Our entry door is three panel, stained, with an archtop. Our interior passage doors are the same three panel, but flat top and painted. Our French doors are divided light, flat top, painted. The rear entry door is plain with divided light top half, painted. The door to the garage had to be fireproof, and is just a slab, painted. All have similar 'bulk'. All are at least three feet wide and over seven feet tall. All have the same 4" casings. Door hardware on entry and passage doors is Baldwin 'Edinburgh' levers. The Pella French doors came with suitable levers. The variety 'mingles' well, but doesn't *match*. AFAIK, for instance, no one has picked up on the fact that our front elevation has simulated true divided light windows, while the rest of the house's windows and French doors have between-the-glass battens.

I've received several emails asking for information about where I bought my doors, but I can't respond directly because the posters do not have their emails enabled through GardenWeb. Here is additional information: We purchased all of our doors and casings except for our front door through Viking Door in San Jose. It's the company that our general contractor uses, so it was easy to coordinate everything with them. We bought the front door and all windows ourselves from Greenhouses Etc in San Jose - it's a very small shop and their prices are good. Greenhouses, ETC 1085 S De Anza Blvd. San Jose, CA 95129 408-446-1224

My KD offered that as an option: I could have all drawer fronts match the doors, or I could have all drawer fronts slab-style, or I could have a mix. (I chose to have narrow drawers slab-style, but deep drawers will match doors.) I am glad she asked because I would not have known to indicate otherwise. I'm not sure but I think the default is having drawers match doors.

Spanish cedar is fairly soft for a door. It's equivalent to white pine. It dents very easily. I would suggest Sapelle instead, it should be the same cost or perhaps a bit cheaper; the good Spanish Cedar has become hard to find. It was "plentiful and cheap" 10 years ago. Anyway, both of these woods exhibit wavy grain patterns that can create blotchiness. I would stain on top of a sealer coat to prevent this. Make sure the stain is light-fast (no dyes; earth pigments only) But with an exterior exposure you need a top coat with the highest amount of UV protection, so you aren't having to revarnish every year. With a top-quality varnish you can extend this to three years between re-coats. If you wait too long it will have to be stripped and start fresh. Aside: sapelle is quite a bit darker than Sp. Ced. to begin with, and a small amount of color will render an amazing mahgany or walnut color. Casey