Does your décor include motifs in the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh? Even a simple “Shaker”-style “T” door, like this one from Simpson Door, can be dressed up with leaded glass to coordinate.
For those with homes where all the trim is painted white, the choice is fairly simple. Once you’ve decided on the door profiles and window configurations, just pick the white finish that’s the closest match (Jeld-Wen offers four different whites on its AuraLast windows and patio doors, for example). Or paint the primed wood yourself once the units are installed. Homeowners with original chestnut paneling or gumwood window casings will probably need to compare and contrast wood species from several makers, then tweak the final finish with half a dozen stain possibilities before they’re ready to place an order.
A Palladian window from Heartwood Fine Windows & Doors looks period-appropriate indoors and out.
You may find too much choice when it comes to selecting an entry door. A single manufacturer may offer up to 50 door designs (although only one or two will likely be “right” for your style of house). Next, move on to woods (perhaps five to a dozen species, plus custom wood options). Finally, choose a finish from 40 or more color options and up to a dozen stains. That’s before you’ve considered a selection of sidelights, fanlights, or stained-glass inserts, all of which are available from makers large and small.
The best way to ensure that a new door will coordinate well with existing woodwork is to choose wood of the same species (preferably with the same cut and density), or a wood typical of the region where the house was built. Yesteryear’s Vintage Doors offers doors in more than a dozen species that tend to be place- and period-specific, including both red and white quarter-sawn oak, Eastern white pine, poplar, and Douglas fir. If your home is architecturally significant or very early, custom work by a company that specializes in period millwork, like Maurer & Shepherd or The Period Door Company, might be the best option. Both can turn out unique styles that are difficult or impossible for mass manufacturers to make, like batten doors.
Typical choices for interior (or passage) doors include clear grades of pine, knotty alder or knotty pine, Douglas fir, oak, cherry, hemlock, poplar, and mahogany. If you prefer painted passage doors, molded fireproof doors have never been more affordable, with prices starting at slightly more than $100 per unit. One of the most popular styles, alternately described as “Shaker” or “Craftsman,” is a three-panel “T” door with a strong vertical stile that intersects with a rail at chest height. The door can be dressed up with dentils and glass inserts for exterior use, or stained or painted as an interior passage door.
It’s now possible to match new doors to existing woodwork. This passage door is from Jeld-Wen’s Premium Wood line.
A new option from Jeld-Wen allows the buyer to choose from four different molding profiles on raised- and flat-panel interior doors. They include two styles familiar to owners of period homes: beaded sticking, a treatment that adds a beading detail to raised-panel doors (common in Federal and Colonial Revival homes), and Craftsman sticking, a crisp, flat-panel edge found in Arts & Crafts homes.
Windows typically come in fewer wood species, with pine and cedar the default options; higher-end manufacturers offer Douglas fir, mahogany, and other hardwoods. Custom windows can be made to match any wood you specify—for a price. If your installation will include new trimwork around the windows, look for a manufacturer with a variety of molded casing profiles. Heartwood Windows & Doors, for example, offers nearly 50 different profiles of 3″ to 31⁄3″ interior casing. Any custom shop can whip up period replicas to match existing trim.
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