From Phone to Home: Design a Beautiful Entry
by Rachel Lyon, Editorial Director for The House Designers®
Buying exterior products to complete your home is a tricky endeavor. Everything should contribute to curb appeal and put together a coherent design that fits the house’s architecture, but it’s not like you can test a new roof, siding, or doors before you buy. A number of design tools are now available to help tackle this problem, though. Here’s how Therma-Tru® Doors’ DoorWays™ app and Design Your Door tool will help you discover the perfect entry configuration for your home!
Get started by downloading
DoorWays™, which is available on iTunes and Google Play. Do you recognize the stunning modern home shown here on the opening screen? That’s our
House Plan 9038 with a fresh new look!
Building a Door on Your Phone
Whether you’re new to the exterior design game or you’ve done it before, you know that the front entry is a natural focal point on a home. A good door goes a long way toward creating a welcoming façade, so use every tool at your disposal to come up with the best configuration. The DoorWays™ app is a convenient option that simplifies the process, but if you still aren’t sure where to start in terms of style for your home, check out these Style Considerations for helpful guides and tips.
Start by creating an account to save your door builds to, providing a project name, and inputting the height and width you need for your new door. The options available down the road will be narrowed based on the space you have. Then, scroll through the different configuration options until you find a setup you'd like to try. You can always come back to this stage after saving other door builds to create a variety of looks to test on your home.
The house you're working on appears at the top so you can see how your decisions play out. Tap and scroll to select the various components that make up the entry system. The choices available will shift as necessary; if you select a solid door like the
2 Panel Plank Soft Arch Classic-Craft® Rustic Collection™ one that we did, there's no need to find glass for a doorlite. The options for door style and transom shape vary based on the collection, so you should explore them all to see what’s available, but remember that not all houses have designs that allow for features like large half-round transom windows.
Check out the final picture and decide if you love it! If you want to be really thorough, use images taken from different distances to study the overall appearance.
Save your final door build to retain its information and compare different options for your home. DoorWays™ also makes it easy to share your builds via email, which is a significant time-saver that can put you directly in touch with a dealer when the time is right.
Building a Door Online
If you can’t or don’t want to use a smartphone to design and virtually try on a new door, there is also an online tool that you can use from your computer. The Design Your Door tool offers the same basic features in a different layout, and it might be preferable for users who want to see more options and the final picture spread out on a bigger screen. Just be sure to have a photo of your home ready to use, because you can’t just snap one as soon as you’re ready to try on your new door.
The
Design Your Door tool leads you linearly through four steps, beginning with the basic questions like what kind of project it is and the configuration you want.
In Step Two, you’re presented with a variety of door collections that fit your basic criteria. Narrow the choices on the left with how large of a doorlite you’d like. If you’re not sure, select that at the top to narrow choices by the style you’re trying to match instead.
Step Three is where you can really personalize your entry! Just click on each portion (door, sidelite, etc.) separately to be presented with numerous finishing possibilities. Don’t forget to click across the bar at the top, which has everything from color to hardware.
At the very end, you’re shown a summary of your fully configured door. If you want to test it on your home, upload a photo here, and if you love how it looks and are ready to commit, request a quote next!
The great thing about both the DoorWays™ app and the Design Your Door tool is that they are fun and easy, and they take a lot of the stress out of selecting a very important product for your home’s exterior. Whether you find the perfect entry today, need to fiddle with the variables some more to come to the best solution, or would like to seek human assistance, Therma-Tru® Doors is ready to help. Not sure where to begin? You can connect directly through the app or tool, or find a local dealer. There’s no reason not to take advantage of all of this support to make sure your home puts its best face forward!
