When the owners purchased their property, it had not really be touched since the 1980s and needed a lot of working doing to it. The 1920’s villa had a dark hallway with solid wooden doors and was very enclosed.
The owners knew that glass doors would be the ideal solution, so they started to narrow down their supplier selection concluding that Crittall doors were a lot more solid with more weight to them, as they have a lot more steel.
From their point of view and given the provenance of the house, they were seeking an original, authentic product and wanted to put something back into the house that matched the genre, look and feel of the art deco era.
One of the issues was that as the doors were going into the large entrance hallway, they needed fire doors. Having looked at the products available, one of the things that really ticked the box for Crittall was they had a very good fire rating certificate which the building inspectors were happy with.
After visiting Crittall Specialist Partner, Yes Glazing Solutions’ showroom, they found
their solution having seen the product in situ, and viewed the hardware options. They were really pleased with the robust products from their opening and closing, the weight of them and their sound proofing – which really worked. They commented ‘they look great and they tie in with some of the furniture we had made which is also black powder coated to coordinate.
The main issue was the hallway, which was really dark and dingy when first entering the house, which has now opened up into a beautiful area, with light flooding through’.
Interestingly, whey they moved into the property, they got used to living in an open plan space and were worried about losing light and space and feeling cramped with the space being taken away. However, ‘the new doors created quite the opposite effect, completely transforming the house. The light was still there with all the rooms sectioned off, helping create space which we really noticed. The study office, main reception and lounge were all given a different look and feel’.
The Crittall doors addressed the issue of sound reverberating around the house with no disturbance and are one of the first things that visitors comment on when they visit. ‘They know immediately they are Crittall; their unique design just has the angles and distinctive look, which is great when you are trying to create a period feel and bring back the 1920s glory with the parquet floor and certain other features such as the mottled mirrors.
The doors definitely influenced our choice of interior design’, they added.
