This post is from our Stagg Design project archives and originally posted in August 2017. We hope it gives you inspiration and some tips for tackling that next project! xx- Team Stagg

I field a lot of questions about our front door.  It occurred to me I never did a post about our door, and sourced it for ya’ll.  So, let’s do it!

The front door replacement was a no brainer.  Unless you like living in a dark dungeon with troll requiring a password who pops out from behind one of the many overgrown trees, if you even dared to knock. Okay maybe I made that last part up.  But for real, this was one bizarre door situation.

When you walked up to the door from the outside, this is what you saw:

Hi there, caged double door that resembles a midivil prison.

Yet this is what you saw from the inside:

Confused?  How do two front doors– a double door cage like door on the outside– turn into an awesomely awful 70’s single door on the inside?  There was some kind of weird mini-porch area in-between.

In case you haven’t guessed by now, the previously owners appreciated their privacy.  They liked it so much, they had a front door staging area to test out visitors to see if they were indeed going to open up their door(s) to let them in.  You really had to be someone special to get through to the second door opening.

Here we go from the inside.  Door one…

And door two…

And check out that baby faced baby Rubes.  I cannot believe she was two when we bought this house, and now she is five!  I mean how did she grow so fast when the renovation felt like eternity?  But I digress… back to the door.

We of course knew the door and entry situation needed to change, and in a big way.  I decided immediately I wanted a wood and glass panel door.  I researched all kinds of options.  You can read back to some of my favorite modern door options (some super economical!).  But when it came down to it, I knew the front door was going to be a bit of a splurge item.

Before we get into the details of how we transformed the space, let’s just first appreciate how awful it was to begin with.  It was the middle of a sunny day when I snapped this photo and it was this dark inside.  And why someone thought it was a good idea to jut two teeny coat closets out into the middle of the entry, blocking part of the stairway so you bonked your head every time you walked down the stairs continues to baffle me.  It all got the sledge hammer.  (and yep, that’s the old kitchen off in the distance!)

Before the door could be installed, a whole lot had to happen to get the entry ready.  there was some tile, adhered to a cement floor that was raised.  Don’t ask me why someone would do this.  It made for a nightmare to 1) chip up the tile and 2) then level the floor so it was even with the rest of the house.

Next was the general demo as well as a big project– taking the roof off the entry and former formal dining room and pitching it.  What was the dining room is the playroom.  Here is the space all ready for at awesome front door.

So let’s get to the details about that fancy front door.  We ordered it thought our local Stock Building Supply (which I believe just switched over to BMC).  It’s custom made by a company called Rogue Valley Door.  Here is a direct link to our door: the 4077-G.  Our door is Poplar.  I originally wanted walnut, but after seeing a Poplar sample, I knew it was the way to go.  It’s so smooth and modern.

I designed the window surround, which Stock installed for us.

Can you believe the difference already?  I know some of you won’t want to do this, but because our house sits up on a hill, I felt comfortable doing clear glass panels to let in the most light.  You do have the option for frosted if you choose that direction.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know all about the black windows and how we achieved black within our budget.  It’s one of the DIY’s I get asked about the very most!

When it came time to stain the door, I went with a walnut color.  It turned out exactly how I envisioned it would.  Now on to the door handles.

I love this handle set from Schlage.  I love it so much I used it on our last home.  And on #projectpaintitall. It’s modern, functional, and reasonably priced.  All winners.

Ok, now that you’ve seen all the ugly, and the progress shots, let’s get to the good stuff.  Here is our modern front door in all its mid century glory, in various seasons.

And there you have it, folks.

As I’m planning out content for the next month, any spaces or projects you’re dying to see/hear about first?  Throw it at me!