Matching exterior doors: A guide

Your home’s kerb appeal says much about its interiors and your family. In fact, in a survey commissioned by Homeowners Alliance, more than two thirds (68%) of homebuyers claimed kerb appeal is important when buying a home. You might not be marketing your home for sale but making moves to boost your home’s kerb appeal will enhance visitors’ first impressions and can even add value to your property.

Your exterior doors play a big role in that kerb appeal – and matching them can make a statement about your whole property. Matching exterior doors, including your garage door, makes for a consistent and coherent appearance and ensures your property is welcoming to any visitors. Here, we offer our top tips and explain what you need to think about if you’ve decided to match all your exterior doors.

Pay real attention to your exterior doors, including your main entry door, garage door and any other entrances, however little they’re used. Matching them in style, design and finish, particularly if they’re positioned close together, will give your property the wow factor. Matching all exterior doors allow you to tie all the elements of your home’s exterior together to achieve a beautifully uniform but personalised look to ensure yours is the home that really stands out on the street.

Think about the main entrance door to your property – the one you and guests will always use to gain access to the house. This door’s style and design should factor in the architectural style of your home and the themes and design that flows through its interior. Your exterior doors should introduce your style and hint at what lies behind and the interiors should be a continuation of this. One way to make a real impact is with your configuration choice for your front door. Double doors or one oversized door can be a real focal point for the whole exterior. Read more about external door design.

Given that we’re discussing everything matching, consider your front door design alongside your garage door. What works for one should work for the other. Contemporary garage doors aren’t just functional – they’re a design element in their own right and can impact the overall visual appeal of your home. Choose the style of garage door based on practical requirements, however. Overhead sectional garage doors are a great solution where space is of a premium, while side sectional garage doors allow you to make use of every inch of ceiling space, as they open to the side. Perhaps you require more frequent access to your garage by foot and a pedestrian side door would be of use? An additional single-panel door can complement your suite of external doors and be extremely practical.

When choosing the finer details of your external doors, put it in context. Take into consideration the rest of the building’s features and materials. Matching exterior doors works well if there is already lots at play visually. If your property features, for example, intricate stonework or quirky design elements, match front doors and garage doors to ground it all and focus visitors’ attention. External door design should also consider the architecture and style of your property. If yours is a period property with traditional architecture, natural oak is a fantastic material to complement existing features but add a touch of the modern too.

The colour of your doors should also pay attention to the style of your property and its building materials. If it’s a modern property with dark cladding, for example, more neutral hues will help soften the overall look. Meanwhile, quaint cottage-style homes look great with pastel shades adorning their front door. Alternatively, bright colours like a cobalt blue or a canary yellow make a strong statement and add intrigue as to what may lie behind them. Deuren offers any choice of colour for your luxury front doors – we can colour match popular Farrow & Ball shades too. What’s more, you’re not limited to one colour. We can paint the reverse side of your main entrance door to fit in with the colour scheme in your hallway.

Whether you’ve a hallway that’s starved of natural light or you simply want an additional design feature in your external doors, glazed or glass panels are a fantastic solution. Sophisticated in their appearance, vertical or horizontal panels allow plenty of natural light into your home and create the feel of a grand entrance.   

You must be confident your exterior doors are secure against intruders. The best exterior doors not only incorporate high-quality locking features, they are actually designed and built to withstand the brute force an intruder is likely to use on them. All Deuren doors are built to ENV 1627 and can withstand forced entry using heavy hand or electric tools. Garage doors are tested RC2 and RC3 levels, which certifies a resistance time of three and five minutes.

If you’re now looking to get a project off the ground as we ease out of lockdown, contact us to talk through its requirements.