Most of the custom metal door designs we create are paired with some type of privacy glass. It makes sense for a front entrance, especially when the door faces a busy street or sits close to the sidewalk.
But every once in a while, we get an opportunity to do something a little different.
This project, completed in an older home in the heart of Toronto, featured custom decorative metalwork paired with clear glass instead of the usual privacy glass. And the difference in appearance was surprisingly dramatic.
Clear Glass Makes the Metalwork Stand Out
One of the most interesting things about using clear glass behind a custom metal insert is how much it changes the appearance of the design.
With privacy glass, the background is usually fairly uniform, allowing the metal pattern to stand out against a consistent surface.
Clear glass creates a completely different effect. You can see through the design, which gives the metalwork an additional sense of depth and makes the entire insert feel more open.
It’s a look I really enjoy, but we don’t get to use it particularly often because privacy is usually an important consideration for a front door.
In this case, however, the entrance was located about five flights of stairs above street level, so privacy wasn’t nearly as much of a concern.
Of course, those five flights of stairs also meant carrying all our installation tools and equipment up and down throughout the day. Not exactly my favorite part of the project!
Replacing a Door in a Century-Old Toronto Home
The house itself was originally built sometime around the 1920s, which made this another interesting renovation project.
Anyone who’s worked on older Toronto homes knows that replacing an original entry door can come with a few surprises. Openings aren’t always perfectly square, existing construction methods can be quite different from what we use today, and fitting a new door system into an old structure requires careful planning.
This installation had its share of challenges, but everything came together nicely in the end.
One of our main goals was to preserve the architectural character of the original entrance while introducing a new custom door system.
Matching the Original Interior Trim
Another important detail was the interior casing.
Rather than replacing the original trim style with something completely different, we matched the existing casing profile to maintain the architectural character of the home.
However, we changed the finish to match the color of the new door.
This created a more seamless appearance, allowing the door and surrounding trim to read as one complete assembly while still respecting the original design of the house.
It’s a relatively small detail, but one that makes a big difference in how the finished entryway feels.
Updating an Older Home Without Losing Its Character
One of the things I enjoy most about working on older Toronto homes is finding the right balance between preserving their original character and introducing something new.
Not every renovation needs to look ultra-modern. Sometimes the best approach is to create a new entry door that looks like it could have been part of the original architecture all along.
This project is a great example of that.
The custom metalwork and clear glass give the door a distinctive appearance, while the traditional proportions and matching interior casing help it blend naturally with the rest of the house.
And despite the challenging installation and all those stairs, I’m really happy with how everything turned out.
Sometimes the best compliment for a new door is that it looks like it has always belonged there.