For log cabin owners the love of wood usually doesn’t end with the log walls. It resonates throughout the home touching the owner’s selection of flooring choices, cabinets, doors, and even sometimes the interior wall finishes. Some of the loveliest log homes have hardwood flooring throughout, special order or custom built hickory cabinets, wooden doors, and sometimes even all of the interior walls covered with 1×6 pine or cedar tongue and groove in lieu of drywall. From the outside elevation the rustic finish choices start with wooden doors for log homes.
When the drawings are done for your home, if you choose a special shape or size for your entry door, it should be reflected in your preliminary and final drawings. The log shell is precut for door and window openings, so it is vital to know how large those openings are going to be. A 36″ standard entry door can greatly change in shape and size if a side lite is added to each side. A side lite can even be turned horizontally to allow more light to pass into the room. This wooden front door’s presence is very dramatic with the nite lite door, three lite side lights, v groove raised lower panels, and six lite horizontal member that was added above.
More wooden exterior door choices also include arch top doors. Log arches within a home are very attractive. They add an element that cannot be replicated in a framed home. Adding an archway in the front door opening can be done. Here is an arched wooden French door set. It is a double opening door with three raised v groove panels per door. This custom wood door could also be built glass panels. The decision to add a wooden French doors or an arch top door needs to be make in the drawings stage of the construction of your home so that the archway or wider opening is precut into the log shell. This is especially important when a handcrafted log home is chosen because the handcrafted log shell is fully precut before it is shipped to the job site.
Exterior wooden doors can also be styled with stain glass panels and site lites, carved panels, or various finishes to the glass. Here we see a standard size 36″ wide by 80″ high entry door that is anything but standard in look. Here we have a Michigan White Cedar door with a six lite panel in the top and a carved woodsy pattern with bears, trees, and a stream in the bottom. The carving is accented with black to make the design more pronounced.
Wooden doors for log homes add a flair that metal clad or a fiberglass door could never hope to replicate. One drawback might be the maintenance required for a wooden entry door. But if you have a log home then you have already embraced the maintenance to keep the logs looking new, so the door is just one more small area to care for. And it adds so much charm and grace to your home’s exterior.