In you are undertaking house renovation work or opting for a home extension, you will almost certainly require some new external doors which lead to your garden.  Doors come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colours, materials and styles. When making a decision on which doors are right for you, you should consider a few things; the style of your new room, the practicalities of your design choice, and not to forget, the all-important budget. 

At Home Tales, we encourage you to think about the door style from an early stage, as it might be relevant to planning. Some local councils are interested in what type of door you are proposing for the design, including their dimensions and specifications. Most of our projects have full width, or almost full width glass doors. The exceptions that are limited from a planning perspective tend to be areas with protected architectural significance, such as listed buildings or particularly strict conservation areas.  

We thought we would talk you through these points in more detail, so you can make an informed decision.

Style

The first question to ask yourself is: what aesthetic are you trying to create? Do you picture yourself in a traditional French chateau? Or perhaps you like sleek, minimalistic design? Once you determine your style, there are a few obvious choices of doors for each area. If you want to go more traditional then French wooden doors are an obvious choice. They are subtle and elegant, and ooze character. If you prefer a modern look then bi-fold doors are extremely popular. Crittal doors are also raising the stakes in the popularity vote lately, with more and more appearing in our designs during the last couple of years. 

When looking at style, one obvious question to ask yourself is whether you are trying to achieve the ‘indoor outdoor’ feel. Lots of our clients love that seamless connection to the garden. If this is the case, then more glass and less frame is better, as you don’t want any distractions to draw the eye from the view of the garden. If you would rather have more of a pattern inside the home, then wooden French doors and Crittal doors have purpose-built frames. These frames intentionally draw the eye and create that visual barrier to the garden. It’s all down to personal preference! There isn’t one right answer for everyone. 

Be Practical 

Any good design needs a test run in practicality. There is no good designing something which looks great but is a nightmare to use. This is your home, and your kitchen, which is perhaps the most functional room in the house. It’s vital that the design works well. To achieve a practical design, you really just need to think forward. Imagine yourself using the space and think about what would work well and what wouldn’t. Some of our clients like the thought of full-width glass on the rear wall, but when it comes to kitchen cabinets and placement it’s actually very restrictive on what design you can have. 

For this reason, it’s very popular to allow a little over 600mm of wall space on one of the walls to enable cabinets to run the full length of the kitchen. 

Budget 

There are a lot of door choices out there, all of which come in a variety of price brackets. As a general rule of thumb, the thinner the frame, the more expensive the door. A typical set of aluminium bi-fold doors will cost around £1.5k per meter. If you like the style of a particular door, but don’t like the price tag that comes with it, consider an alternative material. Crittal doors are eye wateringly expensive as they are made from steel. We use a supplier who makes crittal style doors, which are actually made from aluminium but sprayed black to give them a similar appearance to crittals. They are about 60% less expensive than actual crittal doors. 

We work with a variety of suppliers and can source all sorts of doors for you if you wish. Lots of our clients bring us pictures of styles they have found on Instagram or via the web. If you see something you like, take a picture. A picture speaks a thousand words and is much easier to interpret then a description. 

Come and see some of our doors in action! We hold House Tours every couple of months. This enables you to come and see one of our completed properties. You can see our quality of work, and have a look at the features within the property. It’s a fantastic opportunity to see doors up close and get an actual feel for their sturdiness and presence. 

If you are considering a home extension and don’t know where to start, give our friendly team a call today on 0207 043 2378 or email us at hello@hometales.co.uk. We offer free site visits. A member of our architectural team will visit you at your property to discuss your ideas in more detail. They will take the opportunity to explain more about Home Tales and how we work. Following the visit we will issue you with a no obligation quote for the works.