Customizing Front Exterior Doors

When you’re building the home of your dreams, every element of your design should be absolutely perfect, including your front doors. The entryway into your home is the first thing anyone will see when coming into your home. A custom front door to reflect your style and give your home a unique, sophisticated look and improve curb appeal.

Custom Front Door Options 

To customize your front doors, you’ll have to start by making a few choices. There are several different options to choose from when it comes to front doors, from materials to configurations. Here’s an explanation of each of the factors that go into selecting custom doors.

Door Slab Material

Different door slab materials reflect different styles. You can choose solid wood for a more rustic feel or go with steel doors for a modern, elegant approach. You can choose from fiberglass doors or wood doors. Based on your tastes and your budget, you can find the perfect door slab material to complete your dream home project.

Custom front door inspiration: Andersen Arch-Glass Panel Entry Door

Andersen entry door features:

• Over 15 customizable door panel styles. 

• Available for both inswing or outswing operation

• The custom wood door can be left natural, stained, or protected by aluminum exteriors

The Andersen Arch - glass panel entry doors offer a beautiful entryway to your home. It's the perfect option for those looking for traditional wood doors with the customization option of glass panels.

Door Slab Textures

Some door slab materials have more texture than others. Some are very smooth, like steel doors, and others are textured, like wood fiber doors. Even vinyl door slabs can be textured depending on the type. Textured surfaces can give the home a rustic or even modern farmhouse style. Smooth textures exude and create a more elegant, contemporary look instead.

Door Configurations

You can choose traditional single doors or elegant double doors. You can even choose the glass style used on your custom door. Glass options can be stained glass, clear glass, or frosted glass inserts. You can choose frosted or stained glass if you need some more privacy in your entryway. Sidelites (clear glass side inserts) are a great way to let extra light pour in and brighten up the interior of your home. You can add even more light and some character to your door by adding a transom insert, as well. This is a glass panel that slides in above the door.

Door Panel Styles

Door panel styles are also customizable. You can choose from arched panels, glass panels, or any other material. Then you can pick the design on the door panel itself. Common door panel styles are the two-panel doors and the six-panel doors.

Custom front door inspiration: ProVia® Signet® Fiberglass Front Doors

ProVia entry door features

• Protected by ProVia's Lifetime Limited Transferable Warranty

• Custom widths and heights. Available up to 8'.

• Authentic wood look

Door Colors and Stains

Doors come in a wide range of colors, from black to brown to white. You can also get wood-textured doors stained in nearly any shade you can think of. Ideally, the front doors, window frames, and garage doors should all match. For example, if you’ve chosen cherry wood window frames, your front doors and garage doors should be stained to match.

Door Glass

Choosing glass panel inserts can add a lot of style to your front door, but glass removes some element of privacy. If you have a private entryway with another door to enter the home after it, you can consider clear glass inserts. If you love the look of glass but would like some privacy from the outside world, you can always go for stained glass panel inserts or frosted glass panel inserts.

Door Hardware

Choosing the hardware for your front door will depend on the look and style of the exterior of your home, as well as the door. For example, if all the metal accents on your home are brushed chrome, you will want the same for your front doors. You can choose from bronze, gold, or black and choose a finish that is either matte, glossy, or antique. The hardware of your front doors must complement the design choices you’ve made for the outside part of your home.

To protect your new custom doors, you can also apply most of these customization options to storm doors. Or you can even have custom patio doors installed in your home. Take a look at our full catalog of exterior doors here.