Saturday, September 6, 2014

"When one door closes ...

... another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the one which has opened for us".

Chronica Domus
The ill-fitting 1950's garage door that has been a constant source of vexation for me since moving into our home, seen here with a swatch of color and the mail slot removed
Photo: Chronica Domus


I respectfully disagree with Alexander Graham Bell, who famously uttered these words, at least when it comes to the subject of our garage door that is. I have known since the day we purchased our home, which was a very long time ago, that I would never regret the final closing of this particular door.

The original door to our garage, which was built in 1925, would have been of a very different design to that which is shown above, incongruously installed during the 1950's.

At the beginning of the 20th century architects began designing structures, similar to carriage houses, with the specific purpose of sheltering automobiles from the elements. The doors on these buildings were doubled, hung on hinges, and opened outward. They were known as carriage doors.  This was the type of door that originally dressed our garage, and a finishing touch which we longed to call upon in effort of restoring period-appropriate dignity to our home.

Chronica Domus
An example of early 20th century carriage doors similar to those which would have been original to our home
Photo: archive.org

Ah, you might think, an easy task once one has clarity of vision as to what is desired. As it turned out, it was a more complicated project than we had anticipated and many obstacles were to present along the way.  Firstly, where does one go to find such a set of doors?  The answer was certainly not the standard building supply outlets offering modern roll-up sectional garage doors.  The few salvage yards in our area were trolled over the period of several months, but the examples we saw were beyond what we would consider salvageable.  Besides, what were the chances of finding an exact fit? We soon came to the realization that there was only one option available to us, and that was to have the doors custom made.  Which brings us to our second obstacle.  Who could we possibly turn to to get the job done right?  

Again, this was not an easy task.  We followed many leads but unlike finding painters and general contractors, which are a dime a dozen, finding a capable person to build a set of carriage doors in our area was like finding a grain of wheat among the chaff.

Serendipitous circumstance led us to our answer.  We had worked with a painter last summer that mentioned a recent job he had completed where the owners had designed a garage door to be made to their specifications.  I excitedly asked the painter for contact details of the door maker, in hopes of following up with him.  Soon thereafter, we had scheduled an appointment with Ron, the owner of  Artistic Garage Doors, so that he could visit our home and discuss our project.  

Ron soon let us know that he could build anything we might desire but true carriage doors would not work for our situation.  Our Volvo wagon demands more shoulder room than the Tin Lizzy which might well have rested within the garage when first built.  Our existing door opens upwards.  True carriage doors which swing outwards would cause us to forfeit several inches of space from each side of the opening due to hinge requirements. This would present us with the problem of not actually being able to park our car in the garage as it would no longer clear the opening, making it somewhat less useful.

It seemed our desire to install period-appropriate carriage doors was to be foiled, or was it?

In my next posting I will share our altered approach to overcoming obstacles and finally realizing our vision.

 Nota bene: I am neither paid nor do I receive recompense in exchange for applauding products or services within my blog.  I do so because I enjoy them.  If you are a kindred spirit, you too enjoy recommending nice things to fellow good eggs.

24 comments:

  1. Interesting post. I am about to embark on some cosmetic beautification of an inherited house, and the garage doors are certainly one area that needs attention. One door closing and another opening seems entirely appropriate in these circumstances. Thank you for that kernal of thought.

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    1. Mr. Bell's wisdom is certainly thought-provoking beyond the scope of garage doors.

      I hope your beautification efforts are met with satisfactory solutions. I'm not sure what options are available to you in the area of your inherited house, but garage door shopping is nothing I wish upon too many of my friends.

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  2. Garage doors in old buildings are one of those elements where too many have given way to convenience over aesthetics. In general, outbuildings (and landscaping) are often sacrificed even when the main house is beautifully restored or maintained, resulting in an odd, isolated appearance.

    I can't wait to see what your solution will be.
    --Jim

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    1. My thoughts exactly, Parnassus.

      Except that I must plead guilty. While we faithfully restored our Art Deco house exterior, we reluctantly sacrificed the garage doors and front fence for convenience and practicality. Although the result is aesthetically pleasing, in hindsight, we probably could have done better if we'd persisted.

      So I, too, wait with eager anticipation to see what your solution will be, CD.

      Spud.

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    2. Thank you Jim, I am glad we are in agreement when it comes to the subject of the upkeep of outbuildings. I am certain that the financial burden of such projects plays heavily into the sad fact that many buildings fall into disrepair, especially if the main house is bleeding one dry (often the case with older buildings).

      I hope that you will find our final solution both sympathetic to the decade our home was built without sacrificing too much of modern convenience.

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    3. Oh, and Spud, I am intrigued to learn that you too have fallen victim to old-home restoration projects.

      I hope our solution lives up to your expectations.

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  3. Hello:

    We are most interested in this, and even more so in the solution which, hopefully, you will have arrived at.

    When we had our Herefordshire house we had a very similar problem in the need to replace an up and over garage door with something much more in keeping with the house. We too opted for 'carriage doors' which were bespoke and made for us by a cabinet maker. Opening outwards, and restrictive of space, they in effect comprised four doors, two of which folded back on the other two. To add interest we incorporated 'blind' Gothic windows into each one of the effectively four doors.

    However, with all of this our motor car was not particularly large. We shall look forward to the next instalment!

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    1. Hello Jane and Lance,

      How interesting to read that you too have been down the garden path when it comes to selecting a garage door to suit your former home in Herefordshire. I'm sure the final design was very pleasing, especially as you had a hand in its design. Did you choose the Gothic shape of the window to reflect those on the house?

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    2. Yes, they picked up on a small Gothic window in the house.

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  4. I am interested to see what your solution will be. Apparently your garage faces the front; in Chicago the garages are mostly old carriage houses and behind the house in the alley and nobody cares what it looks like.

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    1. Hello GSL,

      Our garage does not face the front of our house. I have noticed this design trend on many homes in the United States (something not too commonly seen in the UK, at least when I lived there). It rather strikes me as sad that so many newer homes here dedicate such vast amounts of space to huge garages (double-wide), at the front of a house, essentially eating away at space that should, in my humble opinion, be dedicated to a front door. In such instances, the front door is entirely eliminated and is set along one of the side walls. This is definitely a nation that is in love with their autos.

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  5. Oh we use their garage doors on many of our projects here at the office -they're really beautiful!

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    1. Hello AD, I am assuming you refer to National Garage, which is the source of the carriage door illustration in this posting? If so, I had no idea they were still in existence as a company.

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  6. They're similar to garage doors from Designer Doors but a lower price point and the quality is basically just as good!

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    1. I just took a look at DD's web site and they have some lovely examples of custom garage doors. Thank you for sharing that source.

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  7. I am intrigued, and I look forward to seeing what you did for your garage door. I love the idea of carriage doors, but i completely understand the size situation in which you find yourselves. We are currently deciding on a new garage door, so your article came at just the right time!

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    1. Hello AdriBarr,

      Welcome to the blog! I hope you find our solution to balancing period aesthetics and modern practicalities inspiring, especially in light of the fact that you will be undertaking a similar project.

      Thank you for your comment and I hope you visit often and join the merry banter. I see you are a blogger so I am off to peruse your blog momentarily and discover what it is that inspires you to blog.

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  8. I received the following very nice comment, via email, from Marge at Artistic Garage Doors, after having read this blog posting:

    What amazing charm you have in your writing. Thanks so much
    for selecting us to do your work. Even though I know the ending
    of the story I anxiously await the next blog and the resulting
    comments.

    Best regards,


    Marge Fouts
    Artistic Garage Doors, Inc.

    Thank you Marge, it was a pleasure working with you and Ron on what turned out to be a very fun project!

    CD

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  9. That is one of my favorite sayings and one I find myself thinking about at least twice a year. My first thought was what I would do...get a smaller car! but I guess most people are not that aesthetically inclined. Oh well, guess I will have to wait til the next post.

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    1. Yes indeed, that is a very good saying and can certainly be applied to situations beyond a garage door.

      Trading in our Volvo tank for a smaller motor car is not an option as it is the perfect vehicle for our lifestyle. It is regularly pressed into service when required to lug us up and down the west coast's varied terrain and climate zones (performs very well around Tahoe's snowy mountains), has the perfect compartment for transporting our dog, and we can squeeze pretty much anything into it (or above it), including the kitchen sink.

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  10. You did a great Job. I appreciate your work.

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  11. So glad you managed to find the right company. I actually had to end up building ours. It took be 6 weekends to finally put it together. We had searched and searched for a specialist who knew how garage doors worked but we were never able to find anyone. We have been pretty pleased with ours and they have lasted.

    Giovanni @ Coastal Contract Hardware

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    1. Thank you, Giovanni, we are truly thrilled with our door and although it took many years to find someone to build it to our exact design, we certainly made the right choice. Well worth the wait!

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