Garage Doors Can Have Character Too

By First United Door Technologies

Whether you're planning to build a new home or are doing a remodel, it's unlikely you think much about your garage door. Still, it's the largest moving part in your home and the broadest piece of curb appeal on display. Today's best garage doors are detailed to blend into the aesthetics of the home's design. Their architectural frame occupies a major portion of the front landscape and has a major impact on the street perception of the home.

Garage doors can have character too. In many homes, the garage doors often incorporate carriage house motifs that greatly enhance the architectural character of the home and the neighborhood. The latest garage doors offer increased style and function that can enhance the aesthetics of any home. And they are safer to use than ever before.

Decorative options are helping homeowners differentiate their doors adding a dynamic architectural accentuation to their home with a selection of glass inserts and new styles of hardware. Homeowners and builders alike are expressing increased interest in carriagestyle garage doors, designed to fool the eye and mimic old-style sliding or swing-up doors. These are drawing the most attention due to their distinctive architectural styling and for traditionally styled homes this is a handcrafted looking door that is best suited.

To fashion a striking first impression, taking metal garage doors and painting them with a custom faux-paint treatment giving them a deeply embossed wood-grain pattern can them a rich, dramatic effect. For a contemporary house, the garage door's character may show through in its panel design, incorporating detailing from different architectural styles. On the other hand, a garage door with clean lines and a smooth finish may be more
appropriate.

Adore Your Door. Your garage door is one of the most visible aspects of your home, so it makes sense to have one with character.

Garages That Say, 'Welcome Home, Cars'

When the car became the dominant means of transport in this country, every new house of any size had to have a garage.

Many if not most of these garages were given a prominent front-row spot - they faced the street. The phrase "attached garage" was a price booster. To be able to walk straight to it from the kitchen without braving the elements was a sign of arriviste luxury.

Often necessitated by lot size, a garage door dominates. Even when it's not protruding, but set flush in the structure's front, it manages to draw the eye, to make you look at - because they are closed most of the time - blank walls. The house becomes a backdrop.

"Welcome home, cars," seems to be the greeting. Here's the problem: Our cars are bigger and our garages are bigger. Most of our garages face the street so you can't miss them. Bulky, boring garages make houses look bad and cheap. In certain neighborhoods, the homes look so much alike that the only way to find your house is to use the garage-door opener and see which one goes up.

There is a need to make the front elevation of the home inviting, and not a moment too soon, for communities that could fairly be described as a vast wasteland of ugly garages. Architects and builders alike, responding to demand from home buyers and home renovators, are designing garages that complement house styles.

Adding distinctive architectural styling to the garage, simply, can add curbside drama.