Front Door With Side Lights and Transome

The front door is a symbolic welcoming gesture to the world beyond.(even if we enter the mudroom door most of the time)  When designing a new home, a strong inviting front door is relatively easy to create.  An existing home whose front door is ill defined and hard to access, often poses a greater challenge.  Many times the biggest hurdle is to create a functional front door on a home whose approach is defined by the automobile rather than foot traffic.  We enlist landscape architects when the problem is really not about the house but is the setting surrounding it.

Covered Entry Door

A front door does not need to be grand or complex to be inviting.  Although my personal preference is to provide cover at a front door, that convenience is not absolutely necessary.  Simple designs can work well.

Home With Red Door

In a few of our homes, the front door is the door which is used by family and friends on a daily basis.  Most of the time, the front door is where guests are greeted and the side door is where family and close friends end up coming in.  If that side or back door is the one used 90% of the time, I feel it should be given it’s due and also treated as an important focus of the home.

Recessed Door with Stone Surround