Today is a great example of why I love this blog so much – you have really good ideas, from experiences and places I haven’t had. Today’s example is about how to deal with the old sliding door on a guest cottage – a feature we like in theory, but it wouldn’t be a good way to get in and out on a daily basis (it’s too heavy and doesn’t seal at all). When I casually mentioned in a post in August that I didn’t know how to deal with this, some of you had an obvious answer I hadn’t thought of:
From T: “When I was in the UK, there were a lot of barn conversions where you couldn’t change the exterior of the building because they wanted to keep the historic features, so a lot of people put a pass-through window behind the barn door. This sealed the space, but if you kept the barn door open, you could access the new door that was within the wall of windows”.
DJ then responded, “Yes, yes! I love it! The barn door will basically serve as a giant, huge, old (unnecessary but wonderful) shutter!”
Then another reader, Hillary, sent in photos of her mom’s house in New England, including what she did there — thanks!
This makes a lot of sense to me now (took me a second to figure it out). I should design a window/door position that is inside/behind the large sliding door so that the sliding door is just a giant shutter. It can remain closed when we are not going in and out frequently, then it can be left open when we are going in and out more frequently. got it!
But trying to find inspiration was difficult. I didn’t really know what to search for on Google or what to search for on Pinterest.
Then questions start coming…
- Wood framing or black metal? Do I want to lean towards the traditional, therefore moving it forward with something that feels more contemporary and takes the design forward? Could this ultra-modern look be super rad? I mean sure, but that means other elements will probably need to feel like that too. I think I want to create some contemporary light fixtures that combine this historical vibe with some elements that are more unexpected (think Paris apartments that have super ornate molding with 1960s metal lighting – the combination is so exciting). This is probably the more expensive route, but any custom door/window positioning will be expensive…
- If I lean toward a traditional wood-framed window/door, do I customize the mirrors/lights to combine the diamond pattern and square grid, as I did in our home’s sunroom? Or just keep it simple with classes?
- Is it two side panels and one door? French doors?
- If we’re customizing the door, should we make the opening a little smaller so the kitchen can be a few feet larger?
Here’s a photo of the interior that shows how big the opening is:
By making this opening smaller, we would need to get more interior paneling or come up with a different solution for that. But that kitchen is small, built in that corner, so having another kitchen even of 18″ would be a big deal.
Anyway, I know there’s a company in town, versatile (co-owned by the owners of archiform), which makes custom doors/windows and can execute any design. It will be a lot of money, so I have to make sure the design is right and worth it. I could also look at something ready-made (french doors with side lights) and then frame it, but that seems less fun to me (but would save dough). There will definitely be some design elements I could splurge on, and I know a beautiful custom door/window position might be one of them. But I want to do more research to make sure it’s the right choice for this project. Too, sierra pacificThe guy who made all of our first floor windows, including our gorgeous sunroom diamond-shaped windows (above), can do exactly this (well, I guess…), so that might also be an option. Of course, I’m looking for vintage, but I don’t believe it would be easy to find nearby (and work well).
In the meantime, here’s a peek at where my head is at. These are all old doors/windows (or custom, I think). I put pink in there to show a configuration that might work – two side panels and a big door with lights above them. The rest show a version of the diamond pattern that we have in our main house. Designing the windows in the sunroom was extremely fun (and a very long process on my part), so a part of me knows the pattern works well – we could make two panels and a large Dutch door in the middle. Although now that I think about it, when you’re inside, you would need to be able to open the door to get out where the barn door handle is, which would be far to the right… or do you leave the huge slider open while you’re inside and only close it when no one is home? Problem-solving is a lot of fun, but if you guys have any insights or suggestions, I’d love to hear it. And thanks again for your input – it’s really much appreciated. One of my favorite expressions is “We don’t know what we don’t know,” which keeps me very curious. So while many designers may admit to not knowing stuff, I really love knowing that I don’t know something – it’s a real fuel to research and then learn, which is honestly such a gift and keeps me very happy in this industry.
Meet the Guest Cottage!!
*by beautiful photos Keltin Green
