The mother is fascinated with all things old. Queen Anne and Victorian rule the roost. I've never been a big fan of ultra-modern, so it works out. It’s only fitting then that we’ve always had an old-time twist doorbell, right?
The problem is that some years back while doing an extensive clean on this doorbell, the mother inadvertently tossed a vital component: a small piece of metal that links the turn portion on the outer door to the ring portion on the other side.
I was able to modify it by chopping up and filing down an old hex key but it never really worked very well. And after so many years of baking in the daily sun on the front door, the surface for the turn doesn’t want to clean right.
So it was time for a new one.
There were several to choose from as it turned out, but we settled on the one pictured here. I bought it from House of Antique Hardware. (It was a first-time purchase from these guys, so I’ll let you know how it goes. So far, it looks like my order is set to ship on Thursday.)
This one is a little more ornate than its predecessor, which means it’s also a little bigger. Even so, I think the center hole will still work as is. The plate on the front and the decorative edges to the bell itself on the back should be big enough to cover the existing holes if it turns out that they can’t be reused. So that should all be good.
And maybe putting a very shiny new thing on it will make me warm even in the slightest to the still all-white door …
5 comments:
Between the stained glass and the new larger version of the door bell, you might not even notice the white!
Very nice! I am always a sucker for an everyday object that is different than the norm, not to mention pretty!
Neato! I want one of those... but I'm not drilling through brick to have one.
That's really cool! I've never seen one before. I guess that's what came between the knocker and the current buzzer?
CD -- Yeah, and you HAD to tell the mother that, didn't you?! :-) "SEE ... even YOUR friends can see what I saw."
Ty'smom -- Thanks! I think it will be perfect. I was pretty ambivalent about the original, but I kinda like this one. Can't wait to see it in person!
Jennifer -- That's one of the beauties, here, unless your DOOR is brick. Everything goes on the door. No electricity or other fancy wiring necessary. One big hole to run it from front to back and a few smaller ones to attach hardware and voila! Doorbell.
V-- I think that is about right, timewise. I think these things hit their heyday around the turn of the 20th century, right before everyone started getting electricity!
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