poor guy works so much, so I have to prioritize, lol)... I love how your pantry wall looks now with the new hardware, and glad it all turned out for the best! Hugs to you sweet friend :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got a chuckle our of this tale, Marilyn...and trust me there are tons of peas left around here. I just like to pick the small ones off first. My prince is a much more willing participant when the job is small. 😉 Hugs to you!
DeleteI hear you with the doorknobs... I remember we were in our house and I was going around looking and some were gold and some were silver and thought, what the heck?? Seven had to be changed. Oh! Did you have some that were both? One on one side of the door and one color on the other ~ they were the worst. ;) When we sold the house, everything matched in silver.
ReplyDeleteFun story,
Barb :)
Oh my gosh, Barb! I know that I'm more of stickler for detail than most, but that's very silly!! We have very old knobs in the house, from the 1920s and while most of them are the original finish, some of the hinges are painted white. Oh boy...
Delete