Wood Hardware Finished with Fire
Before there were The Kids, the only residents in this Happy Bungalow were Liz and myself. We were alone in a house in need of major renovation:
Let me tell you, fixer-uppers are a lot funner when you’re watching someone else do the work on television. Though, no one at the Bungalow is shy about working hard, so out came the tools, and something like nine months later there’s this:
But before there were these:
the cabinets were devoid of hardware. The kitchen renovation was done as frugally as possible. Buying nice cabinet hardware would have cost more than the cabinets did. But I figured if I could make the cabinets, I could make the hardware. Originally I was going to make sand molds, melt aluminum cans in a cast-iron pots, and pour the molten metal into the molds. Violla! Rough-hewn, hand-crafted, custom-hardware. (triple hyphenated-word threat)
Then I did a little aluminum research. It melts at something like 1200 degrees. I’m pretty sure my skin melts at a lower temperature. Hmm.
So I ended up with this:
Which is the basic shape I had in mind for the aluminum hardware, just made from wood. Though I did keep fire involved. The dark color isn’t stain – it’s scorch marks. With a torch, each knob was burned and quickly dunked into a water bath.
The color of each piece is different; sort of like a snowflake. Love these knobs so much you need them in your house? Head over to the Bungalow’s shop and pick some up today. 
