When you buy a house for the first time, you will learn a lot quickly. It mainly revolves around how expensive everything is, and you may regret any quick decisions and/or feel bored and change your mind. These are excuses why I tend to spend time on renovations.

　　One of the first household projects we hope to solve in the second year we lived here (the first year was actually treading water trying to recover some pennies, I don’t know how people can start refurbishing immediately after buying a house?!) The windows are being replaced . They are double-glazed, but they are old and cold. We were too naive in terms of cost and decided to work around the house bit by bit.

　　A few years have passed, and now we have almost completed the work of replacing the windows, and only the rooms we are planning for other renovation projects are left, so we will keep them as they are until the time is up. But in the meantime, you can do some small things to beautify your windows and make them look less objectionable on a small budget. One of them is to replace the window handles.

　　Now, before you go out and buy new handles (because it's clear that you all have to change window handles now), you need to research your own handles and make sure you choose the correct replacement. That said, most of them are fairly standard, so I hope there are some useful tips here.

　　The window handles on the windows we actually replaced are brushed chrome, so these are the closest matches. They cost £15.99 each, which looks expensive, but much cheaper than new windows. Make sure to check whether your handle is a right-hand corkscrew or a left-hand corkscrew.

　　Remove the old handle. For this, you need a screwdriver, and you may find it easier to use an electric screwdriver than a manual screwdriver. Your handle is likely to have 4 small screws. When the handle is rotated 90 degrees against the window, you will be able to see these screws. Sometimes there is a small sticker or hat, and you may need to pry them off.

　　Remove the old wedges that the handle would get stuck. This is usually not screwed in, but pushed in, so you can use a flat-head screwdriver to pry it off

　　Clean the area, hope it won’t be moldy like our windows...! If you have uPVC windows, there is a special uPVC cleaner that works well.

　　Rebound the new wedge. The brushed chrome parts we use have black parts, which look very smart, but obviously you can choose any color you want. There should be 3 different length options, because there are already holes in the window frame, you need to use the correct size to match the distance between the holes.

　　Now, before installing the new handle, you must install the small triangular wedge to the back of the handle. Once you close the handle, this is the part that "clicks" into place.

　　Screw the new window handle into place. The 4 screws you need should be provided.

　　Finally, there should be a small silver (or other color) sticker on the top two screws shown when the window handle is fixed. Come on, put it in place, and you're done!