Here’s another source for relatively affordable mid century style front entry door maker: Frank Lumber, which has been in business since 1948, in the heart of the woodsy Northwest. These look nice!
Thanks to this tip from reader Brian, who wrote:
Right up the street from me in Seattle, there is a store called Frank Lumber. They have mid century doors and you can customize as much as you want with different glass, positions etc… They have more glass then what’s pictured.
Prices are not on their site, but the doors pictured are $580 and pre hung in a frame about $760. If you are local you can bring your old door in and they will cut it down, match the hinges and install them on your new door. Don’t know if they ship or not.
Eight designs of mid century modern front entry doors
Yes, Brian, we checked, and they will ship.
Frank Lumber’s Door Store stocks eight models of mid century doors in 11 different sizes. The doors are made of birch wood and have three glass options listed online. But: I did find many more glass options on their glass page. The store gets all of their doors from Kylemont Custom Wood Doors, a partner company located in Marysville, Washington, that makes every part of the door in house. Kylemont Custom Doors can make you a door to fit your exact needs and specification from nearly any wood — up to four feet wide by ten feet tall.
Here is what the Frank Lumber website has to say about their doors:
Our standard exterior wood doors are 1 3/4” thick, with insulated glass and extra thick “Energy Guard” panels in most models. We stock our exterior doors with wider stiles so that a broader spectrum of hardware will fit, and to improve sturdiness of the lock area. We work with manufacturers so that the doors we carry are built with the best technology available to ensure maximum strength and resistance to the elements. Custom exterior doors can be built up to 4 feet wide, 10 feet tall, and 2 1/4” thick in almost any wood.
Frank Lumber, “The Door Store”TM is a major, dependable source for doors, locks and related products. We have warehouses full of inventory- hundreds of combinations of models and sizes on hand and ready to ship now. We have 1000’s of doors in stock at both locations, interior and exterior.
Also, Frank Lumber, “The Door Store”TM is the exclusive dealer of Kylemont Industries custom made doors. Kylemont doors are hand built in Marysville Washington by skilled craftsmen. Imagine, doors custom built to your specifications within two to three weeks. Every imaginable style of door can be seen at our stores. We stock a wide variety of period style leaded glass doors to match your homes’ original design.
Frank Lumber’s team of expert sales-people provides you with personalized service and advice for all of your door projects. Odd sizes and out of the ordinary doors are our specialty, we welcome them. Custom homes, remodels, commercial projects, or single door replacements- we’re here to help you right now.
Frank Lumber’s Door Store and Kylemont Custom Wood Doors can work with you to find the right mid century door — or build a custom door — to fit your needs. If you are in the market for a mid century door, give them a call. They also have a handy how-to to help you measure for a new door.
Mega thanks to reader Brian for pointing us in the direction of yet another source for mid century style front doors.
More research:
Heidi Swank says
These are wonderful doors! Yay!
We have been looking for an exterior door between our kitchen and garage for quite sometime. I would like something that has some fire safety, but can’t seem to find anything that looks mid-century. The closest we’ve come is a Masonite simple flush panel door.
Does anyone know of any other options for the door into the garage?
pam kueber says
check building codes!
Jay says
The door from an interior room that opens directly to a garage has to be “rated” for fire resistance. Hollow doors and doors with lites don’t usually comply. As pam says, check with your local inspectors.
Robin, NV says
This is awesome!! I’ve already got my door but I’ll keep these guys in mind if I have I ever need to buy another one.
Janice J says
I am having a new door made with Mid-Century style windows.
Nobody local selling the door, so my contractor is having a flat steel door made with custom cut outs to put in 3 diamond windows and a Rejuvenation Atlas door knob set and dead bolt. The door set will have a 5″ setback so the knob set will look great. It will be painted a MC blue-grey colour. I will post photos when it is finished.
Kate says
That sounds great Janice J — email me photos when you get your new door finished, we’d love to see! retrorenovationkate@gmail.com
Geronimom says
So grateful to see this! Although my husband is quite handy, he is already inundated with enough home reno projects, so building ourselves a new door is not top priority on the list.. I have been haunting our local Re-Store to no avail. In my quest for a more authentic door, I have actually resorted to searching google street maps in a local area of mid-century homes to hunt out front doors I really like (in otherwise run-down looking homes). I’ve been trying to work up my nerve to leave notes in their mailboxes asking if they’d be willing to sell – how pathetic is that?! This new alternative is MUCH better – and less apt to have me pegged as some kind of weird neighborhood “door-stalker”!
Kate says
I don’t think that is as weird as you think Geronimom…
When a home in my neighborhood that looks to be mostly original goes up for sale, I check out the real estate listing to see if they have any valuable vintage parts that may come out with the new owners…then I watch for a dumpster in the driveway. If the new owners seem to be tearing out something that I have a use for, I’ll ask if I can have it, even if it means digging it out of the dumpster!
Lisa Compo says
Heck Yeah! One man’s trash is another man’s treasure—especially with people like us. I never let on that some of this old stuff is valuable…I just keep in the idea that if they are throwing it away it’s not very important. 😉
Jay says
Door Stalker!! I like that. Seriously though, you might be on to something. I bet if you offered to buy them a new door from the big box store in exchange, they would take the bite.
Sarah g (roundhouse) says
Don’t feel weird about doing that. Like my mom always says ‘you never know until you ask!’ I go knock on doors where they are renovating or tearing down houses. I even look on local mls listings and if there’s something I like in the photos I call the real estate agent and they leave a note in the file for the buyers. You’d be surprised what people will give away. It’s also how I got my house, just knocked on the door and asked. I only feel bad thinking about the cool stuff that I wasn’t able to save and ended up in the dumpster.
Lisa Compo says
This is all too funny. I also have been checking the MLS listings and looking at the pictures of older homes for things I would like from inside. It’s getting hard to find them that are not already updated–sadly. I just got the courage to send a note to a “new current owner” of a home that has already closed and ask them if they planned on updating the kitchen and bathroom (of a darling time capsule) and told them I was interested in the yellow tile from the kitchen and the pink tile and fixtures from the bathroom. I was kind of embarrassed to do it but thinking about a sledge hammer bashing up that yellow tile gave me the nerve. I’m going to keep sending my notes until someone gives me something!! I even sent an email to a remodeling company asking them to give me leads on things. Glad to know I am not the only one “stalking homes”.
Kate says
Just this morning, while walking my dog Leo, I happened upon the remnants of a built-in desk that was torn apart and waiting in a heap for the trash…salvaged two chrome 1960s knobs off the drawers! Gotta keep your eyes open! 🙂
pam kueber says
Dumpster Diver Merit Badge well under way!
Mia says
I scored an original set of metal cabinets for free just yesterday as soon as I heard the owner was selling the house. I live in a neighborhood of Cliff May homes so finding cabinets that already fit the space I needed them for was awesome! They are disgusting as the renter who lived there previously trashed the place, but they will clean up. Guess I will score new neighbors too 🙂
pam kueber says
WOW! Fantastic!
rebecca@midcenturymodernremodel says
Excellent tip. I am in research mode on front doors. And in the West. This is a wonderful alternative. Our original front door is long gone and I have wanted to replace the current, poorly insulated and poorly fitting door forever.
lisa says
Another satisfied Frank’s Doors customer. They are great to work with. We had their doors in our old Cape Cod and now have replaced the back door of our “new” 1909 house with a Dutch door model bought there. Our door was constructed as a Dutch door but they will also cut any door to a Dutch model to order.
Glamorlux Nancy says
This is awesome! We customized our solid wood front door with the Crestview door-lite kit about 4 years ago. That was okay for us, but a lot of work (the old wood door was surprisingly hard to cut in spots). So an affordable door is a great option. I also love that this is an older company, made in the USA 🙂
db says
Birch? Like the interior of my ’61 Shasta birch? Oh, my beating heart be still…
So does anyone have suggestions on where to find the hardware? like the diamond shaped backing plates?
pam kueber says
Rejuvenation is the go-to place for mid century modern style door escutcheons: http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/categories/hardware/door-hardware
Alternatively: They can be plentiful on ebay.
db says
Wonderful! Thank you!
Wendy in St. Louis says
These are fantastic! Click around…there are even more mid century modest/modern doors. Great selection of glass too! Wouldn’t the Bamboo look great as a room divider or shower doors?
Great find!!!!
BlueJay says
Like this:
http://www.franklumberthedoorstore.com/detail.aspx?id=1260&pg=0
This is fantastic! I clicked around and didn’t even know these were still being made! Many of the mid-century homes here built in the 60s and 70s opted for carved panels like this!
Keely Tolbert says
I have that original door on my 1953 ranch here in Kansas. 🙂 Love love love it. I have it painted in two tones currently to make the circular design pop (it was painted horribly when we bought our house).
It’s a great style – there are several other folks with the same door in our neighborhood.
Wendy in St. Louis says
Yes! The carved doors! Very common around here. Other cool styles in there if you peck around the site.
Robin, NV says
I just spent the weekend with relatives who live in a community of high end 70s homes. Some of the houses still have their fabulous carved front doors. I was tempted to walk around just taking photos of doors but I thought that would look creepy and weird.
Wendy in St. Louis says
Nothing is creepy and weird when your a retro renovator!
Janet in CT says
These are wonderful! I had one of these in my first house and of course we removed and replaced it as I had no appreciation of mid-modern back in 1978! I have found alot of fascinating doors this past year and I need to do a day trip to photograph some that are quite different. I do have a question maybe some of you know the answer to. The door on my first ranch was just stained natural birch and I have seen alot of doors done the same way. Before we replaced it I painted it red; the house was charcoal gray and I didn’t like the natural wood with it. Was it the norm back then to just leave the doors stained wood rather than paint them? Now I like it better, but perhaps that is influenced by my wanting to see original houses with original trim. Just curious.
Janet in CT says
I should add that I am always delighted to see a store that is still in business since 1948 and bucking the big box outfits. Hooray for them!