The rim locks found on the blue bedroom (Aunt Sally Lou’s) and pink bedroom (Uncle John’s) doors are original to the house, but we believe they are much older than 1935.

None of the bedroom doors had keys. During the 2025 remodel, I (Jenny) decided to clean and repair the rim locks in order to see if we could identify keys and get the bedrooms a little more privacy. Luckily, the privacy switches worked on each lock in the bathroom, pink bedroom, and blue bedroom. I was able to use Rustoleum Rust Remover gel to clean and repair the springs and mechanisms inside each lock to get them working well again. I sanded off the paint from previous sloppy work, sanded, and spray-painted the housings and switches of each lock to protect them from future rust.

I ordered a set of marked skeleton keys and was able to find a match for the lock in the blue bedroom (KY-30). I also found a skeleton key in the house that worked on the lock in the pink bedroom, model unknown.

The lock in the bathroom had an unusual coiled spring mechanism for which I could not locate a key. We decided to replace that lock with a restored lock with deadbolt slider we purchased from eBay that did not accept a key to allow more privacy in the bathroom.

Each rim lock had a different internal mechanism, so it took a little bit of work to figure out how each functioned.

After doing a little bit of research, I realized that these locks probably pre-dated the building of the house in 1935. If you’ve looked carefully at the doors in our farmhouse, you’ve noticed that each door is different. I believe that each door in the house was a salvage item, or possibly salvaged from the (c) 1900 John I French home that burned. Rim locks were in use from the mid 1800s until the turn of the century when mortise locks of the type on the front door, Mr. Jack’s room, and the green bedroom door became popular.

I believe that the green bedroom and Mr. Jack’s bedroom were originally one room that was split up in the 40s or 50s. The newer style lock on those two doors is evidence that supports my theory, in addition to the flimsy and bizarre construction of that wall separating the room rooms that did not match the construction on the rest of the house.

The brass door knobs on each bedroom door are new to the 2025 restoration. The old door knobs were loose and chipped and rusty, so I replaced them with solid brass knobs that will last much longer. Below our pictures of some of the original knobs, none of which matched each other.