Your front door isn’t just any other door – it’s a focal point of your home.
Here’s the thing:
The best front doors add plenty of kerb appeal to impress your guests and add value to your home.
At the same, they provide plenty of protection to deter potential burglars and help keep you and your family safe.
You’re probably wondering:
What are the popular front doors in 2024?
How can I make my front door attractive?
To answer these questions, at Door Superstore we took a deep dive into the latest front door ideas.
From different styles to different materials to different colours to all sorts of front door decorations and enhancements, there’s plenty of food for thought to help inspire you!
With that in mind, here’s what we’re going to cover.
Table of contents:
- Modern front door ideas for everyone
- Keep it cool & contemporary
- Embrace a period feel
- Go rustic with a stable door
- Channel your inner artist with decorative glazing
- Add timeless elegance with natural hardwood
- Don’t break the bank with a composite door
- Embrace bold colours
- Match the garage door
- Jazz things up with a door canopy
- Let the light in with external sidelights
- Get peace of mind with smart home security
- Enhance your front door design with a wreath
- Get quirky with an artsy doormat
- Making the most of the latest front door ideas
Modern front door ideas for everyone
There are a few things you need to consider when it comes to the huge array of front door design ideas out there.
Here are the main ones:
Firstly, does your preferred front door match your home’s overall exterior design? If not, is it too much of a clash? For example, an industrial steel external door might look odd in a Victorian house. The same goes for your choice of colour.
Secondly, are its functional and structural characteristics sound enough? A glass door might seem like a great way to add extra light, for instance, but it might also tempt potential burglars.
Thirdly, does your preferred front door match the latest insulation requirements? According to the Building Regulations Approved Document L: Conservation of Fuel and Power, all external doors in new builds or extensive decorations must have a maximum U-value of 1.4 W/m²K as of 15 June 2023.
The good news is:
Whether you’re looking to splurge on the luxurious external door of your dreams or economise with a budget-friendly alternative that doesn’t compromise on style or make your existing door shine with a few enhancements in the right places, we have something for you!
Keep it cool & contemporary
Contemporary front doors have a lot going for them. While they often lack elaborate ornamentation, they’re not dull by any means. In fact, the best contemporary external doors help enhance your home’s overall design through their cool, minimalist lines and an overall emphasis on functionality.
They’re also a highly versatile choice, as they’re manufactured from different materials. Steel, industrial-look contemporary doors are especially popular in the US right now, whereas ones made at least partly from MEDITE TRICOYA EXTREME (an extremely durable timber panel) have been a recent hit with UK homeowners.
Complete the on-trend contemporary look with a long metal door handle and a minimalist metal escutcheon – you won’t be disappointed.
Embrace a period feel
If you live in an older property – or a new build designed to evoke a particular historic style of architecture, such as Victorian or Edwardian – you can take that often elusive period feel to the next level with an appropriate front door.
These types of doors are especially popular with homeowners who want to add a bit of character to their home or emphasise its history.
But don’t stop there:
Delve deep into recent front door planters ideas, add some matching potted plants and flower baskets, and start welcoming your guests to a house straight out of one of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple novels!
Go rustic with a stable door
Want to create a cottage design? Then look no further than a stable door. This type of traditional cottage front door, also known as a Dutch door or a half door, is split into separate top and bottom halves, each one of which can open and close on its own.
Stable doors exude a delightful rural aesthetic and are an excellent choice for vintage residences such as period homes, terraces and charming cottages. These wooden stable doors are meticulously crafted with utmost precision, guaranteeing a traditional appeal and serving as an enchanting gateway to your home.
When adorned with glass panels, stable doors allow ample natural light to enter your home. But if that’s not what you’re looking for, panelled doors can ensure privacy and contribute to a snug and intimate atmosphere.
We strongly recommend a stable door as a back door, especially if you have a large back garden. Check out our Stable door buyer’s guide to find out more.
Channel your inner artist with decorative glazing
When it comes to ideas for front door décor, stained glass is nothing new. As anyone who’s seen a cathedral will tell you, it’s been used across Britain since the Middle Ages.
That being said:
Decorative glazing on front doors fell out of favour at some point during the mid-20th century, partly because of its higher cost.
However, nobody has ever doubted its enduring aesthetic appeal. So, it should come as no surprise that stained glass front door ideas are back with a bang! While it works especially well with period doors, stained glass won’t look out of place even on more modern designs.
And if you can’t afford genuine stained glass, you can apply stained glass effect window film to any modern front doors with glass to get the desired effect.
Add timeless elegance with natural hardwood
If money’s no object, a front door made from natural hardwood – especially oak – is the ultimate in luxury. These beautiful front doors exude timeless elegance and style and make a fantastic long-term investment due to their awesome sturdiness and fantastic durability.
What’s more:
When treated appropriately on a regular basis, oak front doors actually look better with age – which isn’t something you can say about most alternatives. They’re also available in pretty much any front door style, from period to contemporary, making them an excellent match for most exterior designs.
But what if you can’t afford natural hardwood, especially at a time of an ongoing cost of living crisis?
No need to despair – our next front door idea is especially for you.
Don’t break the bank with a composite door
Composite doors offer durability and energy efficiency, making them excellent options for both front and back doors. Made from a combination of diverse materials, such as blocks of reclaimed wood, uPVC or glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), they look the real deal but come at a considerably lower cost.
These types of exterior doors are extremely popular with UK homeowners due to their low maintenance requirements and robust construction, which makes them a secure yet elegant and affordable solution.
Installing a composite front door comes with numerous benefits, with its attractive aesthetic being a major advantage. These doors are incredibly versatile and available in various styles and colours, considerably improving kerb appeal without breaking the bank.
Embrace bold colours
Now, there’s nothing wrong with going with a white, black or light grey main door so long as it matches your overall vision and existing exterior design. In fact, less is often more in certain cases, especially when your home’s exterior already has several standout features that draw the eye.
Having said that:
We would strongly recommend that you consider a bolder colour, such as red. Historically, red front doors had different connotations based on geographic location.
Check this out:
In Scotland, homeowners would paint their front door red to demonstrate they’d paid off their mortgage. Across the Irish Sea, on the other hand, a red door was seen as an act of defiance against British rule at the turn of the 20th century.
Nowadays, the colour of a front door is largely interpreted through colour psychology. So, a red front door would signify passion, energy and action. In contrast, a pink front door would suggest calm, love and kindness.
Key takeaway:
When it comes to front door colour ideas, don’t be afraid to think outside the box (of paint) and experiment with bright, vibrant options.
Match the garage door
Another way to think about colour is to consider the immediate surroundings. If your garage door happens to face the same way as your front door, for instance, matching colours can create a stunning effect, going a long way towards boosting your kerb appeal.
Depending on the size of your garage door, which can often be quite large, you might want to go with soft colour palettes, such as mint green.
And it doesn’t end there:
Surrounding windows can also be painted to match your front door colour, as can a door canopy.
Speaking of which…
Jazz things up with a door canopy
Door canopies are ideal for enhancing the appearance of your front door while providing protection against the elements. They offer a cost-effective alternative to traditional brick porches and contribute to a stylish facade for your home.
Moreover, door canopies are also available in many shapes and sizes, so you’ll have no trouble finding the right one to match your front door style.
When it comes to colour options, once again we urge you to be adventurous. From neutral shades such as green and brown to vibrant primary colours like red and yellow, there’s a lot you can do to spruce up your front door.
For more door canopy inspiration and some specific suggestions, check out our comprehensive guide on modern front door canopy ideas!
Let the light in with external sidelights
Even the most mind-blowing front door will lose much of its wow factor if it leads to a drab and dull interior devoid of natural light.
Let’s face it:
UK weather being what it is, we don’t often get as much sunshine and daylight as we’d like. But when it comes to front doors, there’s a simple yet ingenious solution – external sidelights.
The thing is:
These glazed panels will instantly transform a plain front door into a captivating entrance, allowing natural light to illuminate your living space while still ensuring privacy with their frosted and bevelled design.
In addition, front door sidelights are suitable for both modern and traditional homes, offering an excellent opportunity to enhance the entrance to your home.
Get peace of mind with smart home security
We’ve already mentioned the vital importance of security when it comes to a front door. Yes, structure and functionality play a key role here, but there’s more to it.
Enter smart home security.
And since your front door is one of the first points of entry a savvy burglar might be tempted to test, a smart door sensor is a must-have. It will alert you the second it detects forced entry, giving you and your family much-needed peace of mind.
To make things even better:
Most of these solutions come with smart window sensors and can be paired with cameras and sirens for a complete smart home protection system. They’re also designed to be quite discrete, so you don’t have to worry about ruining your exquisite front door design.
Enhance your front door design with a wreath
Many of us like to put Christmas wreaths on our front doors in December. In terms of front door decorating ideas, they’re an inexpensive, quick and easy way to spruce up the main entrance to our homes and help us and our guests get into that festive spirit.
So, given how much joy such a seemingly little thing like a wreath can bring, why stop after Christmas?
Our answer – don’t!
Think about it:
In terms of wreath ideas for your front door, the possibilities are endless, and they won’t set you back all that much. If you’re feeling particularly creative, you can even create DIY wreaths that incorporate seasonal foliage and colours. That’s also a great project for the whole family – especially younger children.
Get quirky with an artsy doormat
Like a wreath, the humble doormat is a cheap and easy way to update and refresh your front door, adding a touch of personality and charm to your property – just as long as you put some thought into it.
The thing is:
Striking the right balance between decorative appeal and functionality is crucial here. So, make sure you check for features such as non-slip PVC backing for enhanced safety in addition to choosing an appropriate design.
And in case you’re wondering – yes, we left those two easy fixes to the very end just because they can make a handy addition to complement pretty much any one of our more extensive – and expensive – front door ideas.
Making the most of the latest front door ideas
And there you have it:
Not just 13 thought-provoking ideas that blend the old and the new but everything you need to know to reimagine your front door and make the most of it in terms of style, material, colour and much, much more.
The good news is:
Even if you’re working on a tight budget, there’s an awful lot you can do to transform your front door and introduce plenty of kerb appeal, value and security to your home.
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