Tutorial - a simple beaded handle for dressers or drawers

As promised, my first tutorial.

Yesterday my friend Gal moved to town and gave me an old dresser which is missing a handle for one of its doors. I came up with a quick, easy way to make a new handle and thought I would write a small tutorial for that.

You will need the following items, which you probably already have around the house:

A piece of thin rope, about 30-40cm long (or a strong piece of string in the same length), a large button with holes large enough for the string to go through, some nice big colorful beads - also with a large enough hole.

Of course you don't really have to use beads - anything that can be strung on a rope and suits your dresser or drawer should be fine.

Use your imagination. Try making holes in plastic toys, or shells, or anything that will feel nice as a handle later on.

First of all, you need a small hole that goes through the door. My door had a keyhole on one side, so my husband pushed a screwdriver into the keyhole and all the way to the other side, creating a hole. It really needs to be quite small - enough for the rope to go through twice, but smaller then your beads (so they won't slip through).

Thread the rope through the hole, from the front of the door to the back.

At the back of the door, thread the rope through one of the button's holes, and back through another hole.

Then, thread the rope back through the hole in the door. You now have both ends of the rope at the front of the door.

Pull both ends a bit, and the button should rest securely against the back of the door.

Now, start threading the beads on one end of the rope.

At the end of the process, you will have a longer end of the rope with beads strung on it, and a shorter end with no beads - like so:

Give both ends of the rope a nice strong pull (don't be afraid - this is going to be a handle and you're going to pull it many more times! if the rope breaks, it might as well break now), and then tie both ends SECURELY, tightly, and as close as possible to the door!
The best way I know to make a secure knot is to put the right end of the rope over the left end and tie, then put the left end over the right and tie again.

If the ends are still long enough, tie again, just to make sure.

Then cut the rope close to the knot (leave about 1cm). If you used a plastic-based rope, you can burn the ends slightly so they won't unravel.

Now, use a pointy object (like the screwdriver from step 1) to push the knot into the hole in the door

If needed, try pulling the rope a bit and pushpushpushpushpush until the knot disappears inside the door.

Ta da!! You now have a lovely new handle for your dresser or drawer!! and you made it all by yourself!! AND you finally used some of your crafty supplies!! Aren't you proud of yourself?

Many thanks to my lovely assistant (and cousin) Irit for taking the photos for this tutorial, Gal for helping me with version 1 of this handle (and for the dresser, of course), and Ez for the hole in the door

If you make a handle for your own dresser using this tutorial (or if you just like it), feel free to write a comment and let me know.