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Best in class: Making an entrance
Front doors
This bronze door is top of the range, made of a manufactured wood composite that includes steel. The door is then sprayed in a choice of metal finishes. There are three options to choose from; bronze, pictured here in a beaten effect, silver or copper which can be treated to protect the colour or left to oxidise. The UK-based company, Urban Front, will work from architects’ drawings and can supply to Ireland. Prices for this bronze door start from about €14,200 for a door of standard size.
urbanfront.com
This door is a contemporary take on traditional tongue and groove panelling. Made from accoya, a manufactured wood composite using mainly Radiata pine, it shows off the wood’s natural grain and colour. The door includes security hinge claws and deadlocks that combine with shoot-bolt. This Fairco design features horizontal strips set into an engineered hardwood frame and sidelights of high-impact security glass. Prices for the style pictured start at €3,000.
fairco.ie
This glazed panel front door leads into the period interior of the Old Skool House, in Watlington, Oxfordshire. Designed by Peek Architecture the glass panels let light into and frame the entranceway. Red is one of the most popular door colours in Ireland, according to Senator Windows. Sandtex’s Cranberry Swirl is a gorgeous glossy red that is similar to that pictured. The door style is similar to a solid mahogany style from Doors Direct called Downham.
doorsdirect.ie; senatorwindows.ie; peekarchitecture.co.uk
This Scandinavian timber design by Carlson features two double-glazed panels that stream light into the hall but maintain privacy and security. The door hardware pictured is satin anodised aluminum; polished brass is also available. The door has a multi-point locking system, is available in any RAL colour and can be ordered as a single or double door that opens in or out. As pictured, it costs from €2,500, ex-VAT.
carlson.ie
A popular story with Dublin tour guides trying to explain the city’s colourful doors is that after the death of Queen Victoria Irish citizens were ordered to paint their doors black. They rebelled by painting them every colour of the rainbow. This six-panelled double door is painted in Mister David from Little Greene. The low-sheen eggshell is self-priming and one litre (€38) will do a door. You may be able to source similar original doors from The Stripy Paint Co in Leitrim, or have a joiner make one; look up the Irish Georgian Society’s Traditional Building Skills register.
igs.ie/conservation/register
stripypaint.ie
littlegreene.ie
This timber-fronted door, pictured in a dark architectural grey but available in 15 colours, features a long central vision panel and is flanked by sidelights that sit flush with the door. Above the portico the rectangular toplight, a modern interpretation of the semi-circular fanlight on Georgian doors is an additional light source. It’s designed and fitted by FGM Windows and Doors Ltd, in Leopardstown, which recently supplied very cool pop-out-and-glide doors for an apartment development on Grattan Street East for Ailtireacht Architects.
fgm.ie; ailtireacht.ie
This front door and surround by Energlaze comes with the promise that it will not rot, bow, warp, crack, swell or shrink. It is doubly weather-sealed, comes in 12 colour options and a range of classical and contemporary door styles and glazing options. All doors features an eight-point hook-locking system with a dead latch. Pictured is the CD2, painted fire-engine red with leaded glass side panels and a fanlight. It costs €2,800, ex-VAT. The door hardware featured is in brass finish but is also available in bronze, chrome, satin grey or silver finishes.
energlaze.ie
