ATG Stores Blog

These Florid Leaves knobs have so much detail it’s hard to take it all in.

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Why have a wall fixture when you can have an attractive piece of furniture?

These are individually made to order from Rocky Mountain Hardware, which means the absolute highest in quality standards.

He’s invading your kitchen with style!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last several months, you’ve probably heard of this thing called Twitter.  You may have heard of another thing that people occasionally use called Facebook.  If you have profiles set up with these sites, why don’t swing by and pay us a visit?  We have several of our stores featured on both, so please feel free to use them as another line of communication.  Me casa et su casa, right?

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On top of Twitter and Facebook, you can also find us on Youtube and StumbleUpon.  More will be coming soon, so stay tuned.

Door knobs and handles are one of those little details that typically go unnoticed until something brings it to mind.  I recall once taking a tour of an old mansion that had these massive rod-iron handlesets that took up a third of the door.  It wasn’t just a point of access, it was a piece of art.

It happened again when my wife and I started looking at houses last year when prices finally started becoming affordable again.  By looking at dozens of houses within relatively the same price range (thanks to a very patient realtor) I started unintentionally noticing little details again like the quality of door knobs at the various houses.  I say unintentionally because I didn’t even realize I noticed them until for kicks we toured a $2 million waterfront mansion was like.  It had the same type of massive door handls that the old mansion had, but obviously a bit more modern.  Grabbing the handle to walk through the door forced me to feel the quality difference between a $30 set and a $500 set (I’m estimating, since I don’t know exactly which piece it was).  But that instant realization of “hey, this is high quality stuff” made me think back to all the other houses we were considering, and all those little details started popping into my head.

The High End

I love Rocky Mountain Hardware products.  They’re based in Colorado, and seem to put out some of the nicest and highest quality items.  You’ll pay more, but this rustic and lodge-style hardware will last generations.  It is all custom-made and is exactly the type of hardware you’ll find on high end homes throughout the country.  Another brand in this league would be Martin Pierce, where each piece tries to represent something out of nature.

High Quality, High Value

This category of door handles will include names that are farily well known like Baldwin Hardware, Omnia, Cifial, etc.  Most of the major brands have a variety of products within the $100-200 range and will come in any style and color one can think of.

The Basics

These are the players when you simply want the door handle to be a door handle without a lot of muss and fuss.  While a lot of brands will have entry-level sets, major players in this category include Weiser, Emtek, Schlage, and Kwikset.

After you figure out what you want in style, and settle in on a price, make sure you consult our hardware buyer’s guide to ensure that it’s the right lock for you, and to consult the glossary in case you’re not familiar with all the terms.  After that, consult our Door Hardware Planning Guide to understand how to accurately measure and verify that you have a set that will fit with your door without the need to re-drill, or so you know what size to drill the hole in the first place.

As always, if you have specific questions you can call our customer service department who will be happy to help you.

I’m hooked on HGTV.  There’s this one show called Bang for Your Buck, where a real estate agent and a designer walk through three houses in a city where the owners have invested roughly the same amount of cash into a room remodel, and the experts figure out who will get the most bang for their buck in terms of increased resale value.  We’re not talking a couple hundred bucks in paint or some new carpet, we’re talking $50,000-100,000 in upgrades to a bedroom, kitchen, or master bath.

That’s great for them, but what about the rest of us that don’t have up to six figures to drop on a remodel?  Well, here are some basic ideas that you can do for less than $100.

Cabinet Knobs: You can update the look of your kitchen very quickly with a new set of knobs.  It’s cheap, easy to do, and can usually be done in less than an hour (depending on how many cabinets you have).

Under Cabinet Lighting: It’s amazing what a well-placed UCL will do to make a kitchen look brighter and more inviting.  Add these to key counter points where you do food prep and you’ll enjoy spending more time in the kitchen making meals at home.

Kitchen Rugs: If you don’t have the funds for a new floor, cover your existing one with a rug or two.  The contrast will draw people’s eye to the rug and people won’t even see the rest of the tile.

Accessories:  There are lots of little details that will help your kitchen stay organized, and an organized kitchen is a clean kitchen.

Kitchen Faucets: there are several dozen quality faucets you can buy for your kitchen under $100.  Like anything, you can spend a lot more, but if you’re looking for basic functionality with a little bit of style, then you’re in luck.

So even though you may not be able to pull off the dream remodel of a lifetime, you can at least update your kitchen’s look with just a little cash and a weekend afternoon.  Feel free to leave any other suggestions in the comment area!