restoring the roost

North Carolina Country Living and Farmhouse Style

North Carolina Country Living and Farmhouse Style
since 2010

decorating the roost

Vintage Door Knob Shelf

· decorating the roost, DIY tutorials

Love vintage door knobs but are unsure of what you can do with them? Why not use them as “hooks” for hanging everyday items in a mudroom or aprons in a kitchen?

This tutorial will show you how to make a small wall shelf using vintage door knobs:
1. Build wooden base (any size you want) or use existing wooden shelf. Add 1/4 in thick tack strip on sides to give the bolts that will hold on the door knobs room behind the base once hung. 
2. We painted the wood shelf red first, then off white. Next we sanded some areas to “distress” the paint to expose a little of the red. 
3. Prep the antique door knobs: Most have a square bolt receiver, but some still have pre-cut threads, which you can match to a bolt. For those without threads (the grooves on the inside of the doorknob), you will to use a thread tap slightly larger than the diameter of the hole on the knob to cut the grooves. 
Make sure the tap is not too large or you can cut out too much metal and break the knob. Keep track of the tap sizes you use for each knob so you can match to the right bolt diameter. For a quick tutorial on thread tapping click here. 
4. Determine the bolt length you will need by measuring the thickness of your board/shelf and then adding about a 1/2 inch to that number. If your bolts are too long, you can add washers to the back of the bolt. Drill holes just big enough for the size of your bolts (ours were 1.5 inches) into the shelf, spaced evenly across. 
5. Thread knobs onto the bolts on the front of the shelf.
6. Attach the shelf to desired wall and enjoy! 
A fun yet functional piece of vintage wall art! 
Linking to:

Vintage Door Knob Shelf

· decorating the roost, DIY tutorials

Love vintage door knobs but are unsure of what you can do with them? Why not use them as “hooks” for hanging everyday items in a mudroom or aprons in a kitchen?

This tutorial will show you how to make a small wall shelf using vintage door knobs:
1. Build wooden base (any size you want) or use existing wooden shelf. Add 1/4 in thick tack strip on sides to give the bolts that will hold on the door knobs room behind the base once hung. 
2. We painted the wood shelf red first, then off white. Next we sanded some areas to “distress” the paint to expose a little of the red. 
3. Prep the antique door knobs: Most have a square bolt receiver, but some still have pre-cut threads, which you can match to a bolt. For those without threads (the grooves on the inside of the doorknob), you will to use a thread tap slightly larger than the diameter of the hole on the knob to cut the grooves. 
Make sure the tap is not too large or you can cut out too much metal and break the knob. Keep track of the tap sizes you use for each knob so you can match to the right bolt diameter. For a quick tutorial on thread tapping click here. 
4. Determine the bolt length you will need by measuring the thickness of your board/shelf and then adding about a 1/2 inch to that number. If your bolts are too long, you can add washers to the back of the bolt. Drill holes just big enough for the size of your bolts (ours were 1.5 inches) into the shelf, spaced evenly across. 
5. Thread knobs onto the bolts on the front of the shelf.
6. Attach the shelf to desired wall and enjoy! 
A fun yet functional piece of vintage wall art! 
Linking to:

New Sofa

· decorating the roost

Our new sofa was delivered this past weekend….and I am in love with it. This was one of our few major furniture purchases that was not an antique (btw, antiques are SO much more affordable than new furniture in my opinion). I always usually go for bargain, yard sale, or second-hand pieces, but we decided we should invest a bit more in a nice sofa.


We found it at Funitureland South in High Point, which, if you have not been there….it is like the quality-wholesale-furniture-at-discount-prices motherload. It will literally take you DAYS to view everything they have. On top of their regular space, they also have a huge outlet center in a separate building. It is crazy. The sofa is Bernhardt brand, a company who has been making furniture for almost a century and a half and, even better, they are located right here in North Carolina!

I love the linen texture of the fabric

Now, I am faced with a design dilemma: in which room should it go? The living room? Or the family room/den?

It currently sits in the living room as pictured here. Shown are the green
pillows that came with it. I hope to either find or sew different
covers for them. 

This is our family room, and the sofa would actually go on the opposite wall
of this chair combo. We currently have a different sofa (the one formerly in
the living room) in the spot now. It is covered in black and cream ticking. 

I’d like for it to go in the living room because that is the more formal of the two rooms and I think it fits the feel of the room better, but my better half suggested the family room with the TV because we have an armchair/ottoman combo that it would complement really well. Plus, our new sofa comes with a special stain-resistant protection that guarantees any spills or stains to come out, otherwise they send us a brand new sofa. Additionally, I thought about perhaps turning the living room more into a study of sorts…

I would love your input or any comments that would help me make my decision!

Linking to:

New Sofa

· decorating the roost

Our new sofa was delivered this past weekend….and I am in love with it. This was one of our few major furniture purchases that was not an antique (btw, antiques are SO much more affordable than new furniture in my opinion). I always usually go for bargain, yard sale, or second-hand pieces, but we decided we should invest a bit more in a nice sofa.


We found it at Funitureland South in High Point, which, if you have not been there….it is like the quality-wholesale-furniture-at-discount-prices motherload. It will literally take you DAYS to view everything they have. On top of their regular space, they also have a huge outlet center in a separate building. It is crazy. The sofa is Bernhardt brand, a company who has been making furniture for almost a century and a half and, even better, they are located right here in North Carolina!

I love the linen texture of the fabric

Now, I am faced with a design dilemma: in which room should it go? The living room? Or the family room/den?

It currently sits in the living room as pictured here. Shown are the green
pillows that came with it. I hope to either find or sew different
covers for them. 

This is our family room, and the sofa would actually go on the opposite wall
of this chair combo. We currently have a different sofa (the one formerly in
the living room) in the spot now. It is covered in black and cream ticking. 

I’d like for it to go in the living room because that is the more formal of the two rooms and I think it fits the feel of the room better, but my better half suggested the family room with the TV because we have an armchair/ottoman combo that it would complement really well. Plus, our new sofa comes with a special stain-resistant protection that guarantees any spills or stains to come out, otherwise they send us a brand new sofa. Additionally, I thought about perhaps turning the living room more into a study of sorts…

I would love your input or any comments that would help me make my decision!

Linking to:

Master Bedroom Redo

· decorating the roost

It was time to give our master bedroom a makeover. The room had the basics in place, but needed painting and a few extra elements for a more grown-up, sophisticated feel.

Here is what our bedroom looked like before:

Here is our bedroom now:

We chose a warm, grey-brown color for the paint in order to make the white woodwork pop.  Since I already had a nice set of Ralph Lauren bedding (wedding gifts from five years ago), I decided not to change the linens too much. We were extremely limited in the wall to which the bed could be moved due to the three doors, windows, and projecting portion that once housed a fireplace. We finally settled on moving the bed to the opposite wall of the windows, an almost perfect fit for the headboard. Not too much room for the night stands unfortunately….

The pink paint finish on this antique dresser makes it one of my favorite pieces.

As you can see, I am in love with cameos and silhouettes. Although the two over the bed are 1960s kitsch versions, I still adore them and paid only $0.50 a piece for them at a yard sale! Seriously.

This chair was moved from my living room- I think the bedroom suits it better 🙂

The missing piece that I have yet to find for this room would be an antique mahogany chest of drawers to match the wood of the antique pineapple bed (my husband’s great-grandmother’s bed). We could really use the storage considering that we share the pink dresser and the closet. I’d also like to incorporate the pale pink color of the dresser into the room in various ways. Until then I’ll be perusing antique stores….

I’ve chosen this project for Kelli’s Restored it Wednesday at Restore Interiors and Miss Mustard Seed’s Copy Me Challenge!

Check out her site and let me know how I did!