Antique Hardware at THE WILLOW TREE

  
   Considering the amount of renovation, inside and out, that's been put thus far into The Willow Tree, ca. 1827, the fresh coat of paint at the front entryway was a breeze!  However, the doorknob had to go. Looking on Pinterest for ideas, I found the perfect entry set that I had to have, but had no idea where to find it.  Hoping my sister could help, I e-mailed Eileen a photo. She said she's never seen anything like it and had no idea where to find one. 

   After days and days searching the internet, I found David Kayne & Son in
North Carolina,  www.customforgedhardware.com.  He had  this early American design  called a "weeping heart," and it's just the right piece for the Willow Tree.

   The one-room cottage at the back of the house is probably almost as old as the house itself.  The door is a two-inch thick walnut board.   It needed to be rehung, and while it was taken out this past July I stripped it and repainted it as it needed that protection against the rain and snow.  The windows are on my list to repair this coming spring/summer. 

     The cottage has exposed beams inside with original heart pine floors.   The door retains original hardware.

     Another solid walnut door is on the kitchen porch side of the house, but unlike the cottage the door is unpainted.   It also has an original entry set (left photo shows the outside, right photo the inside). 

     The dumbwaiter in the kitchen has original hand forged wrought iron hardware with handle and strap hinges.

     Even two closets in an upstairs bedroom are lined with lovely wrought iron hooks with heart detail.

     I've visited Eileen numerous times over the 25-plus years she and her family have lived in their lovely old Tudor home in St. Paul, and until this summer I never paid much attention to her original front door entry set (and apparently neither has she!)   Remember that she had no clue when I asked her about the wrought iron entry set that I was looking for and which I later determined was a weeping heart design?   So when I walked up to her front door on a visit this summer, I was immediately drawn to -- the HAND FORGED WROUGHT IRON WEEPING HEART entry set that has been on her front door since 1928 when the house was built.  So much for attention-to-detail-Eileen!