A property’s front door is the very first part of the home that makes an impression. A poorly chosen front door can impact the overall exterior style and appearance. A well-chosen front door can make a statement and provide an idea of the interesting prospects of the property’s interior. Here are 5 tips we recommend to consider before beginning your journey to choosing your new front door.

1. Take the Elements Into Account

Depending on the aspect of your property, your front door has the potential to be in the firing line of wind, rain, snow and even the sun can be damaging. A high-quality front door is needed or else your front door potentially won’t last for as long as you would want it to. Furthermore, a low-quality front door can potentially cause heat loss from the home making it overall quite inefficient. Composite front doors are a fantastic low maintenance choice.

2. Understand the Security Requirement of the Front Door

Again, composite front doors are a fantastic choice if security is a clear goal as they are durable, strong and resilient. At Senator, our composite front doors are exceptionally secure with our exclusive Ingenious 9-Point Locking System; this literally secures the door to the frame at nine separate points from top to bottom for optimal security. Many people also like to choose French doors or residential doors as their front door and these all work very well. View our gallery of images on our website to get a good idea of the different options. Both these door styles are fantastic in allowing light to flood into a property.

3. Be Careful With Trends

Senator’s Design Expert, Denise O’Connor has written a helpful article on the topic of front door colours and how best to choose one. It’s important not to be swayed too much by trends because trends tend to come and go. Choose a front door style and colour that you will love for many years to come.

With it being such an important purchase, take the time to do research to understand what you like and what you don’t like. This could be done by firstly being more aware when you are out and about of other front doors and what works well in specific areas, maybe places similar to your own property.

Secondly, we recommend keeping an eye on interiors magazines/newspapers and cutting out what appeals to you and collating them into a scrapbook, folder or notebook – you’re likely to see a pattern build which will provide you with a clearer idea of what you like and dislike.

Thirdly, make use of social media sites like Instagram and Pinterest. Instagram has a wealth of dedicated home accounts and you can “save” individual posts from pages/people and then access them within your profile under “saved” in order to refer back to them at any stage. Also search on the app under hashtags like #frontdoor and #frontdoorstyle. Pinterest is basically an online scrapbook where each individual board is the scrapbook and the “pins” you post to the board are those posts (or screenshots you’ve collected).

On our website, we have also created a useful door visualiser feature here where you can get an idea of what type of door, frame and colour might work in your home!

4. Use the Expertise of Your Supplier

At Senator, we pride ourselves on the network of dealers that we have all over the country. They are highly experienced in their trade and crucially, they can advise you on the ideal door solution for your home. Choosing the “perfect” front door is a big decision as it can have repercussions on the home heating bills, the security and also the overall look. We’re confident that if you book an appointment with one of our franchise dealers, they can help you to choose the best front door for your family’s needs.

5. Finishes Can Impact on the Interior’s Theme

Of course the outside appearance of a property will be impacted by the changing of the front door but it will also have an affect on the interior of the property as the front door will be visible to all in the entrance hallway and when people are exiting the property. That’s why it’s important to carefully consider not just the front door colour but also the hardware finish (colour) of the door. At Senator, we offer a number of options in terms of hardware (handles etc) colours to make a fantastic finishing statement. Interestingly, we offer a dual colour option whereby you can have one colour on the outside of the front door and have an alternative colour on the inside of the door to match the interior décor.

Furthermore, if your old/existing front door has no glass, the addition of a new front door with glass will greatly impact the amount of light flooding into the property’s hallway/entrance. We also offer the choice of decorative glass designs or bevelled effects to create more character and interest to the front door’s exit, entrance and interior.

So with lots to think about, we wish you the best in the pursuit of your dream front door. Check out all our door products here and browse the gallery to view some beautiful front doors manufactured and fitted by Senator all over the country!