….for some reason, this title has me picturing a cartoon faucet handle in a purple bustier standing on a street corner smoking a cigarette.  Am I alone in this?  Whatiswrongwithme?  Heehee!

Anyhoo, focusing… last we left off with our wet-bar progress, I had painted the cabinetry, stripped off the side and back splashes, removed the mirror (and wallpaper beneath it), patched, primed and painted the wall, which turned this…

Into this…

Next up was improving the dated faucet.   This was a super simple project that took about 5 minutes (once I figured it out).  Sorry about the dark, somewhat grainy pictures in this post.  I did this project at night and the lighting is less than stellar almost nonexistent in this part of the room (Ahem!  …and I was tired and too impatient to set the tripod up and do it the right way).  Hopefully you still get the gist of how to do this, though.

So, allow me to introduce you to the faucet that came with the house…

It’s hard to tell in this pic, but the actual faucet has a pretty cool, streamlined shape.  The base is nice and simple as well, and really, the fixture is in good shape, so I didn’t see the need to dispose of the entire thing.   It was just the handles that screamed for an update.

Luckily, Lowes (and Home Depot, too) sells universal handle replacement kits.  This is the one we purchased for just under 20 bucks…

Source

I wasn’t a huge fan of the red and blue dots (though they’re more subtle in person), but I figured it was still a vast improvement from what we had (plus, I figured I could probably do something with them (spray paint them, etc)). Online they do have the same handles with chrome screw covers instead, but my local Lowes didn’t have any in stock, so I just made do with what was available.

The first step was turning off the water beneath the sink.  Once I did that, I removed the ugly screw covers on the handles with a flat-head screwdriver…

And removed the handles…

Which left this…

Next up, was attaching the universal handle adapter (which is the metal piece at the bottom) and spacers (the white things on top)…

The kit came with its own allen wrench, so it was as simple as popping the piece on there and tightening the side screw…

Next, you simply place the handle on top to determine how many spacers you need for the handle to fit flush on the base without scraping.   I only needed one of the two spacers.  Now, here’s the point where it took a little figuring out.  I’m sure it varies a little from faucet handle to faucet handle, but with this set, the notches in the spacers…

Fit around these pieces in the handles….

And you want the notches in the spacers to point in the direction your handle will go.   So, in my case, my notches needed to face straight out from the faucet.  Like so…

Once these are on tightly, you simply place the handle on top and screw it in…

And wedge your covers over the screw…

Which left this…

The handles instantly update the fixture, giving it a much cleaner, sleeker look.   This quick, easy, and cheap update was totally worth it in my opinion.   And not having to deal with actual plumbing was a nice bonus for a total plumbing-wienie like myself.  Win-win!

So, next up, I have some wet-bar decor progress for ya.   You can sort of see some of the changes in the pic above, but (spoiler alert) it’s already changed from that since I took this pic thanks to a KILLER Craigslist find that I happily collected about a day ago.   I’m gonna start writing that post (maybe) today since it’s 28 degrees, icy, and a work-was-cancelled snow day here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (Woot!).   So, anyways, stay warm, y’all!!  Till the next…