Furniture Hardware

Brackets, hanging rales and locks – all often underlooked elements of our furniture that, nonetheless, contributed to the décor our rooms as much as any other decoration. It’s important when shopping that you don’t just keep the hardware’s function in mind, but how it will blend in with its surroundings.

More often than not, furniture hardware features metallic finishes, typically in chrome, copper, brass and stainless steel. Occasionally, you’ll also find matt finishes in white and black. It’s important when buying say, a new hanging rail for a wardrobe, that you keep the style and design of that wardrobe in mind. 

Minimalist interiors, for example, tend to benefit more from understated designs. This means matching the colour of your new hardware to your wardrobe doors. For ornate styles, on the other hand, it's just as important to opt for more traditional colours – antique copper or brass.

Wall brackets are another good example and, depending on your choice, can leave an otherwise warm-looking living room cold and office-like. Whilst chrome is a finish that works with almost everything, it does promote a certain ‘clinical’ feeling. For a kitchen or bathroom, this may be just what you are looking for but bedrooms and conservatoires, rooms that encapsulate your home, can benefit from more natural colours.

The one downside of brand-new hardware is that it accentuates any old, damaged, or simply worn paint. When replacing your locks and rails then, you should also take the time to consider freshening up your furniture with a new coat of paint. This will also help obscure any minor cracks or stains that may have accumulated over the years.

Doing up an old piece of furniture can be an exciting prospect, though it is all too easy to get ahead of yourself and buy your new hardware without checking the size of the old hardware that they need to replace. This is especially important for locks, as fitting a new lock from scratch (particularly on a door that already had holes for plates cut) is a precise and often difficult job.

No one wants to buy something and wait for it to be delivered only to discover that it's not the right size. To avoid this you should ALWAYS measure, your hardware before buying. Fortunately, you can also filter by size to see a full list of all suitable hardware for your project.

How your old hardware was fixed may not necessarily be how your new hardware will be. Depending on the design and how they fit, you may notice that screws or other fixing holes are left behind.

In this case, you will need to be prepared to fill the holes, sand over them and, depending on where they are, paint them. This is typically easy enough with some multi-purpose wall filler and a bit of sandpaper. Just remember to wear a mask and keep your room properly ventilated whilst working.