How I got my “new to me” double arched doors

How do you get an instantly updated beautiful front porch? How about installing arched doors?

I’ve always loved the look of arched doors but I didn’t know how to make it work with my single front door. When we remodeled our first floor, I seized the opportunity to make the change.

Don’t be afraid to shop salvage shops, that’s where I found my beautiful mahogany arched doors

Ever see something in a store and you just know you’re going to buy it? Like unless it’s $20k or something ridiculous, that thing you’ve just discovered is GOING to be yours. I’m not an impulse buyer. In fact, I think about things way too long to a fault because sometimes I go back and the item I wanted to buy is gone. But these doors I just loved from the moment I saw them in the salvage shop. Here’s how I found them and added them to our newly remodeled home in Kentucky horse country.

We’ve been remodeling our home since the summer and the transformation has been amazing. I’ve loved seeing how our contractors have quickly worked to take down walls and pull up floors and add life to our re-imagined space. We’ve wanted to do this since we moved to Kentucky from San Diego in 2016 and are just now getting around to doing it. It takes money and planning and money and vision and MONEY so it’s taken a while to get here.

Our contractors took most of our first floor all the way down to the studs so we’ve redone the kitchen, foyer, dining room, laundry room and master bath. It’s been a big project for us but well worth it to be able to update everything. We went over budget on the cabinets and floors and not by just a little bit. By a lot. So, we promised ourselves we’d stick to the budget when it came to our new front door. Famous. Last. Words.

Our old door was a green/turquoise single door with glass panels on either side. I loathed it. In the words of the Grinch, “Hate, hate, hate, double hate, loathe entirely!” Ha! It was dated and there was a patch of discolored green where we changed out the doorknob to one that fit differently.

We decided to take out the existing glass panels on either side and the door and replace with double doors. Our budget for the new doors was $3500. Have you tried to price doors recently? Man. They’re so expensive. You can barely get out of Lowe’s with their basic front double door option for that price.

We were intent though on staying in or even below our budget for the doors. “We don’t need some big fancy full wooden door or anything,” my husband said as I nodded my head feverishly in agreement. “Amen!” I added. Never say things like that. Cut to a few months down the road and you’ll undoubtedly be doing/buying the thing you swore you wouldn’t.

My coworker and morning meteorologist suggested I try Architectural Salvage in downtown Louisville. I’ve been there before but it’s been years. I love looking through old salvage spots and wondering about the people who once owned all the items collected.

One of my favorite things ever is take something old and give it new life or find a way to incorporate it in an updated space. I’m a sucker for a good story and I love something with a an interesting history. One of our favorite decorative pieces in our home is the super old set of carved wooden doors that we got from Architectural Salvage in downtown San Diego when we lived there for a decade.

We got some other vintage doors in San Diego that we use as decor inside

Those doors were one of our first splurges ever for our small Mission Valley condo in California. The ceilings were tall enough to add them as an ornate piece behind our TV and nearly every person who has come in our home since then has commented on them. I wish I knew more about them or where they came from.

I always imagined they’re from an historic church and as the church caught fire, an old man saved the doors because it’s where he first saw his bride walking toward him on their wedding day and he couldn’t bear to lose them. I know. I know. My imagination is a little off the charts.

So I visited the Louisville Architectural Salvage location one day briefly in between the morning newscast and the noon show. I’m a TV news anchor in Louisville. I work part-time because I’m also a mom to four kiddos and I want to focus on them.

I saw these double doors tucked away behind a bunch of other stuff. They were large and regal. Arched, mahogany and glass and they spoke to me. I inquired and the bespectacled man behind the desk told me they were “18.” He added that they were worth at least 4 or 5 times that. I asked him if we were talking $1800 or $18k because I really didn’t know. His lips slowly started to smirk and he asked me which I was willing to pay. I firmly told him neither one; I was just curious. He said it was the former.

I thought they were vintage and I was excited at the thought of that. The employee at Architectural Salvage explained to me that they really weren’t that old at all. They had been installed in a big home in Louisville and the owner didn’t like the stain shade so they ripped them out and ordered new ones!

I can’t imagine doing that but I’m glad they did because I benefited. I mean, why not just sand down these and stain them in the color you prefer? That’s neither here nor there but these are the questions I have should I ever meet this homeowner.

I found my same arched doors online but the price is much higher

If you’re interested in buying some similar doors to these I found some from a company called Grand Entry and you can click here to see them. These are unfinished and they start at $10k and that doesn’t include shipping. If you want to get them stained that will add to the price significantly.

I went home and thought about it and told my husband. I measured our space and came back to the store and measured the doors. It was going to be a tight fit to get them in out existing front door space if it worked at all. I showed our builder the pictures and asked him if they would work in our space.

He said he’d look into it and ask his door guy. After a little back and forth it was deemed it was likely they would work. By this time I’d been back to the store probably four times to check on them. I gave the evil side-eye to any shopper (AKA the competition) within a 20 yard radius of my doors.

After I’d been there several times, I finally asked an employee if they ever put things on hold for customers. The worker told me they do it all the time and asked how many months I’d like for them to hold it. Months? I can be indecisive, but Lord help me if it takes months! I put them on hold and then came back the next week to get them. It was a score because they fit in our mini-van.

They stayed in our garage while the door expert built a jamb for them. This apparently is pretty involved and you’ve got to do it just right. He came back several times always remarking that he “thought” it would work out. I kept thinking that “thought” better get firmer because I’d already bought them and was adamant they’d go at least SOMEWHERE in our home.

Our contractors had to remove our current doors and do a little demo to make space for the taller arched ones. Then they had to install the jamb and the doors and then repair the places they’d taken out to make it look seamless.

Then came the drywall, sanding, painting, adding the trim, painting again and then staining the imperfections on the door. It took several weeks to accomplish. Oh, and we decided to add a puppy to our family during all of this because we don’t believe in spreading out the chaos to make things more manageable. We prefer to do it all at once.

Once it was nearly done, my husband and I went to Lowe’s to pick up a door knob. We quickly realized we’d need a custom door knob and those aren’t readily available. We went to the more custom store and learned it would take 2-3 weeks to arrive. WEEKS. The door was being installed that day. We put a rush order in so it only ended up taking a week or so. So for a while we had the beautiful doors up with a big piece of wood across the front of it so a stranger couldn’t simply push the thing open.

Once my husband put the doorknob on the painters worked on some of the imperfections of the doors they really started to come together. I absolutely love the look of them now that they’re installed. They let so much light in and offer a beautiful view of the foliage outside. There’s also a pond across the street and I love having a better view of the water.

We have yet to get the final bill for the install but it’s going to be several thousand for the jamb and all the work that had to go into it. So after all of this, we are going to go over our door budget after all. It’s okay because I LOVE my doors. They are beautiful and had we bought them and had them stained and sent to us it would have been many thousand dollars more so we really did end up saving money this route.

Sometimes you’ve got to spend to save, right? I’m already dreaming up ways to decorate them for the Christmas and every holiday in between. Can’t you see them covered in hearts, or clovers for St. Patrick’s Day? Let the decorating begin! Let me know what you think.

Erica Fox

Hi I’m Erica! TV news anchor and mom to 4 littles. I’m obsessed with creating those “wow” moments in life through crafting at home, cool travel adventures and special celebrations with loved ones. Thanks for joining me on this adventure!