Door dilemma

[WhatapityWapiti]

Help me decide what to do with our front door!

We’re doing up the whole of the front of the house- getting bricks cleaned, repointed, refreshing the cream painted bits in bright white, new lighting, new path etc so it’s all going to look nice and smart.

The old door is not fit for purpose so we’re having a new one, but the frame is in great condition and we are keeping the fanlight above.

Here’s my dilemma. The door is not a standard height. A quote for a bespoke one came in at over 8k. I’ve since spoken to a door fitter who said that he can extend the frame downwards to fit an off the shelf door, so the bar between the door and the fanlight would be thicker. We’d have it properly filled and finished to look neat. I’ve added a pic of the door that I like. Cost is £2.5k.

I’m worried, however, that a thicker top bar will spoil the symmetry with the neighbour and look “off”. As you can see, neighbour’s house is not well maintained, he is old and in very poor health and I think the house will probably be sold and renovated at some point in the next 5 years.

I’m worried that the lack of symmetry will annoy me every time I look at it, but it seems like a lot of money to go bespoke and maybe the other door height will get changed in the future anyway as any buyers will have the same issue.

Also, do you see the tiles in the vestibule? I love having tiles and these are the original ones from 1898, but I don’t think they were top of the range even then, the brown is a bit meh and they are very faded. I am also having a nightmare sourcing the brown edge tile that is missing. I was thinking it might be nicer to retile in new ones but similar configuration. Again, however, that would ruin the symmetry.

Finally, what door colour should I go for? (This may be dictated by the tiles.) They can do it in any RAL colour. I’ve ruled out royal blue, sage, duck egg blue, teal, bright red, bottle green, purple and black. I’m quite keen on canary yellow or deep blood red.

Thanks!

Oh dear. I thought you were the house on the right??? It looks well maintained and beautifully painted sills, very white.

The house on the left looks like it's been neglected.

@SquishyGloopyBum is right. I've worked with old houses and both points about the faces of the bricks and lime pointing are spot on. Sounds like you have chosen a good builder, but just do some research first.

Re the door, I think the symmetry would bother me but you're quite right that whoever owns next door could change theirs and then the symmetry would be lost anyway.

Looking at your neighbour's house, I really like the way the door glazing matches the glazing of the window to the right of it. Assuming your window is the same, is there no way you can refurbish your door and replace the glass to replicate what is presumably original?

It's a lovey house OP, I love these types of properties.

do the infill strip at the top of the door in the same stuff and colour as the door then it looks like part of the door not the frame

or build it up at the bottom and have thick coconut mat at the other side to disguise the slight step

Actually looking at the photo again that's a new PVC window isn't it? However, point still stands that I like that the sizes of the panes in the door glazing are similar to the top half of the window, so maybe we can see what the window to the left of your door looks like and try to replicate that?

I am still baffled OP at your comment about the neighbour's house not being well maintained? It looks lovely on the outside!

Yea, the neighbour’s house has PVC windows. The bricks are also covered in hideous red paint. The house is really not nice close up.

There’s a picture of the full front of my house a few posts into the thread. We have simple timber sash windows (restored about 2 years ago, my house is not neglected!) but we have shutters so the frames are not really a feature.

Brown is about to come into fashion! It’s been out for a really long time. I would stick with the original tiles and hope to find a replacement for the missing one.

I’ve sent you a PM

@WhatapityWapiti thank you!

your house is lovely!

I'd live with the symmetry issue for the difference between 2.5 and 8k - but i'd paint the door frame the same colour as the door and it'll blend

I'd keep the original tiles - get a replacement trim. If you clean, treat and reseal - u may find this will bring the colours back from faded - see what that looks like and replace the trim

I'd be tempted to go with the teal colour in the tiles for the door - maybe a shade lighter but i'd clean them up first so you can see the colours better - u may find the cream is actually more of a yellow

The house on the right is stunning, beautiful red tiles as you walk in the garden by the looks of it. Are these the original?

Hopefully you pick a colour of door you like. Not an easy decision!

Here’s a close up of the “beautiful red tiles in the garden”! Not stunning.

The second pic shows the red paint compared to my bricks. And the third is the restored house down the road.

Thanks. I think you might be right about the teal if I do keep the original tiles. Problem is I’ve been looking in vain for replacement trim for years and had no luck, despite going to two specialist Victorian tile suppliers locally. I could redo the whole trim but it needs to be the exact brown as that colour continues down through the design. Also, some of the decorative ones are very faded, they are already pretty clean and no amount of cleaning is going to restore their colour. It’s weird how some have faded so much more than others, you can see the difference really clearly from this pic.

https://victorianceramics.com/ceramic-tiles/victorian-porch-tiles/ these guys just might have your missing brown tile - or if not they would be a good source for a complete replacement - wouldn’t match the neighbours but authentic looking.

if you treat them with the right thing but seeps into the tile and the colours pop again - we had the same with a red cream and black pattern - faded where the sun was but treated and reseal ed with appropriate products and they popped

you could replace all the the top with a teal colour match - then it would tie in better ?

The red paint freshens it up a bit though, and I am sure that the garden could be cleaned up a bit if your neighbour could get that done to freshen up the red pavement area.

It's all very subjective.

The pointing on the neighbours done up house pic looks good quality- but check if it's line mortar. It's so important. And also cleaning- what is it you are having done? I can't see from the photo what the neighbours had. Do not sandblast though.

@minipie has posted a good website and the door looks more in keeping. Sorry, I don’t like the picture of the door you posted. It will be a beautiful house with all the lovely Victorian features you have. ❤️

The "red tiles" are painted concrete with a pattern scraped in aren't they?

Yup!

I know, it really does brighten up the garden!

Ah yes I see the windows are plain glass. Still very nice.

I think on that case I'd do what a previous poster has suggested and live with the fact that the symmetry isn't 100% but paint it the same colour so it's not noticeable. You'd be annoyed if you spent all that extra money to match in next door and then whoever is next door changes theirs.

The house down the road is beautiful. So is yours though, I'm sure it will be just as nice once done.