Lesson 6: Don't Fly Off the Handle!

To all my readers out there, sorry I have taken some days off! There are so many disappointed people (I'm sure) that have been awaiting my next blog post, but my most recent trip to India had me a little tired and I had to get my life back in order! Don't worry though because today I'm going to try to catch up on some blog posts I've been meaning to do for awhile.

When I bought the house my parents had very nicely offered to give me my grandparents old bedroom furniture for my master bedroom. I was excited because my mom refinished it so it was a beautiful black*. Tip for all of you readers out there; all he did was sand and spray paint it black! You'd never think spray paint was something you could use to refinish furniture (and wood furniture) but it looks fantastic! My parents came down to help me move and brought the "new" furniture with them for me. The only issue was that the old handles didn't match the face lift that the furniture had underwent so my one task was to find new handles for both my large dresser and two night stands. In total I had to get 13 handles.

My large refinished black dresser

I had decided that I would put it off for a few days because I was so busy doing other things like facebooking. Then one morning as I went to open my new dresser with the screwdriver I had been using for the past week to open all of the drawers I realized that I was really tired of using a stupid screwdriver, so I went to Home Depot. I grabbed one of the old handles to take with me so I would get the right size... see, I was being proactive! A little more domestic everyday!

I went to Home Depot with my handle in hand and found a really nice pewter coloured handle that would match perfectly. Another tip for all you people out there... handles are NOT cheap! Wow! Each handle was $8 which meant I was going to spend... (sorry I had to open my calculator and do the math)... $104 on stupid handles! Ugh. I was happy though that I now had handles and I was going to install them all on my own!

As I worked to install all of the handles I started with the night stands and then began on the dresser. I started to get a little upset though when I realized 6 of the 9 drawers on my larger dresser were NOT the same size handle as the others. Who builds a dresser and decides that the handles on more than half of the drawers should have different size fittings than the rest? It makes no sense! Instantly I picked up my receipt and the handles that didn't fit and went back to Home Depot to return them. I took a handle from the different size drawer to hopefully find the same handle in the different size.

Well, long story short Home Depot, Menards, Walmart, Target, and Ikea did not have ANY handles that matched the size of these remaining 6 drawers. Then it hit me.... I was going to make my own handles! I went to the nearest Fabric Store (which I had to google and map out directions because I've never been inside a fabric store here before) and bought yards of black laced ribbon, little crystal beads, black thread, and a needle. In my head, I envisioned these beautiful handles that would look very elegant and graceful like that in a Country Home magazine. I could hear my phone ringing and Martha Stewart asking me where this brilliant idea came from and I'd reply, "Oh Martha, sometimes you just have to use your creative side" and I'd chuckle and ask her if she's read my blog. I got home and got to work right away. I turned on Bravo and began working on my handles.


Steps to Making My Own Handles: 
1. Cut ribbon into lengths that look about the right length to thread through the drawers.
2. Thread ribbon through the drawer holes and tie a knot on the inside of the drawer.
3. Use the black thread to attach a bead or two to the end of he ribbon (on the outside of the drawer)
4. Take a moment to admire your amazing work!

Now, my dresser is complete. I have 6 drawers with self-proclaimed pretty ribbon handles and 3 drawers with the handles I bought from Home Depot. Should I probably remove the other handles and do ribbon everywhere? Yes. Will I? Maybe... I'm busy facebooking.

My ribbon handles!

A close up shot of my beads.. barely hanging on!

Things I learned from Lesson #6: 
1. A screwdriver works well to open a dresser with no handles. It may even be a great idea to create some sort of modern design dresser with screwdriver handles built in.
2. When looking for an odd size handle, it won't get you anywhere when you ask the people that work at these stores (that sell handles) who their handle vendor is and how you get in contact with them. They don't know nor do they care.
3. Also, don't threaten to write a letter to the handle vendors because again, it won't get you anywhere.
4. When deciding to put beading on your ribbon handles, ensure you actually sew the beads on tight. You'll notice in my pictures some of these ribbon handles only have one bead as a lot of them fell off after the first day.
5. Be prepared to take criticism and back up your creative approach to handles... it seems many people think it's a silly idea. Ugh.

*After I published this post, my mom reminded me that not only did she refinish (and do a fabulous job) my bedroom furniture but she did it while in a cast and had to move around using a wheely computer chair. Thank You Mom!