Cupboard Fastenings

Recently a new visitor to the Edwardian House Renovation (hi Edd!) asked about what the door fastenings for the built-in wardrobes look like. I have taken some photos and will try to explain. This wardrobe has two doors, the ‘first closing door’ (right) and the ‘second closing’ door (left).

Inside the first closing door is this little vertical latch bolt.

When you close the first door the bolt slides up and into a notch that has been cut into the internal shelf. Also at the top of the picture above you can also see a spring catch which was designed to hold a little counterpiece attached to the second door. Ours doesn’t work as the doors don’t close as neatly as they used to, due to the countless layers of old paint preventing the doors from pushing completely closed.

On the second closing door is a simple knob that has a latch attached to the back

Back view.

You push the door closed and turn the knob to catch the latch behind the leaf of the first door. And that’s it.

Hope that helps you Edd – I must say that the modern magnetic latches you say you have on your doors might actually work a bit better than these!

 

 

Wardrobes Continued

As you know, we are keeping the built in wardrobe in the bedroom. We always knew, however, that it wouldn’t be big enough for all of our clothes so I have been searching for another wardrobe that will fit along the long wall in the bedroom between the bedroom and en suite doors.

This is an Edwardian bow fronted triple wardrobe, or compendium, as it is technically called.  It’s just over two metres wide and about 210cm tall. It comes from an antique dealer in Derbyshire and will fit the space perfectly.

I love the shape of it and the flame mahogany veneers. It’s great because it combines hanging space with drawers and shelves, which is why it is called a compendium.

It is a little shallower than modern wardrobes but it is more generous than many of them as it has a hanging depth of 5ocm. It’s hard to believe that furniture like this is cheaper than a modern softwood or MDF wardrobe of the same size.

Nice inlays as well. I also love the fact that it has two mirrored doors – we needed a full length mirror anyway, plus it makes the piece look much lighter than if it were all solid, dark wood.

It’s being delivered next Tuesday. It breaks down into seven pieces, so we will be able to store it in the house and move it around as the work takes place.

The Wardrobe Conundrum

Thanks for all your comments on my wardrobe conundrum. Debby wanted to have a look inside.

This is how far we can open the doors at the moment. As you can see, there is a handy top shelf, room in the bottom for shoes and a hanging rail as well as some hooks along the back. It needs freshening up with a coat of paint inside. It’s deep enough to hang shirts and jackets.

Mark isn’t keen to lose the wardrobe, and as I started to consider in detail how I might break it apart with my rubber mallet, I started to feel sad too. I have thought of every option for furniture placement – even using my furniture placement plans with all our furniture to scale (yes, I’m like that).

I was, however, starting to think along the same lines as Debby when she suggested using wall/overhead lighting to read by. So here is my compromise.

I dispense with both bedside tables and use them in the bay window on either side of a Louis XV chair with lamps and ‘objet‘. I then shift the bed about six inches to the left ensuring that there is enough clearance for opening the wardrobe but also getting through the bedroom door (not pictured but to the left). I then have my pair of wall lights fitted above the bed, with a switch you can reach from bed, like in a hotel, instead of bedside lamps. By the way, that radiator behind the bed is going to be moved.

This morning I bought this off eBay. It is a small antique mahogany wine table that I will use next to the bed for the alarm clock, a book and a night-time glass of water, which is all that’s really needed. It will take up much less space that the current bedsides and it is small enough that it won’t look unbalanced, particularly if I place the wall lights in a balanced position over the bed.

This way we save the wardrobe. If it was demolished we would have to buy a new wardrobe anyway for another position in the room. We then later have the choice to get rid of the wardrobe if it doesn’t work out, but at least we will have tried. In the future, if the wardrobe were to go, I would make sure the doors and frame were retained so that it could be rebuilt in another bedroom. But for now the wardrobe will stay. As Konni said, once it’s gone it’s gone. Plus I got to do some shopping!

Last summer on my Derbyshire jaunt I visited Chatsworth. I quite like the idea of a writing desk at the end of the bed. Also notice only one bedside table. The lamp on the desk  balances it out. I could always do something similar if this plan doesn’t work, just with less chintz.

Did I tell you we have two original Edwardian wardrobes? This is the other one, in Mark’s future study.

It’s much shallower than the other one though. I can’t bring myself to break up the pair. At least not yet.