Ask any door "specialist" at a big box store for a 24 inch exterior door and watch them laugh and/or roll their eyes at you.
You can have them punch it into their machine for a custom door and you might get a $750 quote like I did...that's when I laughed and rolled my eyes at them.
The next logical place to look is a salvage store like Habitat for Humanity's Re-store or others like it. What I look at these places it's hit and miss. If you find a solid wood door that's the right size or can be cut down that's like finding two $100 dollar bills on the ground so it's worth it. At the places I went to there are typically two to five doors that could work and then it's a matter of taste as to if you like what you find. I've found a few solid wood interior doors that seem like they would work just as well. They are a bit thinner but not by much.
As with all things you might just find it on the side of the road or in a friend's garage so keep your eyes peeled. I've seen a few that have made me stop to check but no gold nuggets so far.
This brings me to the other option....building a door? To me it seemed at the same time to be complex and mysterious and also at the same time simple considering I'm building the rest of the house myself. The Tumbleweed Plans I bought have a door plan in them and after a while of looking at too many crappy fiberboard doors we decided to go ahead and build.
That means that for now I'll be getting by with a piece of plywood or something but in the end I'll have a much better story when somebody asks where I got my door than "Lowes on sale for $249". When in doubt I go for whatever will give me the best story.
I really would love to do a speak easy peek-a-boo hatch in my door like this one.
As with all things you might just find it on the side of the road or in a friend's garage so keep your eyes peeled. I've seen a few that have made me stop to check but no gold nuggets so far.
This brings me to the other option....building a door? To me it seemed at the same time to be complex and mysterious and also at the same time simple considering I'm building the rest of the house myself. The Tumbleweed Plans I bought have a door plan in them and after a while of looking at too many crappy fiberboard doors we decided to go ahead and build.
That means that for now I'll be getting by with a piece of plywood or something but in the end I'll have a much better story when somebody asks where I got my door than "Lowes on sale for $249". When in doubt I go for whatever will give me the best story.
I really would love to do a speak easy peek-a-boo hatch in my door like this one.
I love that door , it's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that a large part of the property was the presentation of the door. I just have a plain white door right now, but I guess that is boring and doesn't stand out at all. I read another post on another blog saying yellow was a good bright happy way to paint a door, but I think that may be way too drastic. I was thinking navy blue or a green, but we'll see.
ReplyDeleteTom Stubbs | http://greghoneymichael.com/buying/
I get a lot of attention just for the door. It's something that everybody sees on your house no matter what so pay it the time it deserves and it'll re-pay you every time somebody rings or knocks. I went with natural wood and I love the look, plus as it gets nicked and dented and what-not I can just re-oil it and it'll because a rustic look instead of having to re-paint all the time.
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