Last week I shared updated progress pictures of our kitchen.  One of the updates was new hardware for our cabinets.  Installing the hardware was easy but I thought I would share a few tips that I used to make this easy upgrade super easy.

We bought these IKEA Tag door handles late last year in anticipation of finally getting this kitchen renovation tackled.
Six months later and the handles are finally up.  That’s not too bad, is it?  After opening the packages, I noticed that the dimensions for the spacing for the screws was given in both U.S. and metric measurements.  My first instinct is always to use U.S. measurements because that is what I am most familiar with.  I discovered though that the U.S. measurements didn’t actually line up with the center of the holes on the handles.  Which means had I used the U.S. measurements I would have ended up with a bunch of useless holes in my cabinets!  Womp. Womp. #bloggerfail

IKEA is a Swedish company so I hoped the metric measurements would be more accurate.  They were spot on.  So the lesson of the day is:  When dealing with a European company default to the metric measurements for accuracy.

Now, back to the process of installing the hardware. Placement of your handles is really up to you.  There are variables that can affect your placement… handle size, location of any trim on doors, and personal preference.

So to figure out my preferred location of our handles I held a handle up to decide which location worked best for me.  After deciding on a location I tilted the handle to the side and marked the location for the holes.  Genius, right?
Apparently I was really cold that dat because I am wearing my Columbia jacket inside!  

Those markings are not what I used to drill the holes though.  First, I measured the distance from the holes to the side and bottom of the door and then adjusted to an easy to replicate measurement… for me 2 1/4″.

Next, I made a template for easy and exact placement of all the holes on all the doors.
I aligned the bottom corner of the paper with the corner of the doors and then made small pencil marks through tiny holes that I had previously punched to indicate the location for the screws.

You may have noticed in the picture above that the center of the handle is also marked.   This is important when marking the location on a drawer.  I found it helpful to find the center of the drawers first and then mark the location of the holes.The previous picture also shows the spackling that I used to cover the holes from our previous hardware.  The spacing on the IKEA Tag handles were a little bit wider than our previous handles but were easily hidden with some spackle and and sanding.

Next, ML drilled the holes while I sat in the background nervously hoping that the measurements were right.
After a few nail biting moments he assured me that the handle was installed without any trouble.  Yay, for taking it slow and trying to get those measurements as accurate as possible.  It truly was a battle against the non-perfectionist in me but it was completely worth it.

Before installing all the handles I sanded and painted the doors and then FINALLY got to enjoy the beauty of my new handles.So, what nail biting tasks have you tackled lately?  Do you struggle with being a perfectionist like me? Or maybe you struggle because you are a perfectionist.  Sometimes ML’s perfectionism really gets on his nerves but it is who he is.

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