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This garage door reflects the popularity of the carriage-house look with its divided-light windows and barn-style doors. Photo courtesy of Clopay
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By Craig A. Shutt
Replacing a garage door isn't considered an open and shut case by today's homeowner. It's one of the more popular remodeling projects, and manufacturers have responded with architecturally pleasing styles, colors and sizes to keep up with this new demand.
"People are paying more attention to their garage doors," says Chris Cunningham, president of Cunningham Overhead Door in Louisville, Ky. He attributes that growth in popularity to two key factors. First, savvy consumers are far more sensitive to design ideas and concepts—considering home design more carefully today than even 10 years ago.
In addition, property lots have become smaller as land prices rise, pushing garages away from the back or side of the house and moving them in front.
"When the garage door is right in front, homeowners decide they have to do something to make it look good. Homeowners spend a lot of money on their front entryways and use them once a month, but they use their garage door every day," Chris points out. "For aesthetic reasons alone, it's nice to have a good-looking garage door to come home to every day."
Manufacturers are responding to that growing interest by offering new options. The biggest fashion trend is for the carriage-house look, which features barn-like styles or large hinges and designs that were popular for carriage doors before overhead doors existed. "Many types of homes are using this style, even including prairie-style homes. Almost any design but contemporary has adopted this retro look in the past five years."
Not just a slab of white wood anymore
Along with the new styling come some new colors. "For many years, manufacturers offered white and brown," Chris says. "But now there is a wider range."
Hunter green has become popular again, as has light gray. But taupe "is where it's at right now. Its earth tone complements stone and other natural materials," Chris notes. In addition, it's a popular tone with a range of manufacturers, allowing windows, shutters and garage door to be ordered or finished in the same color to create a unified look.
Manufacturers often face a challenge when creating new colors for steel doors. It's a popular material, but since each door is made from pre-painted steel, a new color requires a significant material inventory. Wood is a cost-effective, versatile alternative that has risen in popularity in recent years, largely because it can be painted easily.
"Steel offers low maintenance, but some homeowners are willing to trade a little bit of maintenance for the look they can get with wood," Chris notes.
Aluminum doors, a much smaller portion of the market, can be powder-coated in different colors, providing more options to complement a home's overall look.
According to Chris, a wider range of window inserts is also available. Sunset designs have been available for decades, but now manufacturers are offering prairie-style grids, leaded glass and other options. "In some cases with new homes, builders have a limited selection of garage doors. But homebuyers can still differentiate their homes by selecting a different window pattern."
Widths aren't changing much, to Chris' dismay. Although door sizes are flexible, being offered in 2-inch increments, the typical two-car garage features a 16-foot-wide door. He recommends an 18-foot-wide option, which is the second most popular. "With today's bigger cars, it can be difficult to pull into a two-car garage with a 16-foot door unless you do it straight on," he says.
The range of options helps homeowners find something to dress up an enormous square space on their homes, but it can complicate the purchase. "We have customers come into our showroom who are really surprised at what we have to show them," Chris says. "They had no idea there were so many options today."
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