Old Paintbrush Cabinet Door Handles
Happy Wednesday! Something kind of exciting happened to me yesterday. Woman’s Day sent a photographer, an assistant and a stylist to photograph me and my garage. They worked together like a well-oiled machine and made my garage more beautiful than I could ever imagine! If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram (@PrettyHandyGirl), I snapped a few photos with my cell phone. I am still in the “I’ll believe it when I see it mindset.” But, this was for a small feature on organization for the September issue. Honestly, I’m a little concerned that the editor will take one look at the photos and drop them in the garbage. After all, it is the LEAST attractive room in my house! But, the editor assured me that they really want to show an organized garage space. So, I’ll be sitting on pins and needles until the issue comes out.
Two weeks ago I got an email from someone at Woman’s Day expressing interest in my garage. She politely asked if I could make a few changes to complete my workbench. They were all changes that I had wanted to do eventually. But, that date suddenly became last week. So, I put my tail in high gear and added those finishing touches to my workshop.
This was the workbench area of our garage before:
Not very pretty, was it? But, my good friend Holly came over one night to help me finish painting and gave me a jump on all the things I had to do before the photoshoot (like shop for a few fall colored non-patterned blouses in the middle of hot and humid North Carolina!)
After the workbench got two coats of paint it looked like this:
What you probably can’t see in this photo is that the cabinet hardware on the upper cabinets doesn’t match. I wanted cool handles that say, “Creative Handy Gal at play here.” And this is what I came up with:
I retired my beloved Purdy paint brushes and immortalized them as door handles. If you have some old paint brushes lying around you can make some too.
Materials:
- 2 – 2″ paint brushes
- 4 – 3″ threaded bolts
- 4 – washers
- 4 – nuts (that fit on bolts)
- 2 – wing nuts (that fit on bolts)
- drill
- drill bit larger than bolts
- wrench
- scrap of wood
Directions:
Line up the two paint brushes and drill a hole through them where the handle gets wide (just below the metal collar.)
Put one bolt through the hole at the bottom of the paint brush and insert it into the existing hole where the cabinet knob used to be. Insert a pencil into the hole you drilled. Mark the location of the upper hole with a pencil.
Drill a hole where the pencil mark is.
Thread the bolts through the top and bottom holes in the paint brush. Then feed a washer onto the bolt and finally a nut. Secure the nut with the wrench.
Thread another nut onto the bolt, and another washer as shown. Insert the ends of the bolts into the holes in the cabinet door.
Adjust the nuts until you have the desired handle depth. Then secure the handles by threading a wing nut onto the inside of the cabinet door.
Tighten the outside nut against the cabinet door with the wrench.
Repeat for your other handle. Test your paint brush handles. Jump up and down and celebrate because they work!
I can’t begin to tell you how much I love these handles. When I wrap my hand around them I don’t want to let go because those paint brushes have been in my hands for years.
Do you think I’ve had a brush with insanity? Or do you agree with me that these are pretty cool handles?
Well, I hope that the Woman’s Day readers like them.
Have a great week y’all. I have some more workshop makeover projects to share with you soon.
Love the handles, love your blog, love your projects. Can’t wait to see the Sept issue of Woman’s Day.
Sue, watch it, you might make my head explode 😉 Thanks for the sweet words.
Oh my word!!! I love it. SO clever 🙂 One day when my actual house is all done I want a cute garage….
Thanks Stacy! Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Congrats! Love the paint brush handles.
Thanks Louise
this is one of your coolest ideas yet… wish I had a work shop to do this in!!!
Carol Anne, thanks. They’d probably look cute in a craft room, utility room or laundry room too ;-).
Oops, forgot to say- Congratulations on the mag feature- woo-hoo!!!!!
Ok, I am in love with these handles! I have a paint brush crafty project I want to do, but haven’t quite been ready to give up one of my brushes yet. I’m thinking I need to hit a yard sale or two and beg for their trashy ones. 🙂
Sheila, thanks and I might have a source for you on those used brushes 😉
This is a great idea! It is fun seeing touches of creativity in regular places! Congratulations on being published!
Thanks Sharon. I’m not published yet, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Great way to customize the work area with a tool!
Thanks! I thought my old drill might be a little too cumbersome. So, I opted for the paint brushes ;-D
So stinking cool! I can’t wait to see the issue! I love the paint brush handles!
Tanks Katie!
wow….how cool for you! congrats! loved the handles and oh by the way can i borrow your friend holly???? LOL
Cheryl, Holly says she charges by the hour ;-)!
I totally love these! Very creative!
Thanks Jacque!
very cool, very creative… love it! congrats =)
Thanks Tricia!
Its not a brush with insanity! BUT a great way to put to use old brushes and its so darned cute all the readers will be copycats..guaranteed.
Shirley, thanks! Glad you like them too.
Exciting! Congrats!! I look forward to seeing things in print 😉
Anika, thanks. I’ll be biting my nails until I see I don’t look like a total dweeb!
I like this idea so much, gonna tweak it and use small handles in the cabinet full of paint supplies!
One Of A Kind Mosaics, facebook
Good Morning Brittney, I’m so excited for you and can totally believe it! You definately should be in a magazine. And your handles are so cute and smart and they just scream Pretty Handy Girl lives here…
Have a great day.
Hugs…Tracy @ Cotton Pickin Cute
Thanks for your sweet comment Tracy ;-).