Since Dana’s house is only a few years old, she works hard to make it feel classic and charming like so many of the old homes she admires. When it came to door hardware, she sought out the most charming knobs available- that’s when she found Grandeur Hardware. The hardware she saw on the website was so unique and vintage-inspired, totally unlike any of the basic door hardware she was finding in home improvement stores.

The Carre Short Plate with Hyde Park Knob was exactly what she was looking for. She feels the back plate in the timeless bronze finish is so bold and makes a big statement, while the white porcelain knob adds femininity and that classic vibe she loves. She had originally planned to only include the new door hardware in her upstairs hallway, but now wants to replace every original knob in the house. She didn’t anticipate for the Grandeur Hardware knobs to make as big of and impact as they did – and now she wants that charming impact everywhere!

Dana found the pre-attached knobs very easy to install. She had considered buying vintage knobs before, but the mechanisms seemed too complicated. She said, “These pre-attached knobs could not have been less complicated!” All six knobs took about two hours total to install. Since she is busy working mom with two little girls, she installed them over the course of the week while the kids got ready for bed.

As far as Dana’s design style goes, she defines it as classic yet comfortable with an eclectic feel. She wants her home to feel timeless with all the finishes, trim, and hardware she adds, yet still wants her personality to shine through via art, antiques, and colorful textiles.

Her favorite designers are Lauren Liess, Leanne Ford, and Amber Lewis because they all do a wonderful job of combining old and new. She loves how they mix colors, textures, and prints. She also finds inspiration from vintage art and textiles – most of her room ideas start with an old painting or antique rug and then evolve from there.

Dana loves starting a design project by making mood boards. She incorporates her favorite Pinterest images into Photoshop and assesses, edits, and adds until she has a palette of ideas, colors, materials, textures, and prints that feel good together. Her mood boards also become her project shopping lists – when she’s at a flea market or perusing Facebook Marketplace, she knows what to look for based on her mood boards.

As far as tips for readers who want to make a transformation in their home, Dana recommends thinking about it as a big picture. The end goal should be for the whole house to feel unified and cohesive, even if you’re just going to work on one room at a time. Pulling pictures from Pinterest, Instagram, magazines, etc. of homes and rooms you love and are inspired by is a great way to find the commonalities of what you like. They may not all be the same style, but you may find similarities between colors, textures, prints, wood tones, and finishes. These should then become the palette for your home. For her home, Dana’s “house palette” consists of light/white walls, board and batten paneling, natural woven textiles, block prints, brass and bronze metal finishes, and vintage artwork. Those ideas are carried throughout most of her home to create a cohesive feeling.

Dana started her blog, Adored House, to document all the projects she works on in her home and garden. She is kind of a Jane of all trades and enjoys doing everything from carpentry to floral design, wallpapering to antiquing – all with the goal of making her home beautiful. What sets her apart from many other home decor blogs is that she does all the hard work herself. Her goal for her blog and social media accounts is to show women they can do anything around the house themselves and to not be intimidated by the “hard stuff.”

Dana is currently working on a few local residential and commercial design projects. People ask her all the time to help them decorate their home, and she has found it fun to be able to help some of them. Now that Spring is just around the corner, many of her projects and blog posts will shift from interior to exterior projects. She is expanding her flower garden to three times its original size and planting over 25 different varieties of cut flowers this year.

Thanks to Dana for sharing this wonderful project with us!