Style

The allure of leather

I have two fave utility items I use around the house, which I will go into some other time. But I may be adding a third item to that “love it!” list. Meet my new little friend:

leather-spool-7 web

Yes – it’s shoelaces. Actually, to be specific, it’s top-grain leather lacing. Being an avid blog reader, I pick up random bits of info. Someone was recommending this for household use. I jumped on that bandwagon and ordered myself a spool. I intended to use the leather for shower curtain rings – and it worked. This stuff is perfect. I like the way these laces look against my girly white shower curtain. And of course, washers make everything better. When I have to wash the shower curtain I’ll probably be swearing like a longshoreman at the knots, but I’m happy NOW, so what the heck.

shower-curtain-1 web

Then I started messing around with other options, and I came up with this for TP (another one of my design enjoyments, as you know):

tpleather web

I am not crafty, but someone who can tie a knot could make this work. Have you seen all the cool patterned nail heads that are coming out? You could use a cool nail, or a Victorian picture nail, an extra cupboard knob sitting around the house. FYI – I used a bracelet for the stopper at the bottom.

How about leather laces for cupboard knobs or drawer pulls? This would work for both the one- and two-hole varieties. I would add washers to mine, but plain leather would be cool, as well as some kind of bling. Pull off the ugly cupboard handles and thread some of these laces through, knot them, and you’re done. Facelift accomplished. And they come in multiple colors. Here’s where I bought mine.

Portlander Nancy Ranchel is a self-described accountant, design fan, serial re-modeler, compulsive re-user, and blog writer.