Exploring the glazed front door

The entrance to your house should not only look inviting, but its functionality should be flawless, and it should make you feel secure. Welcome friends and family into your home in style with a glazed front door…

Selecting a design for your entrance door can be a vital decision during a home update or renovation. As far as we are concerned, a finely crafted, elegant timber door speaks volumes about your style. It is the first thing that draws your eye as you walk up to a house and sets the tone for what might await your guests beyond the threshold. While an entrance door creates the first impression of your home, it has to protect you and your loved ones from potential break-ins and keep your property insulated from the cold. 

A front door can also have another function when it comes to making your home feel bright and airy. Glazed doors are the perfect solution for dark and gloomy rooms, letting plenty of natural light stream into your entrance hall. They also look great and can provide additional transparency with the world outside; you will certainly never have to wonder who is at the front door again. 

From designs with sidelights and fanlights to vision panels, glazed entrance door styles are many and varied. With so many options available, choosing the right look for your home can be overwhelming, so it is worth taking your time to explore different styles. With elegant designs and innovative glazing, our portfolio of glazed front doors are ideal for a modern, period or new-build home. 

Simple glazed vision panels

If you have found the perfect door, you can make it extra special with glazed vision panels inserted into the door itself. You can opt for a classic pair of glazed panels, or make it stunning with four or even six glazed panels, depending on the amount of transparency you want. 

Choose a pair of long, narrow glazed vision panels for a traditional and refined front door. 

If you’re concerned about glazed panels affecting your door’s insulation, remember that timber outperforms uPVC when it comes to energy performance and glass is even better!

This door’s clean lines and four large glazing panels look elegant against the property’s period features.  

Make it magical with sidelights

Sidelights are narrow windows fitted on either side of an entrance door that let in plenty of light while still allowing for a completely solid timber door. Add show-stopping sidelights around the door to complement its design, or install alongside a door with glazed panels to result in a truly spectacular entrance. 

This bold and dramatic front door painted in deep grey-blue looks impressive with long matching sidelights and glazed panels. 

Dramatic colours and attention to detail make for a stylish entrance to your home. We spray-apply our bespoke entrance doors with three coats of Teknos paint, resulting in long-lasting and extremely low-maintenance joinery. By applying this water-based microporous paint, our doors and windows have an incredibly durable and highly protective barrier against weather conditions, moisture ingress, UV exposure and bacteria. 

Painted in a striking black to contrast with the pale colours of this New England-style home, this vertically boarded door features nine glazed panels, separated by glazing beads.

Get the scoop on fanlights

For some properties, sidelights may not be suitable as they have smaller openings or smaller entrance hallways. Instead, an entrance door with a glazed fanlight might be a better choice. Fanlights are semi-circular windows positioned above the door with glazing bars separating the panes of glass to create the appearance of an open fan. They can also sometimes have decorative lead detailing for a glamorous look. 

A redbrick country home is set off with an impressive fanlight and glazed sidelights, which perfectly complement this duck-egg front door. The door itself is unglazed, which provides more privacy. Even an unglazed timber door offers a variety of design options. Opt for decorative raised and field panels with grooved edges for a traditional look, or choose an elegant boarded entrance door if you want to achieve a modern design. 

No matter what aesthetic you go for, remember that trends can come and go, but excellent quality and durability is always timeless. Our doors and windows are long-lasting because we use Accoya; an engineered timber created using an acetylation process that the Dutch have been perfecting for over 30 years. Made from fast-growing and abundantly available FSC certified trees like Radiata pine, Accoya is a natural, sustainable product that produces minimal wastage. 

The pine goes through an environmentally friendly modification process, which makes it a super-strength version of its original form. This cutting-edge material is virtually rot-proof and does not swell or shrink. Accoya windows and doors are virtually maintenance-free and guaranteed to last 50 years above ground. 

A glazed front door painted in moss green with a solid brass knocker and letter plate leaves a smart first impression on visiting guests. This entrance door features an insulating Tricoya panel with decorative moulding. We designed an eye-catching glazed fanlight above the door, with circular timber glazing bars that give a unique look to the entrance.

Taking glazed doors to new heights

Spectacular glazing and finely crafted doors make for a show-stopping entrance. With such a high proportion of glazing, these homeowners have created a sense of grandeur by designing a front door that certainly stands out from the crowd.

Guests visiting this barn-style new built property are welcomed by a magnificent entrance door with double-height direct glazed screen. Inside, sunlight streams into the hallway and staircase. Able to deliver bespoke, one-of-a-kind designs on a larger scale, the units for the entrance hall were so large that we glazed them on-site before installing them.

This grand two-storey main entrance glazed screen creates a dramatic and unique front of house. We manufactured the screen using an engineered, sustainably sourced oak, painted in Westbury Black with oak stained interiors to match the floor. Double doors with engineered v-grooved vertically boarded panels compliment the scheme and create a wide entrance. We used antique led in the glazing, to protect the detailing’s colour from fading in the sun.

Best of both: combining fanlights and sidelights

This front door stands proudly in the middle of the property with direct glazed wing lights and fanlights to let plenty of light stream into the entrance hallway. While the doorframe and sidelights are painted in Westbury White to match the windows, the door itself is painted with a high-gloss paint in a striking jet-black colour. We also had the house number precisely satin etched into the fanlight.

Designed with two glazed sidelights on each side, this 6-panel entrance door includes an elegant glazed fanlight above. In keeping with the Georgian style, the decorative upper fanlight has a traditional curved fishtail design in antique led.

Using the right kind of glazing:

There is a wide range of glazing options available for both doors and windows, depending on your requirements. Modern-day glazing should reduce heat loss, but there are additional options that are particularly suitable for doors. Safe & Secure glazing is a popular choice, being four times stronger than regular glass it shatters into smaller pieces if broken. For entrance doors, Satin Obscure glazing is also a great option as it still lets a reasonable amount of light in while offering you more privacy. 

This six-panelled single entrance door has a special raised and fielded panel and a decorative bolection mould for a traditional look. Smart, premium bronze ironmongery on the front door gives the ultimate first impression to visitors. The homeowner opted to invest in state-of-the-art glazing which only switches to Satin Obscure in the evenings, giving her the best of both worlds. Not many manufacturers would go to those lengths. Still, we like to be flexible and make sure that we offer a diligent service to our customers to ensure that they have a product that is perfectly suited to their needs.  

To achieve perfect design unity, balance your front door with the scale and proportions of your property. The addition of glazing can help give you more options to play with while exploring different styles. For over 25 years, Westbury Windows & Joinery has developed an impressive reputation for manufacturing top quality timber windows and doors, with design and durability always in mind. Contact us here to discuss your ideas in more detail and receive a free, comprehensive quotation.