Archetech Issue 32 2017 | Page 62

HOw TO CHOOSE A FRONT DOOR FOR A HOUSE wITH TIMBER CLADDING? WORDS: eLizabeTH aSSaf, DeSigneR, uRban fROnT With buildings becoming more contemporary and home frontages involving many different finishes, the dilemma of what front door to choose seems to be even more complicated. It’s an even harder decision if you are having cladding too. To help our clients make a decision we usually ask them to consider the following: 1. Is the cladding being left to weather or is it being treated or finished? This determines whether or not it’s necessary that the front door matches the cladding. Usually if cladding is going to be left to silver, the finish of the door is easier to choose. If the cladding is going to be finished or keep its original colour, then matching or going for a painted finish works better. However, there is also the option to go for an opposite colour completely – for example – choosing a dark wood like fumed oak to work with western red cedar cladding. 2. Is the cladding going to be horizontally or vertically boarded or even both? A lot of customers believe that everything should match but, the door can be more of a focal point if the boarding is going in a different direction. This also reduces the difficulty of matching the door exactly to cladding that comes right up to the door. 3. If the house has a lot of cladding, it’s also w orth considering not going down the hardwood look and going for a painted finish. This works particularly well if the house has more than 50% cladding over the surface of it. Making this choice, breaks up the timber look and creates even more of a focal point. 4. If the cladding being used is a colour or painted a colour like grey for instance, it is either worth matching the RAL colour or going a few shades darker or lighter depending on where the door sits on the houses elevation. Or another choice is to then go for a timber front door that is completely different to make the door stand out. 5. Another concern is if the house already has a lot of different materials going on like a wood lookalike cladding system, aluminium windows and zinc roofing. We tend to try and find the least used material to match to as it could look too balanced and that wouldn’t necessarily be the best end result. 6. We always find that it’s best to lay all the samples of the different materials down in front of you and also be aware of the fact that each material will take up a different amount of space on that frontage. Fine tuning with samples like this always helps to put the bigger picture into perspective. On the whole, it isn’t a decision taken lightly because cladding will also change in colour over time. Thinking about that will definitely help and if you feel that it is still too difficult, we can always help you. Just give us a call to discuss your project in detail. contact urbanfront t: +44 (0) 1494 778 787 www.urbanfront.co.uk