Loving My Handles

Not to be confused with love handles.  Which I also have, but definitely don't love.  This post is about a different kind of handles. 

Remember our new and improved kitchen that I shared with you a few weeks ago?  Well, now it's looking even better!

One of the items on my to-do list during our visit to Denver last week was a stop at IKEA.  To browse of course.  It is IKEA after all.  But mostly to pick up these:

I've had the LANSA hardware picked out for ages, but the deal was sealed when my bestie Cortney stuffed 3 different hardware options in her luggage while traveling from DC to Lawrence a few weeks ago so we could test them out in person.  (She's a keeper, I tell ya!)  Naturally, we agreed immediately on what looked best.  Best friends always agree.

Fast forward to returning home from Denver this past weekend, new cabinet hardware in hand, and we had a project to do!

See that orange piece in the photo above?  Best $1.99 I've ever spent.  That handy dandy template made this project an absolute breeze. 

In less than an hour I had each door and drawer taped, marked and ready to be drilled. 

Lucky for me, I happen to live with just the guy for the job. 

And his assistant, of course. 

Is it just me or is there something sexy about a man with a drill?  Seriously, you should pay attention to this guys.  A man doing (insert any home improvement project - or washing dishes) = super sexy.  But I digress...

Folks, for the first time in our 10 years of home ownership, we have hardware on our cabinetry!  And ohmygosh I love, love, love it!

For full effect...here is the before.

And here is the after.

Do you hear the angels singing?

Okay, a little dramatic of me perhaps, but I really do love it so much.  As I told Drew, it just kicks everything up a notch.  Here are some close ups:

 

 And while we both find ourselves grabbing the corners of the cabinets instead of the handles at times (old habits are hard to break), it's becoming more natural every day.

Our little kitchen sure has come a long way.  But it's not done yet.  My IKEA trip also resulted in some new curtains to replace the hideous vertical blinds on the sliding doors.  And I also have a new paint color picked out (if you look really closely, you can see the swatch painted in one of the after pics above).  Look for those updates soon.  Then much further down the road we intend to replace the flooring and I desperately want a new recessed sink and perhaps new counter tops.  All in due time.

For now, I'm too busy loving my handles!