Shopping for a New Front Door
My house is in need of a new front door. The door that was on my house when I bought it was a wooden door with three small rectangular glass windows staggered like a set of stairs along the top. Appropriate for a house built in the 1960s? Sure. Appropriate for a house built in the late 1800s? Yeah, no. Here is a picture of of my house back in 2007 soon after I bought it with the old door on it. My poor house looked so scary then! I apologize for the crappy photo but it is all I have.
The old door was one of the first things to go after I bought my house. It was replaced by a beautiful salvaged door with lovely glass panes that I painted red. It is the right period for my house and I love how it looks however after living with it for a few years it has to go.
First, the door is not the sturdiest and I think it would be better suited to being an interior door. Second, it is a little small for my door frame and that combined with the large amount of glass makes it extremely terrible for losing heat in the winter.
So as much as I love the glass front door it is time to replace it. I dragged Frank along with me on my search since a door won't exactly fit in my tiny little car. We hit up the Ann Arbor ReStore first. It has donated building salvage that can be a hit or miss. I found my five panel doors for my upstairs closet there but this trip was a definite miss with very slim pickings for doors.
Next up was Materials Unlimited in Ypsilanti. This place is a beautiful architectural salvage store with amazing things. If I had an unlimited budget I would be buying up the place. On the first floor they have antique furniture with a ceiling dripping with salvaged lights they have restored.
On the second floor they have beautiful hardware like knobs and hinges in good condition in glass display cases.
The basement is my favorite place, though. They have a room of old salvaged hardware that is in a bit rough condition but fun to sift through.
I also love all of these salvaged balusters. Wouldn't it be fun to redo a staircase with them?
The basement is also where all of the salvaged doors are located. Frank and I started looking through them to find a good candidate.
All of the doors have tags telling you where they were salvaged, age if known and other cool details.
The first door that was a candidate was this beautiful Victorian eight panel door that was salvaged from Detroit Odd Fellows Hall from 1874. I really liked the design but since it was pine and a little thinner than I would like we decided to keep looking.
The final winner was this three panel door salvaged from Battle Creek, Michigan dating to 1912. The door is constructed from Birch and Oak and is super solid with lovely detail along the panel edges.
I am really excited about the new door and can't wait until the weather warms up a bit (my garage is freezing right now!) so I can work on refinishing it.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 8:57AM | Posted by Lisa | 22 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (22)
Oh Lisa this would have been so much fun - I like old antique sideboards (although I own none). What a treat to have both those stores fairly close by. Looking forward to see how you lovingly restore this door. Painted? Stained?
Mary-Lou- It was lots of fun! I love wandering around that store. I'm not sure yet if I will stain it or maybe paint it a shade of navy. I need to see how the door cleans up to see if I will be able to stain it or not.
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Thanks for letting me know about this awesome store.
I never thought there would be salvage store that would sell old doorknob, http://247locksmithexperts.com/, door besides selling new ones.
Does this shop sell old door keys at cheap rates? I need two door keys for my interior doors.
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Thanks for your advice, i will definitely use these tips while getting a new front door for my home. Also, it is important to talk to a door installation expert about what kind of door is suitable for the home and then after go on hiring them for installation.
I'm looking for a new front door for my old house. The old one was a wooden door with small glass windows, which didn't fit the house's historic look. After trying a salvaged door, I realized it's not sturdy and lets in too much cold. Now, I'm searching with a locksmith for a better fit