You can ring my bell

Back in 2004 when our friend Sharon visited us from Washington State, she offered us this cool bell for our front gate. Our doorbell had a loose connection and often wouldn't ring. Sharon thought this would be a nice alternative, even though we didn't own a cat at the time. I installed it on the gate post just above the regular doorbell button. It was originally rust-colored and blended in with the brick and tile on the post. Some people still tried to make the electric doorbell ring, others went right for the bell.

Now, six years later, we actually have a black cat. I thought it might be nice to paint the bell to match the cat. Ken picked up a little can of Hammerite at the hardware store over the weekend and I painted the bell on Sunday. I added a new leather pull to the clapper and voilà! A new front bell that looks like Bertie:

The black bell stands out nicely against the gate post.