First Impressions Start at the Door

Literally, the first impression your home makes is with an attractive, welcoming front door. A door custom-made from quality materials provides an immediate upgrade to any residence. In recent years, Gates Lumber Company has seen a steady increase in the popularity of renovating and upgrading features such as exterior doors, as opposed to building new homes. If you’re interested in refreshing the exterior of your home and a coat of paint hasn’t quite done the trick, a new door might just be the missing detail you’re in search of. Today, we’re going door to door, so to speak, to explore some options for this key focal point of a home’s exterior.

Custom Wood Doors

The appeal of wood doors, whether custom-made from new material or shaped from reclaimed wood, is timeless and unbending. Wood persists “not just for reasons of utility and convenience but for its affective—even Romantic—presence” (from Harvey Green’s book, Wood). 

Custom-made doors, like bespoke clothes, are unique and made for the wearer (which, in this case, is the house, of course). As such, they are not an inexpensive proposition when renovating or building. However, a door tailored for the style and scale of your home can have the same dramatic impact as, say, a custom wedding gown for a bride.

So where’s a gal to go if she needs to dress up her house with a new door? Enter Gates Lumber Company, Memphis’ local resource for beautifully crafted doors.

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Founded in 1920 by P. A. Gates, the 50,000-square-foot facility of Gates Lumber Company is located in Midtown Memphis. In 1955, the company was purchased by North Memphis Lumber Company. George Buzard, who was employed by North Memphis, bought the company in 1985. His son, Bobby, is responsible for sales and operations, and his daughter, Ginny Nabors, is comptroller. Gates Lumber Company operates the most modern of machines to produce top quality custom millwork.

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Bobby Buzard of Gates Lumber Company asserts that there are observable regional trends in exterior wood door production. The demand for doors with Old World, European influences is constant, and the options for interpreting this style are endless. However, “Bungalow exterior doors are popular, too” Buzard says, “especially in the Midtown area of Memphis.” The Craftsman Bungalow architectural design is based on simplicity and efficiency. (As an aside, the American Bungalow appeared in the 1900s as part of the Arts and Crafts Movement.)

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Regardless of trends, though, whatever Gates designs, you can rest assured knowing their work is timeless in quality–worth the investment in time and money to execute.

Here are a couple more examples of finished products to show you just what strong a statement a custom door can make:

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Doors of Italy

Now that you know where to go in Memphis to have a custom wood door made, perhaps you’re still in need of some inspiration for the design. Interior designer Suzanne Varner shares a few images from her personal collection of wonderful doors she saw recently in Venice, Florence and Rome. Suzanne’s work always has architectural foundation. In fact, the majority of her design choices can be traced to the clean lines and textural materials found in architectural elements.

On her quest for beautiful doors while abroad, Suzanne selected doors that “enticed her to enter,” and were sure to be the entrance to somewhere historic or spectacular. “I imagined where they led, who they belonged to and how their architectural design was determined.” Join Suzanne to explore a few exuberant doors of Italy.

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Ahh. Una bella vita, sì? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to overhaul some doors at my house!

To see Suzanne’s entire collection of inspirational doors of Italy, visit her interior design blog, postomedia.com.

Learn more about creating your custom wood door with Gates Lumber Company at gateslumber.com.