DIY Closet Pulls From Vintage Glass Doorknobs

This is a simple project that can be completed in a day, that adds a little charm and character to any room! We built a brand new house last summer, but it’s still lacking in little details that make a house more homey and unique. In the girls’ bedroom, I wanted to add a little sparkle, and I thought a simple way to do that would be with some glass knobs on their closet doors.

In the two kid bedrooms we added double closet doors, so for each we needed a set of dummy door handles. When I bought all the door handles I guess I miscalculated (not the first time I made a mistake like that!) and I was short one set of knobs. I could have just bought another set to match all the others, or bought a pair of glass pulls, but that would have been too easy. So I scrounged around in my dad’s garage and found this set of vintage glass door knobs. They came from my grandparents house so there is some sentimental value to these as well.

The only thing missing was some decorative rosettes to complete the handles, as well as a way to attach them to the front of the closet doors. I started out by looking at local antique shops, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for. And plus, dragging along little kids to poke around shops with all those breakable antiques wasn’t all that much fun. So I looked online. I ordered two dummy spindles and two rosettes from House of Antique Hardware and it came to about $50, including the shipping. That’s maybe a little more than I would have spent if I had just bought another set of dummy handles, but these are more special and I don’t regret spending that money one bit. Here is what I did to make these door knobs into two closet pulls.

Step 1: Drill Pilot Holes

The first thing I did was drill pilot holes for the decorative backplate. This makes it easier for the screws to go in exactly where they need to. Make sure the pilot holes are level and the proper distance apart. I did these 36″ from the bottom of the closet door, which is pretty standard for doorknob placement.

Step 2: Install Dummy Spindle

Next I attached the dummy spindle to the door. To figure out what kind of dummy spindle you need, you can measure the spindle that came with the door handles. The important information you need are the threads per inch (TPI), the diameter, and the length. The spindles I bought ended up being a standard 20 TPI, 9/32″ thickness, and 1 1/8″ long.

We chose hollow core closet doors, but usually where the door handles are installed is a solid piece of wood so the screws have something to grip into. The spindles I ordered came with screws so it was pretty easy to attach them to the door

Step 3: Add Decorative Rosette

Next I screwed the rosette to the closet door. I chose this rosette, in the antique iron finish. The only thing about buying online is that it’s hard to match the color. My glass knobs had an aged brass collar, and I was hoping the rosette would be the same color. It doesn’t match exactly, but I think the antique iron color complements the knobs really well.

Step 4: Tighten Glass Knob

Next up I just screwed the glass knob onto the spindle and tightened the set screw. And that’s it!

It took maybe an hour to complete this little project. For a short amount of time and not too much money, you can switch out your closet knobs for something with a little more sparkle and character. There are so many different types of knobs and rosettes out there that you can customize your closet pulls to be whatever you want.

I’m not sure how much my daughters like these (or even if they noticed!), but I know that I love them.

The closet will look even better when I get around to installing that last pesky piece of trim, and painting those doors and trim a crisp white!