Is 6k a ridiculous amount to spend on a front door? Make me feel better with your stories of house extravagance...

[Wokeuptwirly]

We aren’t loaded, but have a decent amount of savings and are undertaking a huge renovation project. We are having the whole of front of the house ripped off and remodelled as it is hideous. We have budgeted hard to make our money go a long way, but feel that the front door is the first thing you see and has to have an impact. We can’t find anything we want ‘off the peg’ so have had a local company design us something bespoke. I love it, but feel incredibly guilty about spending so much on a door (even though we have haggled them down from over 7k). Please can someone come along and tell me some items they have splurged on which have improves their home to make me feel more at ease with parting with such a huge lump of cash (for us)...

We had a steel door fitted to replace hardwood ones that kept rotting . Cost about 3.5k but nothing ornate about it and not a front door so less 'furniture'. We were quoted £4K for a wooden one..... it is wider than a front door so two panels but as I say, very plain. I think you pay far more when the gap isn't a standard size.

I’m about to spend the best part of 10k on some bookshelves (they do come with a ladder and I have a LOT of books) so crack on imo

My bedroom/dressing room/en suite has just cost the best part of £20k. We lived with a dated 1980s monstrosity for ten years so I’m treating it as £2k a year.

@MGMidget

In SW London it wouldnt surprise me at all. I was quoted that much for a new front door for a humble 2 bed flat back in 2003 (although I thought it was a rip-off at the time). I have heard figures like that mentioned for terraced houses in my neighbourhood over recent years as well. It seems an awful lot though but then new double glazed sashes can also seem outrageously expensive. You could try and get a reclaimed door from a house being refurbished and restore it/paint it, probably for a fraction of the cost. However, yours is going to be iron not wood so that may be very hard to find as a reclaimed door. Iron possibly more expensive to make, needing specialist machines and skills? Also probably very heavy so specialist hinges/frame and special skills or tools needed to hang it? I can see how it could easily amount to a £6k bill in London or any affluent neighbourhood. Presumably you want iron for extra security? In which case, perhaps £6k is worth it for that type of door?

In my area of SW London people are currently complaining about the cost of front doors from London Door Company. Apparently they currently charge £4K for a front door.

I’m having mine refurbished!

My bed cost €5,000 but that was in 2004 and I’m still sleeping in it without a sag in sight so cost per use is tiny!

It's a nice enough door but I don't think it's wow enough to justify that kind of price. It doesn't look like something which I would notice if I came to your house iyswim. But it's your money and your house so if you can afford it and you love it then why not.

We’re about to spend £5k on a door - hardwood Victorian style with stained glass panels including the panel above the door. The same from the London Door Company was over £6k.

It’s less than 1% of the value of the house and it should make it warmer and more secure as well as look lovely so I think it’s worth it.

I spent about £11k on our door. It's fabulous. Have a look at Urban Front. Their doors are beautiful.

6k on a door . I can't imagine spending that however much money I had tbh. My whole bathroom cost less than that.

Hi would love to see before and after pics if you wouldn't mind posting them? I also don't like the front of my house so would love to see a real transformation to inspire me.

We are still a good few weeks from having the door fitted, but here is the house as we bought it and the house currently. We are having a single storey ground floor extension to the front (unusual I know, but we have a very long drive and no real neighbours so there were no objections) on the footprint of the old porch and bonkers greenhouse...

Probably hugely outing as I can’t imagine there are too many houses in the U.K. with either attached greenhouses or two tone windows 🤣🙈 but hey ho

I think extravagance is relative, for example, my friends think I spend too much money on things...I have just purchased a bathroom cabinet for my recently renovated en suite that has bells and whistles on (plays music, has a socket etc), but my MIL doesn't think anything of spending lots on a single item. I think it has something to do with income but not entirely. My DM would happily go to Tesco and over the course of a few months buy 10 pairs of shoes at £15, but if I buy one pair of boots for £150 she baulks at the price and tells me I have more money than sense.

I wish I was more frugal tbh but I don't like to keep changing and replacing things, my opinion is "buy cheap, but twice". Also I am a bit of a minimalist and would rather have one decent thing, rather than a dozen less good quality items.

I meant to add...go for it, if you love it and it's right it's worth the money.

If that’s how you want to spend your money, go ahead! If you’ve savings, a pension sorted, and the front facade of your house is important to you, then whatever not?

If it were me, no I wouldn’t, it’s just too £££ regardless of what the house is worth. How long will the door be there? At some point it will be replaced, it’s lovely but to me eyes is fashionable rather than classic.

Personally I’m wary of metal framed windows and doors as original ones are a bugger for condensation, and aren’t as insulating (sound or heat) as wood. This might not be an issue with modern ones!

I don't think you ever regret spending the extra money on something you really love.

I always notice a nice front door and entrance, and for a decent front door with sidelights, you're looking at 4k minimum.

My next-door neighbours spent 30k on their (small) greenhouse. Now, that I thought a little excessive.

Stupid money on a kitchen (5% of flats value) including 9 grand on appliances.

But you know what. I like to cook. I look after my stuff so it lasts and I'm intending to live here for the next 10-15 years so I've made my peace with it.

It's quietly understated so I suspect most of my visitors haven't got a clue...

I wouldn't spend that much unless your house is worth over £1m. But it's your house - someone could spend that on a family holiday abroad, at least your door will last your lifetime (at least).

Also spent a lot on a kitchen last year. We had done it fairly cheaply the first time as we had the whole house to renovate. It was never completely finished, the drawer gave way after a good many years. This time we got a small local company in. They skimmed the ceiling and changed the lights, boxed in some piping so you don’t even notice it, made me a gorgeous baking cupboard, changed the drawings three times( no cost) and considered a change when our stove failed not to be a problem and made a beautiful surround. The units are hand painted several coats. They helped us source the worktops too. The lads were great.
We bought an Everhot for £12,000. The kitchen was a bit more. I absolutely love it. I sometimes stand and look at it and can’t believe it is mine. It looks like something out of Country Living.
Not sure if I would spend that much on a door. We bought a bespoke oak door and it is still good thirty two years later. Just needs staining every ten years or so. I have just done it during lock down as the decorator that was booked to do some work didn’t turn up.We have just bought a wood stable door for the kitchen for £190 locally.
It is your choice though.

We had some new windows bespoke sash in the same style. Made by a top joiner he had just won an award. It was three years ago. They were £900 each. I struggled with that a bit until he put them in. Fantastic. The front of the house looks lovely now. I was sad to see the original ones go but the house is so much warmer now.

Cara try reclamation yards especially in the north😉for Victorian doors.

OP please post a photo of the finished house. It is looking quite different already. That greenhouse was random!😁

That's seems a bit steep...We replaced all the windows on our house for less and 5k

Less than*

It’s about what we spent on wardrobes for our bedroom and a front door is so much more visible. You’ll see and appreciate it all the time.

We’ll be replacing ours soon and as it’s not a standard size I’m sure it will be pricey. I’d far rather spend a bit more to get something really special. Just look at it in terms of what you saved by being economical elsewhere has enabled you to have this one extravagance.

@Bowerbird5

Also spent a lot on a kitchen last year. We had done it fairly cheaply the first time as we had the whole house to renovate. It was never completely finished, the drawer gave way after a good many years. This time we got a small local company in. They skimmed the ceiling and changed the lights, boxed in some piping so you don’t even notice it, made me a gorgeous baking cupboard, changed the drawings three times( no cost) and considered a change when our stove failed not to be a problem and made a beautiful surround. The units are hand painted several coats. They helped us source the worktops too. The lads were great. We bought an Everhot for £12,000. The kitchen was a bit more. I absolutely love it. I sometimes stand and look at it and can’t believe it is mine. It looks like something out of Country Living. Not sure if I would spend that much on a door. We bought a bespoke oak door and it is still good thirty two years later. Just needs staining every ten years or so. I have just done it during lock down as the decorator that was booked to do some work didn’t turn up.We have just bought a wood stable door for the kitchen for £190 locally. It is your choice though.

We had some new windows bespoke sash in the same style. Made by a top joiner he had just won an award. It was three years ago. They were £900 each. I struggled with that a bit until he put them in. Fantastic. The front of the house looks lovely now. I was sad to see the original ones go but the house is so much warmer now.

Cara try reclamation yards especially in the north😉for Victorian doors.

OP please post a photo of the finished house. It is looking quite different already. That greenhouse was random!😁

Can you post a pic of your baking cupboard please @bowerbird5 as we plan on having one when we get to the kitchen

OP have you actually ordered your lovely door? We have crittall style doors across the entire back of our house. Steel. From a brilliant company called Fabco who were superb throughout and far better cost than other similar firms we investigated.

It is the first thing you really see on a house. I think it is very nice BUT has it got somewhere to hang your Christmas wreath? (sorry, I’m obsessed)