Chrissy McDonnell from Doyle & McDonnell, Inc came to me with a job to build a new door for a storage room on one of her client’s properties. The door in question was in bad shape, and the client wanted to match the style of their courtyard entry door, shown in the picture above.

After taking measurements from the courtyard door, I started making up the frame for the new storage room door. I used solid white oak for all the components since it will be an exterior door, and I beaded the frame to match the style of the courtyard door.

After the beaded panels were installed, I added the upper grid and clamped the door up for final assembly. Plywood clamping jigs like the one seen here make life much easier when trying to clamp up a curved surface.

Prior to installation I painted the door using an oil-based primer and then several coats of exterior paint.

Here the door can be seen in it’s final home. I built new jambs, reused the latch and handle from the original door, and added dummy strap hinges to match the courtyard door.

A wider shot showing the final product.