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Downton Abbey Doorbell

I actually didn’t start out… or even finish with the goal in mind to have a working Downton Abbey doorbell… it just sort of happened unexpectedly. But I must say, now that we do have one, I love it, and it’s a fun conversation piece too! Here’s what happened…

HometoCottage.com Downton Abbey Doorbell

When we first bought our 100 year old house and started renovating it last year, it had a doorbell at the front door. Just a plain old electric doorbell, with really old wiring that went from the front door, weaving through the walls to the basement electric panel for power. That old wiring was so old it had bare wires in some spots, and the doorbell kept shorting out. (doesn’t sound too safe, does it?) I actually kept waiting for the day when someone would go to ring the doorbell and get an electric shock when their finger made contact with the ringer on the porch. Fortunately, that never  happened, but with several failed attempts to rewire it, because the front entry is on a crawl space and the way the foundation is, we just were not able to feed new wires up to the doorbell without taking off all the trim in the front entry, the trim that I had already caulked, primed, painted and finished. I just was unwilling to mess up that finished paint job.

So next we tried a battery operated one. That one failed miserably, and honestly, the push button for it was really ugly on the front porch.

When I first started to look online for a manual doorbell, I really didn’t know what style I wanted. I’ve seen the old Victorian doorbells that go through the door. On the outside you pull or turn a lever, and it rings the bell attached inside the door. The problem with that style is that you need to open the storm door to get to the ringer, so I wasn’t sure that was going to work.

Then I found this one on Ebay.

(HERE is one you can order that’s very similar, if not identical)

Or you can search for your own… just type in ‘butler’s doorbell’ and see what you find:

HometoCottage.com ebay doorbell

Actually, I found a few different sellers on Ebay that sold the same style, but my decision was made by it being in stock at the best price. At first I was a little leery to buy from someone located in Great Britian instead of directly from US, but my purchasing experience turned out to be just great. The doorbell arrived very quickly and we were able to install it right away. (I had a handyman here working on some other stuff, so he took some time and installed it for me.)

Maybe I was subliminally inspired to this style because I’ve become a huge fan of Downton Abbey, but it wasn’t until after ours was installed until I realized it totally matched the one on the opening scene of Downton Abbey!

Here is a picture from that opening scene showing the bell, (which is actually a butler’s bell in the show):

HometoCottage.com Butler's Bell on Downton Abbey

At our simple, not-staffed-by-a-butler, 100 year old house, we use the bell for a front door bell.

HometoCottage.com front entry after

Inside the front entry, you can see it above the door in the corner.

HometoCottage.com exterior ringer

On the exterior of the house, at the front door, is the ‘pull’ handle.

Here’s how it works:

HometoCottage.com Doorbell bell on spring inside entry

The bell of the doorbell is on a spring that has a cord attached to it.

HometoCottage.com exterior ringer pull

When someone pulls down on the ringer outside, announcing their arrival,

HometoCottage.com exterior doorbell pulley

the cord is attached to a pulley outside where the cord goes through a small hole directly into the front entry,

HometoCottage.com doorbell pulley and bell spring inside

and then goes around an interior pulley up to the spring, ringing the bell.

It’s simple and works perfect for this space.

The only problem is that most of my visitors apparently aren’t used to ringing a bell like this, or are too shy to actually pull down on the lever. Maybe I’ll post a sign next to it stating, “No, really, pull it!”

To find a similar doorbell like this one, type in “butlers doorbell”:

Click here to see all the posts about the details of renovating the front entry in our 100 year old house.

Click here to see more of the other rooms I’ve written about our 100 year old house.

Click here to read about all kinds of other house details I’ve written about.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please feel free to follow and share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook, Pinterest, Flipboard, Bloglovin, YouTube and now Instagram!  I appreciate you reading along.

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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I’m Liz, the author, and I’m so glad you’re here!

My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!
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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I'm Liz, the author, and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!


Disclosure Policy: According to FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that some of the content of this blog may be a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

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Sharing is great! Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz and YouTube the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by. But please remember that all photos, images, text and content are owned by SimpleDecoratingTips.com. So anything you share, please be sure it always links back to my original post it came from. Please do not remove watermarks, crop or edit anything without written permission from me first.

Disclosure Policy: According to the FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials and shopping links. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

Disclosure Policy According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. My truthful opinion will be what I state, no matter if I'm getting paid or not. Accuracy and truth are the priority for me on this blog's information, no matter if it's about a product or anything else. Not every product or service or store etc. may be mentioned in each and every post as an affiliate. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post.

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