If you have an old home and are trying to keep it as historical as you can, that may mean you have gone to a number of great lengths to keep everything that came with it originally. But that's not always easy.

Glass door knobs are one of the things on a house that everyone wants to keep, to add to the charm, but often time and use have played their game with these beautiful pieces of hardware and it's time for those glass antique doorknobs to go away.

We're not recommending tossing out those antique doorknobs right away. By all means first see what you can do to fix them. If the glass antique doorknobs are still in good condition, but are not working right in the door, it may be fixable.

You need to pinpoint where the problem is. There are companies that offer new hardware insides for your glass doorknobs that may help them fit more correctly into the door. If it's a little wobbly, there are also buffers, made specifically for glass antique doorknobs, that will fill that space between the knob and the door, without hurting the knob or the door.

If the problem with the glass antique doorknobs is in the glass itself, you are in a much tougher situation. Generally, the glass cannot be repaired and therefore you will be forced to just give in and get a new set of antique doorknobs.

But don't give up faith that you can have a beautiful old-looking home. You still have options to keep your home looking like the historical masterpiece it is.

It just so happens that in recent years, there has been a resurgence to bring old things back. Antique dealers have been flooded with requests for many types of old, original items. Believe it or not, their inventories often include antique doorknobs and other pieces of hardware that are just as old as your house. You should start calling around to antique dealers you know, or look online, to see if they offer a knob close to the one you need, to make the replacement in your home. Even if they don't have the items now, they may be willing to keep an eye out for just what you need if send a picture or give a good description of the antique doorknobs you are missing. This plan requires patience as it could take weeks, months or even years for the exact antique doorknobs you are looking for to be found.

The other option is to take something new that looks old. There is a whole market of replica antique doorknobs that may well fit the bill of what you are missing in your home. Many of the designs being made have been created off of the original glass antique doorknobs of homes throughout history, so you should be able to find a set that will go well in your home.