DIY // LEATHER PULL HANDLES

With our new wardrobes in place and looking fabulous, I was desperately on the hunt for some lovely pull handles to complete the look but couldn't find anything affordable or fitting to what I was looking for. However, after a late night trawl through pinterest I found some similar handles and thought, this is something I can totally recreate! Here are some step by step instructions to create leather pull handles for your wardrobe, kitchen or bathroom or a simple upcycling project.





A few months back, we had Ollie from With Bear Hands come and do some wardrobe doors for us to cover some ikea shelving I put up. Together we designed the units and I am so happy how they turned out using only old pallets.

I will do a post soon on how we organised the shelving, but if you are looking for an inexpensive way of adding built- ins to your home then some wall mounted shelving from Ikea and a simple pallet designed outercasing is the answer. We are so happy with how they turned out.


Here I was though, with beautiful new cupboards but no handles.. I searched the internet far and wide and various reclamation yards, but couldn't find what I was looking for and at a decent price. I did find a company that did reproduction brass handles like the ones on the front of an old art deco block of flats but it was gonna cost over £500! Eeek.

I spotted some leather handles on pinterest and thought hey! i can totally make these. Here is how I did it and for just £40 for all handles and I still have left over leather and hex bolts to make more.

//Materials//

- a rotary cutter  I absolutely love my Fiskars one and it worked a dream on the leather. 

- a metal ruler

- a cutting board

- a hole puncher / eyelet puncher

- hex bolts and nuts ( I used 4mm ones )

- white chalk pencil 

- an a3 piece of soft leather (I used bullhide which has a lovely texture to it)

//Step 1//

Measure and cut out the strips. I did mine 2.5cm wide but you can make it however wide you want. Then use your metal ruler and rotary cutter to cut straight lines down. 

// Step 2//

Punch holes in the strips using your eyelet or leather punch. I found it easier to mark out the holes on all the strips first using the chalk pencil so that they were all the same. I did 3 on each strip so that I could fold the back under to give a neater finish. See images to make sense of it. 

//Step 3//

Thread your bolts through the leather (use a washer on the back) and you are ready to install into your door or drawer. 

Would love to know if you tried this out and how they worked for you? We have had the handles up for a few weeks now and they are working like a dream and so soft and tactile.. The leather is also getting softer too. So happy with our finished wardrobe. 

If you live in Somerset and want to achieve somehting similar in your home then I can highly recommend the work that Ollie from With Bear Hands can bring to the table. Total thumbs up from us!