Stylish hardware buys to elevate your home, from £7

Grab your tool box (tool belt optional), as designer hardware – specifically cabinet knobs, drawer pulls, door handles and light switches – has reached “must-have” status.

Go back a few years, and your choice of hardware would have been either unrelentingly basic, or, for something a little more interesting, prohibitively expensive. But thanks to designers such as Matilda Goad, founder of MG&Co., who has opened a pop-up shop dedicated to her hardware range in Notting Hill this month, design-led hardware is now far more widely available; and the effect it has on your home can be transformative.

Goad is best known for her scallop-edge rattan lampshades, but it is the response to her lacquered hooks, bamboo drawer pulls and metal backplates that has seen her hardware offering grow exponentially since its launch almost two years ago.

“I never expected that we’d be producing this many pieces of hardware, and to such a wide consumer group,” she says. Her customers range from interior designers and hotels buying in bulk, to lone DIYers mixing and matching backplates with colourful knobs (both from £15 each) to update an old chest of drawers.

While Goad’s isn’t the only brand elevating so-called “touch points” – the often-overlooked small details in the home that you touch the most, such as handles and switches – the secret to her success lies in accessibility. Unlike a traditional hardware website or shop, where there is an overwhelming amount of uninspiring options float around on a white background, Goad’s designs are pictured in situ, to show how they can be used, and come in irresistible shades (pistachio, citron, cherry): the renovator’s answer to a pick-and-mix stand.

Prioritising touch points is of equal importance to Kate Watson-Smyth, author and founder of homewares blog Mad About the House, who says: “We remember the things we come into contact with long after we might have forgotten the wall colour. Flicking a brass toggle switch with its pleasing ‘clunk’, or grasping a solid bronze door handle, is a pleasurable thing that can distract from a tired paint job or a row of old-fashioned kitchen cupboards.”

The interior designer Laura Stephens advises buying the best you can afford: “Good-quality hardware can serve to completely elevate a room and make things look more expensive than they are. I like handles to feel heavy and sturdy, and I love using living finishes like unlacquered brass, which develops a patina over time.”

Here’s how the experts choose and use hardware as a stylish finishing touch.

Make your electrics sing

You wouldn’t let your decorator choose your wallpaper, so why would you trust your electrician to source your switches and sockets? That’s the argument of Wolf Luecker, founder of Lewes-based wiring specialist Swtch. Luecker stocks mostly European brands that produce retro-inspired porcelain sockets and contemporary switches worth getting excited about. Unlike plastic fittings, they’re not the sort of designs you’d want to disguise – and at £87 for a single ceramic light switch, nor would you want to. “It’s like hanging art – you don’t need it everywhere to make an impact,” reasons Luecker. “We have customers who buy two or three fittings and put them in the place where it really matters.”

Laura Stephens is sensitive to her clients’ budgets by placing statement switches in hallways and living rooms, and positioning cheaper finds behind sofas and in cupboards.

To clash, or co-ordinate?

On renovating her new home, Kate Watson-Smyth shopped solely from Corston Architectural Detail for light switches, plug sockets, door handles and kitchen cabinets in order to achieve a cohesive look. “I used bronze as it goes with everything and is warmer than chrome, softer than black and less ubiquitous than brass,” she explains. The company has since added window furniture and lighting, so you can effortlessly match a wall light to the fastener on a sash window.

It also has a wide range of pre-primed products which can be painted to blend into a scheme. But Goad sees her playful knobs as an opportunity to push the design envelope: “Often people stick to neutrals on walls, but with these little accents you can go out of your comfort zone and do something a bit more punchy.”

Be brave, have fun

Swapping out a handle is far less laborious than sugar-soaping, sanding and double-coating a dozen kitchen cabinets. Olivia Pope, founder of homewares brand Bias Editions, considers her range of hand-cast metal hardware “like the jewellery for the home. Just as you might mix high-end and everyday pieces in your wardrobe to create a distinctive style, you can do the same with your interiors.” Pope’s range starts from £30 and includes playful, wiggly handles and pulls as plump as pearls. They’re designed to British standard sizing, so a simple switchover can be achieved with a screwdriver.

Save on the cupboards, splash out on the knobs

Granted, buying hardware in multiples quickly adds up, but it’s much more cost-effective than updating cabinetry. Interior designer Sophie Gunning of Project Home estimates that she saved recent clients £4,000 when she reworked their existing plain wardrobe doors – rather than replacing them – by adding decorative beading, updating the hinges to brass finial hinges, and using MG&Co.’s handles. With a fresh colour scheme to boot, they are transformed. “At a time where material and contractor costs are at an all-time high, it’s these small considerations that can really help claw back some spend,” she says.

What to buy

High-end

Barwick Ridged Cabinet Back Handle, £206.40, Armac Martin

Bruta Handle, £159, Superfront

Jumbow Handle, £120, Beata Heuman

Katy Paty Light Switch, £87, Swtch 

Mid range

Large Bamboo Handle, £38, Matilda Goad & Co.

Chipmaster pull, £30.50, Swarf

The Ribbons range, from £30, Bias Editions

Cinnamon single rocker switch, £35, Dowsing & Reynolds

Kepler Toggle in antique brass, £29.95, Plank Hardware

JUNG LS990 socket, £35, Swtch

Clear double socket, £32.40, Corston

Budget

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Cook’s Drawer Pull in Polished, £16.81, Jim Lawrence

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Bayswater Furniture Knob, £12, Corston

Oval metal door knob (2-pack), £7.99, Zara Home

Varlight double socket, £6.60, TLC Electrical