Beautiful Hardware: Tiny Details That Make A Home Feel Expensive

From hardware to decorative accents, a little goes a long way

IT’S HARD to beat Italy for incredible interiors. It’s hard to beat Italy for many things, actually, but they really do villas particularly well. This summer I was noodling around Villa Panza in Varese, with the stated purpose of viewing their collection of contemporary art, but what kept catching my eye were the beautiful accents decorating the interiors. Varied and intricate little door handles and knobs twinkling like jewellery — and I am a magpie for a bit of exquisite hardware.

It really got me thinking about how often we overlook these little details in our own homes. Door handles, hinges, knobs, hooks, door knockers, letterboxes, and light switches are usually viewed as functional necessities rather than an opportunity to layer in more character and personality. They’re also the items we tend to physically interact with the most.

Often an afterthought

It makes sense that we don’t give too much consideration to the finishing touches. If you’ve been through a renovation or have redecorated your home, you’ll know the unique decision fatigue that comes with it. Choosing door handles and letterboxes is at the bottom of a very, very long and overwhelming list. There’s not often enough mental capacity left over to spend time comparing the filigree of door hinges. The wonderful news is that these are usually very easily replaced, and are best chosen when time is on your side, during Sunday browsing of antique shops and architectural salvage yards, when you’ve had time to live in your home and understand what would suit it best.

Make an entrance

In my own home, I opted for some decorative hardware that would make a good first impression. I kept the original brass doorknob and number plates from the previous door, gave them a good polish, and bought a brass bumblebee door knocker from Coates & Warner. It’s a gorgeously detailed little creature that brings personality to my front door without being too ornate or garish. It’s the right amount of whimsy for me, and it makes me smile every time I come home.

The front door is a great place to start — doorknobs, handles, knockers, house numbers, letterboxes, and keyhole surrounds are all items that offer the chance to add character.

Beautiful handles

Back to those Italian door handles in Villa Panza. These were clearly made back in a day when attention was paid to craftsmanship, when detail and design were highly valued. There is absolutely no reason why we can’t apply the same thinking to our own homes. A plain door can be elevated enormously by a beautiful handle, and so too can the surrounding details. Hinges, backplates, and escutcheons can all add interest. Even the screws can finish things off nicely — nothing ruins a lovely unlacquered brass hinge quite like a stainless steel screw poked into it unceremoniously.

They don’t all have to be the same either. I’m all for cohesion in interior design, but that can be done by maintaining similar materials, colours, styles, or other details without them all being exactly the same. If you are replacing your door handles, check the dimensions and fixing points before buying. Most replacements are straightforward, but some might require some filler and repainting, or adjustments to the latch.

Elevate the ordinary

One of my favourite budget hacks is to take something inexpensive and functional and add a few details to bring it from boring to interesting. In both my bathrooms, I bought the basic white Ikea Godmorgon washstands. They’re fine units, plenty of storage in them, nothing offensive about their design aside from being unremarkable.

They were a good neutral backdrop for me to add hardware — I bought leaf handles and furniture legs from another Swedish company, Superfront, which totally transformed their appearance. Then I topped them with unique basins. One is a pink concrete basin from Roberto Tiranti, whose sinks I adore, and the other is a marble basin I picked up for a song on Etsy because it has a tiny chip I can barely even see. The combination is a bespoke look, layered and interesting, tailored for my home.

This approach works just as well in kitchens, bedrooms, and living rooms. If your cabinetry is grand but bland, you don’t have to save a fortune to replace it. Swapping the hardware will take you a very long way. Simple leather pulls, sculptural brass knobs, ceramic flowers, and little animal-shaped handles. Just check the positions of your existing screw holes or get comfortable with filler and away you go.

Lighting 

Accent lamps are a stunning opportunity to layer in some character, if you’ll allow me to broaden my definition of hardware for a minute. I have three wonderful metal wall lights from Popup Lighting that I adore: a stag (The Deer Head) in my hallway and two of its Peacocks in my living room. They’re origami-style sculptural creatures that cast beautiful silhouettes of antlers and feathers across the walls when lit. They’re both decorative objects and functional lights, and I love them.

Other finishing touches

Sometimes it’s not an object but a trim or another seemingly insignificant detail that makes a space feel finished. In my home office, I have wall panelling on the lower part of the wall that I finished with a narrow strip of brass running along the top. It’s a simple detail, but it ties in beautifully with the gold polka-dot wallpaper on the upper part of the wall and creates a beautiful transition, catching the light and bringing in a subtle metallic accent. Details like this are magic because they are unobtrusive and inexpensive, but they have an outsized impact in making the whole design feel more intentional.

Similar little flourishes can be added around shelving, along the edges of cabinetry, or as decorative inlays in furniture. The key is not to go overboard.

Hooks are another favourite. A row of beautiful or unusual coat hooks can become a decorative feature in a hallway, while interesting individual hooks in a bathroom or a bedroom can be both useful and ornamental.

Finally, of course, I have to highlight my disco ball. It’s technically hardware, and maybe it doesn’t quite add an expensive element to the overall look, but it’s decorative, and it’s a party, and everyone should have at least one.