Evolving Doors: New Life For Adorable Wooden Finds

These space savers have been around since Victorian times.

They are still fashionable and ideal for tight rooms.

Salvaged pocket doors include those that look like French doors, simple solid versions and panel doors.

If re-using a reclaimed pocket door, make sure the tracks are in good shape, and replace with new hardware if needed.

The original idea behind the French door is to let light pass freely through the living space.

You would be wise to use reclaimed French doors on the interior because the single panes don’t have the insulation value of more solid doors.

All French doors feature top-to-bottom glass and, typically, the more panes, the more sophisticated the look.

This is the most rustic style of door, with vertical boards forming the body of the door, and battens running horizontally and/or diagonally to hold the whole thing together.

The doors look odd when painted and have poor insulation, but the right one can add to the charm of a cottage, and they make excellent doors for fences bordering flower gardens.

This is a common style used for both exterior and interior openings.

The doors are crafted of rail-and-stile frames, with panels that are either flush (flat), recessed or raised.

Flat-panel doors are the plainest and more commonly used as interior rather than exterior doors.

Raised-panel doors offer the most ornamental appearance.

New cabinet doors can give the kitchen a facelift.

Reclaimed cabinet doors are an inexpensive alternative to replacing or refacing your existing cabinets.

Cabinet doors come in flat, raised-panel, and recessed-panel profiles, as well as versions with glass inserts either divided or undivided by mullions.

Glass inserts can be frosted, bevelled, machined or plain glass.

Upgrade a room’s look with a nice set of vintage closet doors, or make long bookshelves out of disassembled solid-wood bifold doors.

Louvred, solid and glass folding doors are all commonly reclaimed from older homes. Stripping and staining solid-wood closet doors can add style to a bedroom, while painting louvred doors can jazz up a boring area of any room.

Putting a window in an otherwise solid door has long been a way to let sunlight into a home and take advantage of a view.

Panel lights, the term used for panes of glass in doors and adjacent areas, come in many shapes and sizes.

Exterior doors most often have glass in the top half of the door, and the light is frequently made of art glass.