Romancing the Garage Door

Let's face it- garage doors are something that I have never paid much attention, never mind fantasizing about design elements on them.  All that changed yesterday!  Our builder sent us to approve our garage door design and select the hardware elements for the door.  I never  thought about garage door hardware- just took it for granted I guess!  All I cared about was that the door went up and down when I wanted it to!!!! However, the new house that we are building has garage doors that are a major design element of the front of the home.

We started out wanting three garages that faced away from the front of the house- never to be seen by passers by.  However, our steep mountainous lot did not allow for that concept and the garage doors are the first thing you see when arriving to the property.

Since the  garage doors are a key feature, our architect gave them the look of old carriage house doors.  And to make them much easier to navigate with our large SUV's, he widened the opening from the standard 8 feet to 9 feet wide.  The height is 9 feet instead of the standard 8 to accommodate car top carriers, etc.

Calling for a carriage house design, the doors are designed to appear like 4 separate doors that swing wide open. 

Searching Pinterest for some interesting garage door designs, I found the following-

 

Love the pergola over these doors with the soft plants in the front of the columns.

 

Another rounded pergola with pots as the planters.

 Love the reclaimed wood and hardware detail on these doors.

 

 Another Pinterest picture showing how important the hardware is to the design of the door.

 

 

 

 

This garage is adorable and makes you think of fairytale cottages. 

 

Another garage door made by the artisans that are making our door- reclaimed barn wood.

Made right here just past Black Mountain in Mt. Pilot.

 

 

Yesterday, we viewed door hardware from several manufactures.

 

Gorgeous stuff-

 

 

Rocky Mountain Hardware- my absolute favorite!  They are making our front door hardware and I would love to use them for the garage doors too!



 

However, our final decision was to use a local artisan that hand forges hardware for

Carriage House Doors out of Burnsville, NC, about 30 miles north of here. 

They can be painted to match the Rocky Mountain Hardware for the front door.

 

 

 

 From the Tuscan Collection, we chose the Bar Handle.  They are taller and balance the taller doors.

There will be 2 on each door.

 

 

 And the 24 inch Cambridge strap- the original choice of our architect!

 

 

The Carriage House door for our new home! Looks like they swing open, but they roll-up like a traditional garage door!   Ours will be stained a grey tone to match the shutters on the house.

 

Next decision is what the driveway material will be??

Who knew one could spend so much time on a garage door???

Building this house has certainly been an adventure.