Internal Door Knobs

[cooperlola]

We're finally at the brink of finishing off our pallier and I'm now doing the topping and tailing stuff.  I have bought nice solid oak doors to complement the beams but am stuck as to what kind of doorknobs to use.  It is a traditional Percheron fermette and thus was designed with no internal doors to speak of  (there is colombage and/or archways between all the downstairs rooms) so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what will look sympathetic with the period and the building (1850).  Nothing I've seen in neighbours' places does much for me and isn't really in period either.

Any inspired ideas?

[thunderhorse]

I've made my own doors and went for black wrought-iron thumb latches. Catalogue prices can be steep, but B & Q were doing them in packs for just a few quid each. Made in India IIRC but quite acceptable.

Hope that helps.

[mint]

Sounds like a good suggestion.  Would, however, depend on the type of door that Coops has bought.

Really the door furniture you suggest only looks OK with brace and latch doors.  Post a picture, Coops, and we'll flood you with suggestions![:)]

[Doodle]

I had a problem finding the right style nobs for our sanded old wood doors and eventually unable to find what I wanted in france, I ordered from castinstyle.co.uk and bought a really nice chrome rim lock - the problem was the postage to france was £22. However, we really liked it when it arrived so the next order was delivered to friends who brought it over with them.

Hope this helps, Chris

[Gluestick]

JE:

You can just see the type of wrought iron thumb latch on our old door. The hinges are also purposefully crude wrought iron and massive!

Seems to look OK.

[IMG]http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i278/Michaeleff/France/PicturesHouseFrance0006.jpg[/IMG]

 

[Chancer]

Probably too early for your dwelling but I have in the past seen some very nice but simple wooden latches used on internal doors, basically a hinged wooden peg and a wooden keep in the manner of a Suffolk latch, there was a piece of jute cord attached which went through a hole drilled in the door and terminated in a wooden pull knob the other side.

They were really quaint.

[Swissie]

Must say that the choice in UK is much better than in France - In Leicester (now moved to Anstey) there is an amazing place called Broughton and Jones- and they have a huge choice of styles- from ultra-modern/designer, to wrought iron, brass- and anything else possibly imaginable.

[cooperlola]

I think the latch-type door furniture looks fine on a "plank" type door, but I'm not so sure about panel doors.  Our have a "chapeau gendarme" top.  Back in the UK our 1887 farm labourer's cottage had oak panel doors with brass knobs (clearly original Victorian - not added later) but I'm not sure if that would be very French in style?

[WJT]

I'm in![:D]

Perhaps it is a regional thing but around our part of France, it is very common and traditional to have those curly cue black wrought iron knobs. I too am in the process of looking and thought that may be what I go with. They seem very sturdy but authentic and quiet at the same time.

Cooperlola, is there a reason you don't like these? [8-)]

[cooperlola]

Funnily enough WJT I quite like these:

Unpretentious and only a few years out of period.  But are they ever found over here?

http://www.castinstyle.co.uk/product.php/71/50/octagon_door_knob_set

[WJT]

Those are lovely Cooperlola. I love the oval and the curved round ones.

We had an exterior door specially made because of the size and we never discussed the door knob with the carpenter. He used one like the curly cue ones (now I see they are called Cylindre Coq, fer noir [:$])  in the link below at Leroy Merlin. I quite like it because they are quite delicate but rustic at the same time. They are very low cost but they are real wrought iron without that horrible plastic coating.

There are a few doors that I now am thinking about for the curved round ones on your site.[:)]

http://www.leroymerlin.fr/mpng2-front/pre?zone=zonecatalogue&idLSPub=1066916496&renderall=on#4

 

Edit: It is not allowing me to paste the page I want on the Leroy Merlin site but if you click on the fer section it will bring up the ones I am talking about as well as others. For some reason I can't just post that particular door handle.

[BIG MAC]

That is weird I was just about to suggest....Y'Know the turn of the century front door furniture..like a rounded hexagon....I really think they would look ......err ok looks as though all is under control!

Coops we are back and forth reasonably often so if you need something like that picking up I guess we must pass fairly close as we come off the 28 heading for Javron Les Chappelles......

[cooperlola]

Thanks a bunch for the thought, Big Mac.  I have a friend going over with his van in July so if I go for those (which I think is the direction I'm erring in at the moment!) then he can bring them.

Anybody seen black iron knobs of this sort (any shape) on internal doors over here?  Would brass be more usual?

If there's no obvious traditional French country style then I'll just buy what I like best.

[Gluestick]

Have a good internet search before July, JE.

I was looking a few years back for wrought and cast iron ballustrades and even at one point, considering buying the main component parts of a wrought iron circular staircase.

I found there are numerous firms selling and some making cast and wrought iron components and door and gate furniture: some were dreadfully expensive: others much more reasonable.

 

[cooperlola]

Point taken Gluey.  Just so long as they're good quality I don't mind paying a few squids more but on the other hand don't want to get ripped off (who does?)

JE

These days I find Amazon good for household stuff as for other things as there's often feedback from ordinary folk who've actually encountered and used the things.

[Gluestick]

When I have a mo, I'll try and dig back through my burgeoning "Favourites" files and see if I can find the forge I deduced offered the best quality at reasonable cost.

One of my house projects in la belle, eventually, is to make up and fit a bellied wrought iron fence and gate, on top of the front retaining wall: it is roughly 30 metres run, so cost of components is a pretty critical factor!

But like yourself, JE, I would always want to pay a bit extra if cheap price means inferior quality.

 

[Doodle]

Hello

You may also be interested in the link below for wooden door knobs which look very nice. Most of the handles I've seen in old houses around our neck of the woods are the wrought iron latch type. Just a thought but would brass contrast enough with the wood what I mean to say (without sounding rude) is do you want your knobs to blend in with the door or to make a feature of the door?

Chris

http://www.willowandstone.co.uk/search.asp?types=yes&type=Handles+%26+Door+Knobs+%3E+Wood+Door+Knobs

Edit: one thing I forgot to say is that our house is a stone house built 1850 ish all the doors had rim locks with bun knobs which is why I went down that route apart from the fact that we like rim locks! (if I can attach a photo I will!!)

[Bertie]

Have you looked to the french website www.flaner-in-provence.fr. They have a wide selection of all types of door handles and are happy to post.

We chose our porcelain handles for our internal oak doors on our barn conversion in the Indre, while on holiday in Provence, and they posted them to our UK address so we could take them down on our next trip.

Not cheap, but we were very pleased with the quality

Bertie[:)]

[claude]

its a while since this thread was started, but we wanted some suffolk latches and some knobs and got them from a website called handmade-ironmongery.co.uk, they were really helpful. I dont know if they ship to france, we live in Bormes les Mimosas but had them sent to my parents in the UK