We have a cabinet in our bathroom that swings open and hits your toes when you brush your teeth - at least we did until Monday. I've been thinking about this fix for a while but finally got around to cutting a little piece of a Toyon branch from our yard to make a crude latch.
Here it is on our modest home made 1950's era home made custom cabinets with the Formica veneer pulled off (it was flapping months after we bought the house and Julia finally just ripped what wasn't well glued down off).
Here's the latch in the down position - cabinet closed. I used a screw that had a smooth shank near the top so that the piece of wood could move freely without threads in the way. I also counter sunk the screw head so that it doesn't catch on anything.
Here it is in the up position - watch your toes!
It is so satisfying to actually take the time to fix something like this, something that has been needing it for a long time. Afterward I always get new motivation to take care of as many of those little nagging problems as I can before I fall back under the spell of the bigger things I need to work on or worry about. The lesson for me here is that small wins are very important.
Oh yeah and the latch is 100% biodegradable/compost-able, is an extremely local natural product, is made from reused hardware, and was for all practical purposes free (1/2 hour of work).
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Why not saw one-inch rounds from the rest of the toyon branch and use them to replace those drawer knobs? You could probably even use the existing screws. Those gold knobs totally spoil the effect.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea. The whole cabinet is probably going to go soon - but you are right that would complete the look! Thanks for the idea.
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