New Kitchen, New Knobs

A month ago, Mr Official Taster and I got keys to our very own home, and then we moved in over the following week or so. Needless to say, the past couple of months have been rather hectic and task-filled. I'm not complaining! No, if anything I am more grateful every day to come home to a place I already love. I know it's only going to get better.

As with any new place, we have a running list of things to do, to fix, to paint, to change, to replace, etc. Some of the things on the list won't be happening anytime soon, some will happen over a weekend (painting!), and some are quick, cheap, and can really happen whenever we decide. Our first couple projects fell in the last category.

Our wonderfully thorough home-inspector noticed that the kitchen cabinets weren't installed properly. Apparently, whoever put them in didn't use wood screws, but rather hung them only with drywall screws. Eeek! So before we unpacked any boxes into them, Mr Official Taster spent an hour one afternoon securing the cabinets with wood screws. Easy-peasy.

The next quick-fix we tackled was updating the kitchen knobs. The existing ones were brass, or they used to be brass anyway. A lot of them had their finish rubbed off, and many in a way that wasn't smooth, so painting them would be a pain. So we took a trip to Home Depot, and entered into negotiations (the first of many home-design discussions, I'm sure), and picked out our new knobs. If you ever wander down the hardware aisle, you will see there are many, many, many options in many different finishes.

Once our glazed-over eyes could focus again, we ended up choosing this brushed nickel finish, and we chose a design from the "contractor pack" section, because those were more affordable ($15 for 10 instead of $2-$4 apiece). The were super easy to install - I just unscrewed the ugly ones and screwed on the new ones. Maybe someday down the line, we'll go crazy, redo the kitchen, and update again, but for now, these are a huge improvement, and making a semi-permanent change helped make us feel that this place is really ours.

If the boxes didn't give it away, the photos were all taken mid-moving. Now that it's unpacked and organized, I'll have to take some new ones and give you a little kitchen tour like I did last time.

Your turn! How was your weekend? Any fun projects? What's at the top of your kitchen wish list?