I've done some refinishing of woodwork, if you don't mind my asking why isn't the door stainable? It's a very lovely door and I think it would look better if it is left stained. Not to say that a black door wouldn't look good though.:)

What a lovely door. It would have been nice stained but if you can not the black will also be nice.

I do not think you need any sidelites.
I also am not too crazy about the awning. But maybe that is just me, lets see what others think.

I think I'd let that gorgeous door stand on its own without sidelights.

I agree that the door would look best stained if that's possible. I also don't see a need for sidelights, but if you want them I would do them the same color as the door, not a different color.

tina

I would do the sidelights with panels on the bottom half to match the door, no egg and dart moulding necessary, imo. What will you have for the glass area on the door - clear, etched or frosted?

I saw the other thread, and I am confused - I don't get the awning at all. What is the purpose? You have a dormer that is already very prominent architecturally, and you put the stained shingles up there for contrast. I think the awning detracts from the nice lines, and looks especially odd with no other awnings on the house.

OK, I wasn't going to mention the awning (since you seemed set on it), but now that two folks have voiced dissenting opinions, I'm going to say that I agree with them. I went to the other thread and looked at the pic w/the awning on the dormer and it just really seemed distracting. I think it takes away from your lovely home, instead of adding anything. Would you reconsider?

Ditto the opinion that there is no need for sidelights, but if you absolutely must, match the window trim. Sidelights are windows, after all. But I really don't think you need them. If the glass on the door is original, this goes doubly so! New glass right next to old glass looks super weird, and restoration glass - repro wavy glass - costs an arm and a leg.

Double ditto on reconsidering the awning, too, please. It's distracting and the front dormer does not need a single thing more, the different color is plenty. If you get blasting sun to that window that makes the room roasting hot in the summer, talk to some local window companies about the new colorless, non-darkening window films that minimize heat gain and UV transmission. A retractable one over the back deck is a lovely idea just for sheer practicality, though, especially if it doesn't contrast really strongly with the house itself - you don't want it screaming "look, I'm an awning, don't look at the house, look at me!" ;-)

The door is fabulous and I hope you find a way to stain it, not paint it.

Sidelights should match the door in color and design. There are two reasons for sidelights -- one is functional, to let more light into the house. The second is form -- when you look at the house from the front, sidelights make the door look wider and friendlier. Your house would really benefit from this.

You mention having a black door and white sidelights... I think that would look odd and wouldn't make the door seem wider.

The glass in your sidelights should be the same height as the glass in your door. Here are some sidelights which are simple and would go with your door... ignore the glass above the door, and imagine plain beveled glass in the sidelights...
{{!gwi}}

I am also a bit baffled by your mention of an awning.

Here is zipdee's mockup of her house showing her idea for the awning:

{{!gwi}}

Um, I think it looks better without an awning. I think the awning will pull focus from the front door and visually overwhelms the porch.

Thanks for all the help! Let me answer some questions.

The door is damaged by about 50 - 60 little nail holes. There was originally no stain on the door, that is the color of the heart pine. I can not get the damage to match the existing wood. If you read about filling nail holes like this, it's not all that easy. Most nail putties do not take stain worth a darn, no matter how it's labeled. It leaves you with trying to match the door color with stained fill in 'crayons' .. not easy! It ends up looking like you have 50/60 very regularly place 'knots' in the wood.

The sidelights, to my eye it looks like our house is out of proportion. We have two long skinny windows in the front and the door is very high, so it will mimic that. Widening the door area, I think would help. As far as painting side lights one color and door another, I think it's a look people like or not.

The awning, probably is a regional thing. When I mention it to people here, they are all for it. *LOL* I could probably snap around 40 pictures in town and much more in the surrounding small towns of awnings used on the front dormers this way .. It's very, very common here on houses like ours. If I did put on an awning, the shakes would be painted to match the house. I'm one of those people that things have to tie in. To leave the shakes stained, I need a stained door, otherwise it doesn't look right to me. Which would mean having to replace the front door altogether, which I'm not totally against. The problem is finding a door to go on the house that looks like it belongs to the house, it's not all that easy.

I'm in one of those places where I've been before with this house, because the original stuff was damaged or neglected. So I have to make a decision because the door is damaged, salvage it with paint or move on. If I paint it, then adjustments are going to have to be made to tie the door in or else it will forever bug me.

BTW : I'm loving the sidewalk now! :) I just needed time to get adjusted to it. Again .. Thanks for the help and thoughts given.

Hey Zipdee, did you try gel stain on the wood filler? To me, I'd rather see all the little nail holes and keep that awesome wood (even if nothing works to cover them) than not see the holes and have it painted. I think it would look nice painted, but it would be a shame to lose that GORGEOUS natural old door look!

I'm sure it will look stunning when it's finished whichever way you go (awning or no, sidelights or no, natural or painted door) since that house is so darned cute and you've obviously done very well by it so far!

Zipdee, I've gone back and read your other post, and now this one. I love what you have done with the steps and - the wood looks great. Once you get the front yard drainage taken care of, fescue grass is good in the shade - at least in more northern climates. You'll have to go to a "real" garden center for it because most of the pre-packaged mixes don't have enough fescue in the mix.

Your original door - I'm an old house owner, too, and I'd recommend a couple of things regarding the nail holes. You could leave them as holes and then finish over them. You could fill with putty, and then get a very small paint brush and some craft paint and paint them to match the door. Or you could get sawdust (heart pine, if possible), stuff if in the holes and then dot stain it the fix. For the final finish, use marine spar varnish, not regular poly. Marine varnish will hold up to the sun and weather much better. If it was my door, I'd leave the holes and varnish over them. The varnish will diminish how visible they look.

Sidelights - I'd skip them and instead fill up the impression of wide expanses of house with hanging baskets on your porch. If you do go with them, take a look at some of these pictures for ideas.

And, finally, the awning - unless the front of your house faces west, and the heat upstairs is unbearable, I'd skip it. I agree that awnings are probably regional, but I also think they were introduced on older homes before air-conditioning became pretty standard. The need for them nowadays has been replaced by a/c.

You have a great house. I love your front porch. What state do you live in?

Here is a link that might be useful: Simpson idea gallery

One other option for filling the nail holes is getting the already stained wood putty and then mix a few different colors together to make it match your stain. This way you are not limited like with the pens. You can mix up any color just will take a little time to figure it out.

Oh Zipdee...I'm sorry the door is giving you so much trouble. I just adore it and hope that one of the new suggestions works for you. If not, I did like the black door on the mockups alot so I think it would be fine. I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the awning either but I don't think it looks bad either. Good Luck to you and hope you can find a solution for that beautiful door of yours!

Did you ever consider having a professional refinish the door? These people use products we cant buy at HD. It might be worth looking into and a phone call. One neighbor had a refinisher take their whole door out, it looked brand new when it returned!

I second the filling of holes with sawdust. However, what I've done in the past, and it looks pretty good, is sand the door and collect that sawdust and mix with a little putty just enough to bind it and fill the holes with that. Matches the wood color much better, then if needed, add a little stain to match. I wouldn't go with poly either. IMHO, that door needs varnish and it will hold up better than poly for external surfaces.

Thanks for all the help, advice and instructions! My DH and I are still thinking about what route we are going to take.

Kec01, we live in central North Carolina.

I thought you guys might be interested in these pics. Here's a door that's like ours with it's original sidelights.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I'm not having an easy time with this door! After reading all of the suggestions here on how to fill the holes, I figured I'd try again.

So I was resanding the door, to remove what I had done, also to create sawdust to fill the holes. Well about a 1" long chunk come off the bottom right hand corner of the interior side of the door. :( It kind of 'crumbled' as it come off, so it's no longer structural to glue back on. I think it must have been chipped off at one time, been glued back on and then finished over .. I didn't even notice it. The paint stripper and sanding must have loosened the glue.

Any thoughts on how to fix this spot and move on? Or am I done? :( Wow, this has been a bear of a project, things don't normally go this hard for me.

Zipdee, oh my a chunk?! How big? Do you have any pictures of the hole/chunk? Was the chunk wood? Seems strange that it should crumble.

I'm sorry to hear your having a hard time with this fabulous door. It will be worth all the extra effort you are putting into it. It reminds me of the tough time I had refinishing my fireplace mantle. Some of the veneer was lifting and I was trying to glue it back down. I didn't notice some of the glue leaked out and stuck to the clamp, then when I took the clamp off it tore part of the veneer OFF! I glued it back down, this time being VERY careful and filled the crack,which was now wider than before :(, with putty and sawdust. It looks pretty good now, but what a project!

Mom2lilenj, it was wood that come off. It was kind of spongey and crumbled, like dry rot maybe. The rest of the door is in sound condition though.

Here's some pics :

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

So far all I can come up with to hide it is.
1) a kick plate across the whole bottom
2) cut the door down, which I'd rather not do
3) use bondo to build it back up, the paint the inside of the door, stain the outside ( if I can get it to stain all right )

Anyone have any more thoughts?

I'd bondo it, then stain the door as you planned, and when you get to that corner how about a little faux painting to match the stain color and grain?

Thanks for the help Patser, I'll have to look into faux graining.

Okay guys .. this is the best I can get it. As you can see, the nails and copper has stained the wood over the years. So short of digging the stained wood around the holes out, I can't get them to match. At this point I can accept it that it's a 100 year old door and this is 'patina' or I can paint. This is not sealed yet, just a very, very light stain on it.

What do you think?

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

To die for... nail holes and all!!! I LOVE it!

I think it is beautiful. What stain did you use?

Zipdee, The door looks great! I think the holes give it character. I'd marine varnish a few coats on, after fixing the "spot" and then call it a day! Great job!

That door belongs on your home!

I am probably going to get beat up for this, and I can understand why, but I am wondering if you would be wiser to have a new door made or search for a replacement at a salvage yard, use the old glass, and call it a day. From what I am reading, the door may have bigger issues (dry rot?), and the line of nail holes don't really give the door 'patina', imo. Random nail holes, yes, but not that running line of them.

Sometimes old is just old. Not every old piece of furniture is worth saving because it is too damaged, or not that great to begin with. I am thinking that perhaps this door, at least as a main entry door, may fall into the first category of just too damaged.

Perhaps you could save it and make it into a standing decorative piece, placing a chalkboard where the glass was, or cork to make a message board, etc. Perhaps you could add short legs and make a coffee table, adding glass over the top of the entire door after adding a wood panel to fill in where the window was. Or add a bench seat and legs to the front of it and make a cool entry hall bench, with some hooks for clothes and a mirror where the glass was.

I just think that perhaps its time as the main entry door, especially as a stained piece, has passed.

Les, I normally agree with you, and I surely would not "beat you up" about it, but I can't disagree more! From what I can see in these last photos this door has real character and charm and I think it would be a mistake to not use it as the entry door. What a testament it would be to this charming home to use this old door!

Zipdee, would it be possible to hold it up in the doorway and take a photo of it? Maybe one from a distance and one closer? That would give us a better idea of what it will look like in the setting.

Like I said earlier (or in another post?), I'm sure it will turn out wonderfully whether you paint or stain it or even use a different door, but my vote rests for using this gorgeous old door!

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Hoosiergirl .. I flipped the door this morning and stained the interior side, so it's wet at the moment. I will try to get a standing picture of the exterior side up by this evening though. :)

Lyban .. the stain is custom. When I put wood conditioner on the door, I could see I just needed a light stain to help even out the color. So I brought a piece of our heart pine flooring ( we have lifted right now from the kitchen project ) down to Sherwin Williams. The owner there helped me come up with a custom match. He started with a fruitwood colored base, if your interested in the colors he added, I'll copy them off the can, just let me know. :)

Les .. What I personally think is going on with that dry rot piece is it was heart pine from a different source ( our whole house is made out of heart pine, including framing, roofing, etc ) glued on as a patch. I think the door was damaged at some point and the PO ( who did some truly abominable things to this house ) scabbed something on, then went over it. The rest of the door is totally sound, no dry rot.

Right now since we are hip deep in remodeling the down stairs, replacing the door is not an option. I've priced it out and it would be rather expensive to have something custom made that would be comparable. At a later date after the inside is done, it would be an option. We have looked for a almost a year at salvage yards and habitat for humanity for a replacement door, but didn't find anything worth bothering with .. since I've been worried about the nail holes all along with this door. So, if I want to replace the front door we have on now .. which I really do! *LOL* I can use this door ( either stained or painted ) or buy something 'off the rack' .. but it wouldn't really look like it goes with the house.

We are also 'under the gun' so to speak. Our area has always been in a Federal Historic district, this summer it's going to a Local Historic district. Once that goes into effect, about anything we do with the outside will have to be approved. I'd like to get my outside projects wrapped up before then if possible.

My DH was talking to someone that does restoration work for a living. The copper piece that was nailed to the door was an old type of weather stripping system. That piece should have had another piece to lock into, ( long gone! ) to help keep cold air out. He said there are two people in the state that still put these systems on old homes. That we should contact them and get a price quote, that would take care of the nail holes if we could get them out here to work. I guess they stay quite busy from what the guy said.

Zipdee, was this door original to the house? If so, I'm even more adamant about my vote FOR it! But then again, I'm an avid lover of old things. I'd rather have a really old smaller home even with the smaller closets, etc., than our larger new home that's trying to look like an older home, but this was a compromise for my marriage (which is far more important than what type of home we live in)!

I can't wait to see it standing in the doorway!

Zipdee, if you end up still needing weather stripping and these folks don't work out, I'd recommend spring bronze. You can get it at Kilian Hardware. It's on our doors, some of our windows and it works very well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kilian spring bronze

Patser .. I could hug you :) That looks awesome, just what we need! That would cover the nail holes perfectly. I can't tell you how excited I am, I've been agonizing over this for weeks now. Thanks so much for posting the link! Did you guys install it yourselves, if so how hard was it?

Hoosiergirl .. yes, this is the original front door to our home. Do you have a picture of the house you all built? I'd love to see it!

It looks like that's exactly what you need (the weatherstripping)! I liked it even with the nail holes, but this will look fantastic!

Sure, Zipdee! This one is from Christmas. I can't get a recent shot since it's been raining for weeks now and it's all muddy.

Hoosiergirl, WOW! Your house is amazing. Love the double enclosed porches, your cupola and that open gazebo on your turret is awesome. I bet the view from up there is outstanding! What a very cool house!!

To me it is about the history and if that history includes a few dings, so be it. That is one beautiful door and it looks like the same front door that we have. Unfortunately, our door is badly painted. Now I will be forced to strip it as soon as I finish removing all the wall paper in the front room, tear out the ceiling tiles, patch the plaster, strip the moldings...

Diane

Wow, Diane .. I can relate to all the work! I bet your house will be beautiful when you get through though!

BTW Guys .. I'm thinking about changing from the hanging lantern on the front porch, to a lantern on each side of the door when we install this. A lantern on each side and a planter under them might help visually widen the entrance. Does anyone have any suggestions on lanterns that would look good on our house and with the door?

ooooh I'll spend your $$ for you! I like the type where the bulb is hidden - easier on the eyes of those approaching your door and a nice neighbor light. Our neighbors have carriage lights flanking their garage and each has 3 60w bulbs - not neighborly especially considering she leave the on all night when her DH travels.

I love the door - use it. Fix the missing chunk with bondo - it's on the inside, right? Paint the interior, stain the exterior. If/when you win the lottery you can have a custom one made.

Here is a link that might be useful: This is one cool light

Thanks so much for the compliments, Zipdee! I do love it, but I'm really more of an old house person. DH doesn't want the work/upkeep of an old house, though :-(

I have no idea about lanterns for your house, but I do like the idea of one on either side of the door. What do other homes in your area with similar homes have? What is architecturally appropriate?

Zipdee,
I love the door with all of its patina as well!!

Yes, I think your idea of lanterns on each side would help widen your entrance. No idea what type??? something that would've been on your house when it was built.

Smiles:)

Zipdee, spring bronze is a no-brainer to install. All you need is a hammer, tin snips if you need to cut it and a straight edge (yardstick, preferably). If you order it, make sure you mention that you want nails the same color as the spring bronze. They typically include them anyway, but just to be safe.

The best way to install it is to cut a piece to length, mark every 1-1/2" with a marker pen, and then tack it in place using only the two end nails. Don't nail them in all the way at this point.

Decide at which end you're going to start and nail that one in all the way. Then start adding nails one at a time moving down the line. Since you only tacked the last nail in place, you can pull it out and re-position it if you start getting extra length in the strip as you add nails.

That's it!