Our five new door designs aren't just boldly daring. They come with an elevated, exclusive feature: door-matched sidelights. Read on to discover more about the inspiration behind the collection, and to learn everything you need to know about pairing sidelights with your entry door.
The short answer: sidelights are the narrow glass windows set beside a front door, and these five new designs are the only ones on our site offered with door-matched sidelights, though we can build matching sidelights for any entry door.
The InspirationThe Inspiration For New Wood Doors With Matching Sidelights
Our founder, Don Rees, was inspired to create new entry door designs that stood out from the crowd. "I always like to design for the Lone Wolf," he says, his name for the homeowner who values originality and uniqueness in design. That's why he started designing and building custom timber-framed homes in his early career. This experience led him directly to designing doors. "Cookie-cutter doors always look, well, wrong in a home like that. A unique home is all about the follow-through in small details. Everything in the home should feel like it belongs there." But these designs aren't just for the Lone Wolf with the custom home, or the person who's already well-versed in architectural design. They're for anyone who wants to add a bold statement to their entryway.
These five new designs have two important things in common. The first quality they all share? Some kind of asymmetry. We tend to expect entry doors to have bilateral symmetry, but asymmetrical designs come across as much more modern and of-the-moment. The second thing that sets these doors apart is that they come with an exclusive option to add door-matched sidelights, extending the unique elements of each door into corresponding sidelight windows. Here are the details about each distinctive new design.
The CollectionThe Five New Door Designs
01The Dresden
This door design features asymmetrical stiles, or the vertical pieces that form the frame of the door. We use rail-and-stile construction for most of our door designs because it accommodates mortise-and-tenon joinery. This style of joinery has been used for thousands of years because it's incredibly strong and reliable. On the panel of the Dresden, three divided glass lights are joined by a slender wood mullion, and a slightly wider wooden panel that allows for a door handle to be installed.
The Dresden's coordinating sidelight design has a grooved wood panel on the lower third, framed with two wide rails, one at the top and bottom of the panel.
02The Odeon
The Odeon, named after the renowned cultural district of the same name in Paris' Left Bank, features a stylish herringbone panel, flanked on the right by two narrow glass panels. Just like with the Dresden, the glass element is broken up by a small wood panel that accommodates for a door handle at an ideal height.
03The Porta Nuova
This bold diagonal door is Don's favorite of the collection. It's named after a neighborhood in Milan, Italy, in a subtle nod to the Italian Futurism that inspired it. A dramatic diagonal panel splits the two glass lights. Coordinating sidelights extend the diagonal motif, giving the entire unit a pleasing sense of continuity. This is a new door, for a new age.
04The Nordstrand
This horizontal glass designadapts our Narrows Five Panel Glass door, with five glass panels that gradually widen from the top to the bottom of the door. This subtle asymmetry creates a dynamic feeling of movement and energy. The door matched sidelights create a beautifully cohesive look, elevating the entryway into a true design moment.
05The Belvedere
The Belvedere door combines several appealing elements into one cohesive piece, including a tongue-and-groove vertical panel, asymmetrical stiles like the Dresden, and six divided glass lights. It balances complexity and ornamentation with simplicity. Its matching sidelight windows continue the two small horizontal mullions that partition the glass at the top, with a grooved solid wood panel on the lower third. The interplay between these contrasting textures creates an incredibly unique look.
Exclusive Feature: Matching Sidelights
These designs come with the option to add matching sidelights because their uniqueness practically demanded it. Only these door designs will have this option direct on our website, but you can request door-matched sidelight windows for any of our entry doors.
BenefitsWhy You Should Add Sidelights To Your Entry Door
01Enhanced natural light
The number one reason why homeowners choose to add sidelights to their front door is to add more natural light to their entryway. The amount of natural light a sidelight brings your home is of course dependent on what direction your door opening faces, but even if it faces North (which gets the least sun), you'll still experience more openness and brightness.
02A Sense of Scale and Drama
Sidelights emphasize the scale of a wider door opening, without making the door itself uncomfortably wide. If your door opening is very wide, but not particularly tall, a sidelight or two helps keep your actual door slab proportional.
03Better Views Outside & Improved Security
Sidelights don't just offer aesthetic benefits. They also have an important functional aspect: they give you a view of your front porch without needing to open your door. This enhances your security.
04More Design Freedom
A sidelight is another canvas for your creativity, in addition to the door itself. You can choose a different glass type than what's in the door itself. Many people choose frosted glass for the door, and clear glass for the sidelights, for example. You can also opt for a specialty glass that provides more texture, like Seedy Reamy or Flemish, or for an Art Deco touch, Reeded glass. If you want the sidelight to have a wood panel on the bottom, or to be divided into several glass lights, that's also available. The sidelight can enhance the simplest door design to something that feels much more special.
What Makes Our Doors and Sidelights Different
Our wood front doors (with or without sidelights) are built differently from what you're used to. It starts with the materials. We use 100% true timber solid wood for our doors, which means no panel products or paper-thin veneers. Only true, solid wood. And we offer over twenty wood species options, from budget-friendly Knotty Alder to luxe Zebrawood.
But our dedication to genuine craftsmanship goes even further, because we also build each door to order onsite in Gig Harbor, Washington. A team of expert craftsmen and craftswomen build every door and finish them by hand. That's what turns our doors from mere utilitarian objects into heirloom-quality works of art. We build with an approach that preserves tradition while continuing to innovate in our design and methodology.
Shipping & InstallationHow Door Units With Sidelights Ship + What To Know About Installation
One thing that's important to know when you buy a front door with sidelight windows online, is that they may ship with the glass separate. This is usually dependent on the overall size of the unit. Any door unit that measures more than 90 inches in both width and height is shipped with the jamb legs disassembled and side light glass separate. This is done to comply with size limits on freight trucks. It also protects the glass panels from being damaged in shipping.
We highly recommend hiring a local contractor to install your door with sidelights. Even if they do not ship with the glass separate, these units require confidence and experience to install correctly. Because of their size, they also need several people to physically install them. If you need additional guidance during the installation, our team is available by phone Monday-Friday at (253)-853-3815 from 7AM-4PM Pacific Time to answer any questions.
FAQSidelights FAQ
What are door-matched sidelights?
Sidelights are the narrow glass windows set beside an entry door. Door-matched sidelights carry the door's own design, such as its glass pattern, panels, or diagonal motif, into those side windows, so the whole entry reads as one cohesive unit.
Why add sidelights to a front door?
Sidelights bring more natural light into your entryway, add a sense of scale, and let you see your front porch without opening the door, which improves security. They also give you more design freedom, since you can use a different glass type in the sidelight than in the door itself.
How do doors with sidelights ship, and can I install one myself?
Any unit larger than 90 inches in both width and height ships with the jamb legs disassembled and the sidelight glass separate, to meet freight limits and protect the glass. We recommend hiring a local contractor, because these large units take several people and some experience to install correctly.
Built to Order in Gig Harbor, Washington
Every RealCraft door and sidelight is built to order from solid wood and finished by hand in Gig Harbor, Washington. Explore our entry doors to find the design that sets your home apart.
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