Quick Cabin Decor Update – New Door Knobs

We love our little Northwoods cabin. When we purchased it 2010, we knew there were a lot of projects to tackle and opportunities to add decor updates. This is also a vacation home. Therefore, it’s important to me that we manage the projects so we don’t end up working the entire stay. This was a simple cabin decor update project to fix a nagging problem. We invested less than two hour and a little over one hundred dollars. Plenty of time left for relaxing on the lake.

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Why replace the door knobs?

We had been thinking about replacing the door knobs for many years, but it was never an urgent need. They were likely original to our circa 1950’s cabin and many were not functioning properly. One turned in the wrong direction to release the latch and another had a sticky latch. The 3 bedroom doors were also in close proximity with bathroom door. The bathroom knob was mismatched, a cheap and basic brass knob. It really stood out. Obviously, not that big a deal. We left the knobs alone for nearly 10-years.

We like to be able to close the bedroom doors to keep our curious dogs out of guests suitcases. They seem to like chewing socks and underwear, so much easier to just avoid this embarrassing situation.

On one visit, my son had friends join us for a stay at the cabin. Somehow, they ended up locked in the room. My husband tried to use the unlocking mechanism with no success. In the end he had to dismantle and remove the door knob to get the door opened. A clear sign it was time for a replacement. They were not high quality in the first place, so not really worth trying to figure out if they could be salvaged. Time for something new. Time to tackle a quick cabin decor update.

Removing old door knobs and preparing the doors.

The knob was already removed from our son’s bedroom door. The existing opening was only large enough for the spindle to pass through. We knew we were going to have to drill the hole larger to accommodate the cylinder of the new knob. We removed the other knobs and discovered these were drilled correctly and would require a simple installation of the new door knobs. Lucky break!

I did not like the idea of drilling the door in the house and creating a mess with the saw dust. We also thought it would be easier to lie the door flat to make it easier to drill the hole straight. We popped out the pins on the hinges and carried the door outside. Nice view, right?

We used our drill with a 2-1/4″ hole saw bit. If you have to drill a hole in your drawer, make sure your hole saw matches the size of the door knob cylinder.

We knew the doors were not solid wood and even with pressure the wood veneer did tear a little bit. For us this wasn’t a problem because of the large plaque (rose) that goes against the door. All of the tears were covered. I did find some tips on-line after the fact. An easy recommendation was to try covering the area with painters tape. If you go this route, I definitely recommend using a drill guide template.

Other than drilling the one hole larger, everything worked with the new knobs. We didn’t have to make any changes to the latch plate opening.

Installing the new door knobs.

Installation of these Schlage Andover privacy knobs was extremely easy. Even with removing and rehanging the door, we had all four knobs replaced in under 2-hours.

I am really happy with how the knobs look in the cabin. All the door knobs for the bedrooms and bath match one another and some of our new switch plates.

Check out the exterior renovation on our cabin. We added much needed storage space with a new entry and were able to add a barrier under the new siding, which keeps the cabin extra cozy in winter.

Do you have some quick home or cabin decor update projects that you have completed recently? I’m always looking for inspiration, so please share you projects and photos or links in the comments.