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Design Details: The Importance of Interior Hardware

Updated: Feb 23, 2023

The design is in the details; it’s all in the details. The tiny thoughtful specifics you add to a design are the things that come together to make a space that is beautiful, interesting, and unique. This post will look at designers' little adjustments to make a room look more elegant.


As KRS Management points out, homeowners often overlook these small details because they don’t realize that, in the end, those small details make the most difference. This post discusses different aspects of interior design but focuses mainly on how to choose beautiful hardware for your home.


Electrical plates and switchplates

These include light switches and power outlets. Dirty old electrical plates against a background of freshly painted walls and new tiles just don’t make any sense. These small details will lessen the impact of everything you have done to make your walls pretty. You don’t have to buy the more expensive items to make those walls pop; good electrical panels are cheap.














Accent lighting

Ambient lighting is something homeowners know they need to light up a space. They also understand the importance of task lighting when doing specific activities in the room. But accent lighting is something they overlook. Accent lighting is excellent for showing-off particular features of your design. It helps make rooms more enjoyable.


Baseboards

It’s fascinating how you can make a space feel beautiful and expensive by adding a few details. Baseboards are one of those details that homeowners ignore. You should consider installing tall baseboards if your ceiling is high and the room is large. Using something different from the basic builder-grade baseboards can make a big difference.


Cabinet hardware

You may put a lot of effort into choosing the cabinets for your bathroom and kitchen. Much planning may go into selecting the type of wood, wood grain, and cabinet colors. But if you go ahead to install the standard cabinet handles everyone uses after all that work, you have just undone all of your hard work.


Upgrading dull cabinet hardware to something beautiful that will grab attention may be the one thing you need to make those furniture pieces stand out. The cabinet hardware has to speak to the rest of the home’s design. Cabinet hardware lets you express yourself subtly while adding cohesion and class to your design.


The exciting thing about this feature is that it doesn’t have to be expensive to make a huge impact. The problem is that most homeowners are too lazy to think through this design aspect. Even if you use inexpensive cabinet pulls from Etsy, Ikea, or a thrift store, what counts is how they complement the rest of the design and accentuate your cabinets.


Door handles

Door handles are a magnet for attention. If door handles are attractive, visitors’ eyes are naturally drawn to them. On the other hand, people who visit your home will tend to overlook the other details of your doors when the door handles you chose do not match the quality of attention you have given to those doors.


When choosing door handles, consider whether you want a knob handle or a lever handle. The right option for your home will depend on several factors. These factors may also apply to cabinet hardware, but to a lesser extent. To make this decision, you will want to consider the following.


  • Function: Consider how easy it will be to use the door handle. If you have family members who have arthritis, knob handles may present a challenge for them. On the other hand, child-proofing the door may be more accessible with knob handles.

  • Color: When looking at doorknob color options, the standard selections are chrome, gold, and matte black. Chrome is classic, gold gives a bold and modern look, and matte black has been popular for some time. The right color depends on the rest of the design and whether you want to mix metals or go with a cohesive look.

  • Sheen: There are also three options to choose from here; glossy (chrome), satin or matte. The best sheen depends on the color of your door handles. For instance, if you choose gold for your door handles, they will look better with a chrome finish than matte because matte will make them look yellow.

  • Style: The back plate for the door hardware could be round, square, or oval. Style-wise the design of the handle – knob or lever – also matters. Lastly, you want to make sure the door handle complements, rather than clashes, with the style of your door and the overall home design.



And that’s it for this article on the importance of interior design details. Have fun creating and implementing your design. See you next time. Cheers!


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