How Vintage Door Knobs Add Warmth and Character to Winter Interiors

Seasonal decorating is one of the best ways to embrace the cold and dreary months and make them your own. Instead of wishing the time away and putting life on hold until the warmer months arrive, you can lean into the cosiness.

Simple renovation projects in your home can make a huge difference to your mood in winter. You’re more likely to be spending time indoors, which means more time looking at all of the little projects you’ve been meaning to get to.

With this in mind, we’re looking at some simple ways you can decorate for the winter months, using the elegant simplicity of vintage door knobs as the central focal point.

Banish the outdated door handles

The simplest way to update your home and make everything feel a little more vintage, a little more authentic and a little more refined is to update your door handles. If you’re living with the classic satin chrome door handles – often seen with messy streaks of white gloss paint from the multiple repaints – then you know exactly where you’re going to start.

Remove the old door handles and strip the paint on the door. If you’re dealing with a thick gloss or multiple layers of paint, you might need to take this back to the wood. But you might be able to get away with just smoothing out the surface with sandpaper and giving it a good clean with sugar soap. A fresh lick of paint on your doors and it will already be drastically transformed.

Next up, you’re going to introduce vintage door knobs to complete the look. If you’re specifically looking for warmth, then warm toned metals like brass and deep red hardwood door knobs will be the obvious choice. We love the beehive design in brass for its beautiful texture and warm toned metal that develop a beautiful patina as it ages.

Add a “lived-in” vibe

Winter is not the time for show homes and Instagram-perfect interiors. It’s a time for lived-in cosiness and tactile appeal. This means heavy-weight fabrics, throw pillows, sumptuous rugs and warm materials like wood and leather.

You don’t have to completely redecorate your home in the winter months to make things feel more lived-in, it’s just about introducing new design elements that will help you to feel more comfortable. If you’re spending more time at home, it makes sense to make yourself as comfortable as possible.

When the summer comes around, you can put away excess blankets and throw pillows, but in the meantime you can embrace the cosy lived-in vibe that these soft design elements will bring.

Ditch the fresh flowers for dried varieties

Florals are great for spring and summer, but this doesn’t mean you have to neglect flora in your winter interiors. Dried flowers and herbs make a beautiful addition to your winter home, often releasing beautiful scents that will make your home smell amazing.

Bunches of dried flowers can be placed in vases, or you can hang them from cupboard handles. The best part about dried bouquets is that they last for much longer than fresh stems and will also develop beautifully warm hues as they dry out.

This doesn’t have to be purely decorational, you can also make it functional in spaces like the kitchen. Try creating a peg rail in your kitchen using vintage cupboard pulls or vintage cast iron hooks. You can hang bunches of dried herbs, a garlic rope and rustic elements like wooden chopping boards or small baskets

Use storytelling elements

Try to think of doorknobs as the jewellery or accessories of your home. They tell a story, often about the history of the property. Choosing vintage designs that are linked to the history of your home can help to weave together the past with the present.

Choosing vintage door knobs will also make your home much more unique. If you want to steer clear of the mass-produced look, then vintage elements will help you to achieve this. Choose metal door knobs and cupboard pulls in this instance, as they will develop a beautiful patina over time, which will be unique to each door handle, depending on how often the handle is used.

You can also colour-match your door knobs to other design elements like picture frames, selecting the same warm metal tones or wooden finishes.

Our favourite styles for winter interiors

The natural choice would be the Victorian Brass Beehive or the Georgian Brass Reeded design. For warm woods, choose the Hardwood Beehive with Brass roseplates, or the elegant Georgian Ebonised Reeded door knob.