My Awesome House: New Front Door

Our front door, original to the 1979 house, is a disaster. Totally crooked, big breezy gaps, and not very secure. It especially hits in the winter, when the arctic chill, unhindered by a storm door, pours in and we have to wear coats to be downstairs, with the "heat" on. So as I mentioned a few times, we got ourselves a new door for Christmas.

Even though it's a smallish purchase, there are way more options than I realized. It's one of those many home improvements you don't think about until you have to, and then you get overwhelmed by all the decisions - brand, material, size, style, color, decorative glass, inside handle, outside handle.

We chose our contractor using Angie's List, totally the way to go. They were great. I won't walk you through every decision - a blog post about doors is at great risk of being boring so I'll just get right to the pictures, and with a few notes. ("Before" pictures are first in each set.)I know. The first one looks cooler. It's because of the color, just so bold and Scandinavian, I loved it. But that was really the only thing it had going for it. The new door is fiberglass, and only came in certain colors. I'm still not sure we made the right choice, but it's fine.

Looking at these pictures reminds me I want to change out those lights, totally don't go with the house. Should have done that for a big impact before-and-after shot. I'm putting it on the to-do list. If you've got nothing to do, go search porch lights and send me links to something you think would go.

We went for a single door with sidelites because it's more secure and has fewer edges for air leakage. Also lets in nice light and the kids love being able to look out at who is coming and going.
But you know what I really love? The lovely tight suction sound it makes when I open or close. It has a seal. It fits the frame. The locks fit together. Just like a real door, and unlike our old one.

Inside view: on the old door, see that bolt thing at the top? Useless because it didn't fit the top piece when the door was closed. Nice. On the new door, we opted for an upper inside-only thumbturn in addition to the regular lock, for extra security at night and also so kids can't open the door when it's locked. Not that our kids are runners, but they do have a tendency to open the door for visitors/strangers without me knowing, even though I've told them not to. Now they can't, ha ha!

The night after we got it, a few friends came over and at least two of them got confused and thought they were at the wrong house - funny, right? It makes a difference, inside and out. Kind of feels like a new house when we come and go. So glad we did it. So glad we don't have to worry about it anymore. My house is awesome.