What's New in Front Doors in 2020

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

If you’re still looking for the perfect front door to complete your dream home, you’ll be happy to know that the possibilities continue to expand! Basic doors of yesteryear have given way to thousands of beautiful door builds that you can personalize with your choice of paint or stain and privacy or decorative glass, if lites are up your alley. Check out some of the latest entry innovations to see if they offer just what your façade needs!

Updated Door Style Trends

Door styles made popular throughout history aren’t going anywhere. They’ll still remain the preferred choice for all sorts of older architecture, but unless you’re building some kind of revival home and want it to look as authentic as possible, there’s no reason to be locked into any particular door. Keeping with trends across all design industries, even products used in home construction are blending old and new elements. That means you can get a door that looks right for your house, yet isn’t something everybody’s seen before.

If you haven’t looked closely at doors, you might have missed how much variation there is in build alone. Before you even get to the color or the type of glass included, front doors come in a handful of different dimensions and too many panel and lite configurations to count. Homeowners looking for an updated traditional feel often choose doors with sleek clean lines for a modern touch. On the other hand, contemporary styles look great with a woodgrain finish if you want an organic vibe, but be sure to look into funky lite patterns if an eclectic entry strikes your fancy. Then, think about how else you might make the door pop—wood-toned stains are perfectly capable of standing out against the background of a house, but there’s also a great wide world of paint colors for front doors to consider!

Adaptations to Suit Popular Designs

Architecture evolves just like anything else, and you’ve probably noticed that a lot of new construction doesn’t quite look like the new construction of a decade ago. For instance, farmhouses continue to be a favorite across the country, but a good number of the latest builds fall under the more nuanced modern farmhouse style. These homes start with a good farmhouse base, but they have simplified lines for a cleaner shape overall and boast in-demand modern features like open floor plans and larger windows for plenty of natural light.

Of course, finishing products have to adapt to changing styles. One of the new things we’ve seen in front doors this year is the introduction of black grilles between glass, a type of divided lite that has already been the top choice for the windows of modern farmhouses. This element means that lites aren’t as conspicuous, which in turn simplifies the overall picture. Carrying black grilles through the front door yields beautifully cohesive curb appeal, so be sure to take advantage if it fits your scheme.

If you aren’t sure what suits the type of home you’re building, ask an expert! The door solution you need may already be out there, whether it’s made specifically for your architecture or is something you can piece together. As homes continue to develop and merge styles, though, you can bet you’ll see more specialized options come available!

Expanded Lite Patterns

One of the single biggest ways to give a door personality is with lites. Standard quarter, half, three-quarter, and full lite doors provide plenty of opportunity to customize the entry with glass, but sometimes the lite pattern itself makes a statement.

Divided lites are preferred across all sorts of traditional styles. In general, the more divided lites in the space, the more old-fashioned the look, so you can use them to set the right tone for your house. You’re probably familiar with the typical clusters of rectangular divided lites, but have you seen the more attention-grabbing patterns of late? Bold X and Z patterns that leave triangular expanses of glass open have been catching buyers’ eyes, as have full-door vertical stacks of lites. If these sound a bit modern, you’d be right! Homeowners have been installing these doors on modern renditions of traditional styles, as well as on modern homes.

No matter what sort of door you have in mind, Therma-Tru® Doors has a variety of collections full of potential for every home. You’ll find affordable steel and premium fiberglass doors, gorgeous factory-applied stain and paint finishes, and glass options to suit every personality. Try their Design Your Door tool to put together some ideas, and then find a local dealer to make the perfect door a reality!