Stylish Garage Doors for the Modern Home

by Rachel Lyon, Editorial Director for Direct from the Designers™

It can be difficult to outfit modern residential architecture when it comes to exterior design. Many products just don’t match its focus on clean lines, sleek expanses of glass, and bold colors, but now there are plenty of garage doors that do! Here are ideas to keep in mind as you shop for the perfect modern garage doors.

Let In the Light

The easiest way to identify modern design is by its ample use of windows. Not satisfied with top panel lites like you’ll find on many traditional styles, modern garage doors take a top to bottom approach. Some doors are filled completely with lites while others have them on just one side. You can choose from large, full view windows to long narrow or short square ones, depending on the door collection. The variety available ensures a good fit whether your home is mid-century modern in design, utterly contemporary, or somewhere in between.

Remember that garage door windows are primarily there to provide natural light, not to share views, so if you’re concerned about privacy, choose glass that obscures visibility. Not only does this keep the contents of your garage concealed, but it also creates a warm glow to come home to in the evening!

Define the Lines

Windows are an easy way to add visual interest and break up the broad expanse of a garage door. Even if you prefer a solid garage door, you can punctuate its look so it doesn’t seem flat. For example, consider flush versus grooved panel designs. Standard residential garage doors have four panels, which bend at the section joints as they are lifted and lowered into their open and closed positions. Grooved panels create the illusion of more horizontal slats, so they are a great way to add variety and dimension to an otherwise plain exterior, or you may prefer a standard flush panel design to soften a more complicated façade.

To further accentuate panels, consider metal inlays. These sleek horizontal accent strips are perfect for people who want to incorporate contrasting textures and materials without using glass. If you really want to keep it simple, check out doors that let you choose between uninterrupted or spliced cladding, which is laid like a hardwood floor with staggered joints. This ups the wow factor without getting too complicated.

Standout Asymmetry

One of the defining characteristics of modern and contemporary homes is their irregularity, from slanted rooflines, to special polygon windows, to a range of prominent shapes in the structure. Garage doors themselves are square or rectangular, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add a dose of asymmetry to their design.

Staggered joints are one thing, but windows in a variety of arrangements really get noticed. Think about stacking them to create a unique shape on one side of the door, or having columns of different-sized lites on opposite sides, or even having offset lites that amp up the plank cladding aesthetic. Don’t forget to take a step back and look at your whole home to make sure the picture is balanced!

If you’re looking for modern garage doors, explore the options from Clopay®. They have four collections dedicated to the style, each with a variety of door designs, glass types, and paint and stain colors. With composite, aluminum, steel, and real wood construction, you won’t be lost for lack of appropriate material choices to fit your needs, either. Try the Door Imagination System to design the perfect garage door on an image of your own home, or contact a local dealer to get started!