I'd like a zap 'n lock too! my sister has 3 sliding glass doors, garage door, 2 mostly glass doors and a huge wooden front door. they all 'ding' if anyone opens them. she does have security hook up so not sure how that works at night. spect she still has to lock 'em all and set the 'thingy'. actually, she's behind locked gates too... she only unlocks a door if she's expecting someone - usually me. I have a gate opener! my gun is always loaded! it would give me a second or 2 to get it tho. it's always within about 3' at night. I like the idea that if one of the kids/gkids were here (not real likely with little gkids) that I could lock the door tho. i didn't bother with the deadbolt on it. the other doors got deadbolt's with the flipper on the inside. that's needed for me if I need to get out fast AND there is no glass area close to the doors. tho someone could break in thru a window and flip it unlocked. I do think they'd pick somewhere else tho - with dogs barking here... besides - they could just open the patio door! I found some satin nickel I liked - it didn't look like the satin nickel at home depot. that looked like it was coated in a thick clear varnish. weird thing is I was looking at something online today and they even said the satin nickel was covered in clear varnish! ugh! i bought the curved lever for my bedroom and the hall bath and 2 cheaper ones with a straight levers in satin chrome for the back 2 bedrooms. the local hdwr I went to the other morning only had 2 deadbolts and the 2 curved lever handles so went to another local hardware in the afternoon and found another deadbolt and 2 more handles that I like better than the curved ones... dang. I do still need a few more lever handles so will go back to the 2nd hardware for those i think. i was thinking that the security screen doors might look weird with a curved handle on them so had the guy just put the 2 straight ones i'd bought for the back bedrooms on the security doors. the metal color is a bit off to the deadbolt but it was better to have handles on the security doors than the back bedrooms at this time. might switch them around when i get the new handles tho. I do like the look of the stainless. at hardware #1 I found a stainless kitchen faucet i liked for 118.00! imagine that! and they have a bathroom sink faucet for 88.00 I think it was. stainless also and 1 handle. I couldn't believe I saw some I like in SS for that little! one is Delta and 1 is PPhister I think.

Ajsmama: The door pics look really nice, with a smooth look. I learned from mostly Minwax literature and some forums that I'll need pre-stain treatment to solve the grain/absorption problem with woods like pine. Then I was just going to stain, and with a final coat of poly. I wasn't sure where sanding would come into the picture, probably just sanding off the dusts/specs that got trapped in the poly. I am not even sure what I can do with the raised grain with a water based paint/stain. The raised grain on the trim (after being painted with glossy latex paint) was just about impossible to sand down. I suppose it's not terrible being trims, but for doors that may just make enough difference to matter. I am using a 150 grit paper. I was thinking of using small foam rollers to apply the poly, if not the stain, for an even finish. However, that's just a thought in theory: in testing on sample drywall/wood blocks, smoothest finish with anything water based paint/finish could be achieved with those high density foam rollers, much more easily than brushes. Of course, these are the plans from someone who has no experience and learned from very scattered materials. I see here that there's a 4th step before coating with poly, to "use shellac as a sanding sealer". I'm not sure how that works, how to apply (I imagine coating and sanding, assuming shellac is a softer material than poly to sand down for a smoother finish?), or what exactly shellac is. I'm just that far off the curve here. :P Magnaverde: I just learned how oil based may achieve a superior finish. I asked around in the store and nobody could tell me the difference between oil and water based other than that water dries faster and doesn't smell. That made it an easy choice, as it is getting pretty cold here and opening window to vent VOC will be tough. Given that, I'm wondering now how difficult will it be to sand down the grain if I use water based stain/paint, to achieve a similar result to oil based paint/varnish/stain? Also if done properly (with pre-stain treament and all), is staining the pine with those grains acceptable, and in what color/finish? I suppose "naked door" with poly is nobody's cup of tea here. :) I'm not sure if a sketch of the room's dimensions will help visualizing the door better than a picture of one corner. Here it is: As you can see the apt has a very odd layout that cannot be salvaged easily. The door in question is the one to the top, next to the window/mock sofa. Most of the furniture are in maple/natural/pine color, as they were modular and simply carried over from the apartment rental days (new furniture may be in order). I haven't sketched up the trims though, but they are 4" base trims with 3.5" door casing, the largest I could get without going to the lumber yard for some much fancier versions. The trims and casing are painted in benjamin moore's "superwhite" in glossy finish. The front door (right hand side) at the end of the corridor is finished in white. The closet (center of the apt) has a bifold pine door that will be finished the same as the bathroom door. I'd appreciate any ideas/opinions with the door finish, again. I'm thankful of all the help here. This is so much more than I imagined I'd get in return to my question, which was originally thought to be as simple as a door knob finish. :) The question with the door had always been a bit nebulous to me, and it's just now began to clear up. Thanks guys.

I definitely recommend knobs. You can do something sleek and simple to go with the shaker style or you can go with something fun and funky. I don't know what finish you are looking for, but here are some fun suggestions: You can always do pulls on the doors and knobs on the drawers too. Good luck and have fun with it!

Thanks all for the input. I was sweating the black and gold and then the added nickel on just the door handle and hinges. Totally throwing me off. Have picked out so much with this house and, of all things, the hinges are the things tripping me up. You all gave the answer I was hoping and needed to hear.