THE HILL HOUSE

Some renovation decisions are obvious: new windows, pretty tile, fresh paint. But a lot of what makes a house feel good comes down to the smaller things. The things you probably don’t notice unless they feel wrong. Door hardware is one of those details!

When we bought the Hill House, the upstairs had hollow-core doors and those round knobs that scream 1960s. So a big part of this renovation has been bringing back the kind of detail and charm you hope to find in a 1910 home. We swapped the hollow-core doors for vintage solid-wood doors (salvaged in Seattle!) and ordered substantial unlaquered brass doorknobs with backplates and matching hinges. Today I’m sharing why we chose them, what I love about unlacquered brass for door hardware, and why I think details like this matter so much in an old house. Let’s get into it…

Adding vintage doors and unlaquered brass door knobs and hinges to the Hill House

door handle, hinges, wallpaper, paneling, floors, closet hardware + details, paint color: BM Swiss Coffee

Why the doors changed everything

Taking out the hollow-core doors was a bright moment in demo! You can see the old doors in the image below (taken from the exact same spot as the image above). The hollow-core doors, the hardware, the closet doors - they felt really wrong for a home built in 1910.

A before of the Hill House hollow-core doors

So we took them off and sold them on Facebook Marketplace to someone looking for four hollow-core doors. On lady’s trash is another man’s treasure, and all that :)

For me, there’s just something about a solid wood door that changes a space instantly. The weight. The sound it makes when it closes. The way it feels in your hand. Old doors have presence, and once you live with them, it’s hard to go back.

Originally we looked for vintage 5-panel doors to match the original 1910 doors we still have downstairs. But as anyone who shops architectural salvage knows, finding one good door is one thing… finding four matching ones is another. So we took a little creative license and went with four matching vintage 6-panel Victorian/Edwardian-style doors, instead.

The new doors are really pretty and I think they feel appropriate to the house even if they’re not an exact match. The upstairs of the Hill House already has a different feel than downstairs - lower height, shorter windows, angled attic ceilings, a cozier scale - so I wasn’t looking for exact duplication so much as the right feel. And these absolutely have it.

Vintage doors in the Hill House with brass hardware and panelled walls

door handle, hinges, wallpaper, paneling, floors, Paint color: F&B Slipper Satin

A quick aside on architectural salvagE…

We’re huge fan of shopping at architectural salvage - for the character, the environmental responsibility of reusing, and the savings. There are salvage stores all over the place but you can also find great items on Facebook Marketplace. We usually expect to pay $100-$150 per door for salvaged all-wood doors depending on condition and whether they’re in a jam or not. We can’t remember the exact number we paid for these but they were in the $125 range and came in jams. BTW Inventory is often online including dimensions!

In Seattle we shop at Earthwise and Second Use (mostly the SODO location, but Ballard is good, too).

Why unlacquered brass felt right

Once the doors were in, the hardware decision became pretty clear. We needed something warm, substantial, and a little bit old-souled. Something that would feel at home against our salvaged doors, fir floors, painted paneling, and all the other layered materials going into the upstairs. Unlacquered brass checked every box (as it usually does for me ;).

If you’re new to it, unlacquered brass is just brass without a protective coat, which means it changes over time. It fingerprints. It darkens. It softens. It wears in instead of wearing out. And that’s exactly why I love it.

In this old house, I didn’t want hardware that looks factory perfect forever. I wanted something that feels alive and gets better with age.

So I went down the ‘unlaquered brass doorknob’ rabit hole and found these…

The hardware we chose

Door knobs w/ plate - in unlaquered brass. We went with privacy sets (meaning with locks) for all 3 bedrooms and the hall bathroom

Hinges - in unlaquered brass. We originally tried the radius corner but it didn’t line up right so ended up carving out the door to accommodate the 3.5x3.5 square.

Pocket door set - for the ensuite bathroom pocket door, we selected this set in privacy (meaning with lock). In unlaquered brass

Door stop - we’re adding a traditional wall-mount door stop in Daphne’s bedroom with an integral magnate to keep door open. Unlauqered brass.

Adding new unlaquered brass door knobs with back plates to vintage doors

a few hardware considerations

A few reasons we selected these…

They have presence

I keep telling Garrett that one of my favorite things about the Poplar Cottage is the door knobs. I know, kind of a small detail to hype up considering what a big renovation it was, but they’re just so lovely to hold in your hand. They’re unlaquered brass and solid and I wanted that for the Hill House too. These have that kind of presence too.

It will age well

Between the classic shapes and the unlaquered brass, these should age well. I’d always rather have brass that naturally patinas than a lacquered finish that eventually chips or peels. The aging is part of the charm.

The hinges matter too

Hinges take it to another level. These are unlaquered brass too and so pretty. Matching hinges are worth every single penny!

Not exact, but sympathetic

One thing I think about a lot in old-house renovation is this idea of being sympathetic, not necessarily exact.

We didn’t use original hardware despite having century-old knobs downstairs. To be honest, Garrett hates dealing with old door knobs and I promised I wouldn’t make him upstairs. But we did pay attention to the scale, character, and material of the original door hardware and found sets that are a similar size and have a similar feel.

To me, that’s often what makes a renovation feel right. Not copying every detail exactly, but making choices that respect the house and belong with it. And that’s exactly how these doors and this hardware feel to me.

The Hill House upstairs hallway with vintage doors, brass hardware, refinished fir floors, and paneling

Final thoughts

Door hardware may seem like a small thing in a renovation with hundreds - okay, thousands - of decisions. But in an old house, it’s the kind of detail that quietly changes how a space feels. Quite literally.

These doors raised the bar upstairs, and the unlacquered brass was the finishing touch that made them feel complete. Warm, substantial, and only getting better with time.

Exactly what I want in an old house.

xx

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