The Doors of Our Colonial Farmhouse

My number one reason for buying our colonial farmhouse was the original, wide plank wood floors. That’s how everyone selects a house, right?

My number two reason for buying our home was the original doors.

According to my logic, if life opens one beautiful door and you choose to walk through it and discover another beautiful door and ANOTHER, how do you not buy that house?

It was a sign from the universe I didn’t want to ignore.

The doors of our colonial farmhouse are definitely the eye candy of this house. And I do love me some eye candy!

And don’t even get me started on the glass knobs!

This is the door to the master bedroom and the rustic wood with the glass knob is a combination that slays me.

Now, in a modern home, most of the doors would be matching. Door styles help set the tone for the home’s style.

Not in this old farmhouse.

Matching is for the birds!

From what I’ve surmised, every time the home was added onto and a door was needed, someone built a door. Simple as that.

The oldest part of this home is around 240 years old. That’s a ton of time for interior design trends to cycle in and out and in and out of style. I’m guessing that is what accounts for most of the difference in the varying types of doors styles in this home.

Nevertheless, each door is a bit of a mystery to me. Some have comically low door knobs.

The master bedroom door has an oddly high door knob.

Some of the doors don’t shut tight anymore, probably as the home has settled, so there are separate latches to keep them closed.

Some of the doors are painted. Some are stained. All of them have character galore.

The photo below shows the amazing door latch to a closet located off of our entry. It’s as complicated to open as it looks! And ignore the wonkiness of the paint job. I was in the middle of painting when I snapped this photo.

There are two sets of French doors that lead from the main living areas onto a sun porch. The French doors look like they are stained glass, but they aren’t.

They have flowers decals added to them.

THE HORROR!

Honestly, the decals don’t bother me that much.

I’d rather they weren’t there, but they are low on my priority list. Now, if they start peeling like the decals on our laundry room door have, then they will bother me a heck of a lot.

The wood door below is the door to our kitchen stairs. It matches the wainscoting that goes around the entire kitchen. You can also glimpse the lovely wallpaper gracing this space.

Oddly enough, I LOVE the door, but I’m not a fan of the wainscoting.

I’ll talk more about this at a later time, but the kitchen is not original to the house. Electricity and indoor plumbing are also not original to this house. Ha!

The kitchen was the last addition and was probably added around 75 years ago. I may not like this kitchen, but I sure am glad to have it!

Other than cleaning them up, I have no plans to drastically change any of these old doors.

Well, maybe I’ll change the ones from the 1980s.

That was an unfortunate decade for door design…and a few other things.

I didn’t show you any exterior doors today because they are the least interesting doors of this house and that’s probably because they are the newest.

It also just dawned on me that I probably should have titled this post the “Doorknobs of Our Colonial Farmhouse” instead of the “Doors of Our Colonial Farmhouse.” It seems the pictures that I took or ended up selecting for this post were not full shots of the doors.

I’m not sure if that was accidental or on purpose, but I do know my next goal will be to find homes for all the piles so that I can actually take pictures of the doors in their entirety.

Anyone want a free piano? I’ll happily give it to you. It’s one of items that was left in this house and one of the “piles” that desperately needs a home.

P.S. Here’s a list of 1980s interior design trends that do not need to make a comeback. Although, I don’t know what HGTV Canada has against ferns.

P.P.S. According to Trulia, NO ONE selects a home based on flooring and doors. I’ll concede. Location, schools, crime, etc. are also important factors in selecting a home…if you want to be responsible and stuff.

If you like old doors as much as I do, you might like one of these posts too!

Jewelry Organizer From an Old Door

Camouflaging the Dog Door

Running Medal Display From an Old Door