It’s not easy to find door perfection

September 30, 2011

by Elisa Krovblit

I have been on a mission to find the perfect door for our bedroom.

It’s not easy to find door perfection.

The problem with having a less-than-traditional home is that you need to find solutions that are less than traditional. One day I’m going to open a store called Untraditional Home Hardware, but for now I’m stuck sifting through websites and going to hardware stores to question the construction savvy staff.

Our bedroom is just beyond an interior room. That poor little interior room is lovely, but oddly enough, it doesn’t have its own window. The bedroom is a sunroom, two full walls of windows. The dream? A door that will allow natural light into the interior room. The problem? I don’t want a framed-in door and I can’t have a pocket door.

The solution? A barn door that slides open and is basically one big framed in translucent window. Enough to let light in, enough to conceal the slippers and robes.

The lofty barn door idea would work, if I could find the right door. When you go on a search for a very odd-sized door, you never know where that search will take you. Logic would dictate that I should just have the door fabricated, but my love of the hunt and my visions of a big old door with vintage charm and frosted windows trump logic at every turn.

The hardware was easy. Johnson manufactures a great kit.

The dream door, not so easy. I want one that has presence. It can’t have knob holes or lock holes drilled into it since I can’t use a knob on a sliding barn door. It has to have lots of window. I’m hoping something jumps out at me. One big window? A French nine-panel door? A five-panel door? Frosted windows or patterned glass would be nice, but I’m willing to do some glass etching myself to get the look.

Once I find my dream door I’ll use a matching wood board as a valance to cover the kit. Oh, you can get dreamier kits than this. Anything from an authentic antique version to the proper barn door hardware you’d find in a barn. Various decorative models, ideal for a big old hard loft conversion can run from $250 to $2000, but has that ‘look.’ I didn’t want ‘the look’ – just the feel of that look. I’m telling you, my logic battles it out with my vision all day long.

Luckily for me, there are several stores in the city that make it their business to salvage gorgeous old everything from homes far and wide and resell it for a major profit. They save treasures from Victorian homes whose new owners feel ‘out with the old, in with the new’ is the way to go with a gut renovation. These businesses take what they can when buildings are slated for demolition. I’m more of an ‘out with the new, in with the old’ type personality it would seem. So I’m on the hunt. More door stores will fill my weekend until I find the perfect door. I know it’s out there waiting for me.

And when I find that perfect door we will once again have privacy in the bedroom and our lovely little interior room will fill with sunlight once more.

Filed under: DIY