Rustica Journal · Ten ways to see a door

Every door has a story.
Start with yours.

The room you want. The details you haven’t noticed. The decisions that make it work. Explore ten visual stories about choosing, designing and making a door.

Find your next good question

Design concept showing solid wood, clear glass and divided-light doors in a similar interior. — One opening, three treatments. An AI-generated design concept; explore the visual comparison in story 04.

Story 014 min read

Slim dark-framed glass interior door beside a chair.

Choose well

A beautiful door can still be the wrong door.

The right interior door fits the way a room is used. Start with movement, sightlines and the surrounding furniture; choose the material, glass and finish after those needs are clear.

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Story 024 min read

A pair of paneled wood interior doors with long pulls beside a living-room sofa.

Know the details

Similar doors. Very different prices. What changed?

Compare door quotes by matching their specifications and included work. A lower total can represent a different door, fewer supplied components or a different installation scope.

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Story 033 min read

A full-height wood door with a diagonal brace, round knob and white frame.

Know the details

What a product photo can’t tell you about a door.

When buying a door online, pair the room photograph with a dimensioned drawing, both faces, an edge view, hardware details and a written list of included components.

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Story 043 min read

Design concept comparing a solid wood door, clear-glass door and divided-light glass door in a similar interior.

See the difference

One opening. Three completely different rooms.

A solid door conceals the view through its panel. Clear glass keeps the next room visible. Divided-light glass adds a frame pattern to that view. Choose based on what you want to see from both sides.

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Story 053 min read

A white Half X barn door on a dark track beside a sofa and floor lamp.

Make room

The barn door look you love. The space it actually needs.

A surface-sliding barn door needs a clear travel path and a place to park beside the opening. Plan furniture, switches, handles and trim along that path before choosing the panel.

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Story 063 min read

A tall diamond-grid Chateaux pocket door beside a wood bench in a light interior.

Make room

Read the room before you read the door catalog.

Bring a door specialist the whole opening: photographs from both sides, clearly labeled measurements, the intended movement, surrounding obstructions and a short description of how the room is used.

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Story 073 min read

A full-height natural wood Lewiston barn door with a black pull, hangers and sliding track.

Inside Rustica

From drawing to doorway.

A custom door begins with an agreed specification. That information guides the materials, fabrication, finishing and delivery planning. This walkthrough explains the stages in Rustica’s published process and the decisions to confirm for your own order.

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Story 083 min read

White-framed mirrored sliding doors in the Current Wellness studio beneath exposed wood trusses.

See the difference

The barn door beyond the farmhouse.

A barn door describes a sliding arrangement as well as a familiar rustic look. Change the panel, frame, finish and hardware, and the same movement can work with a very different room.

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Story 093 min read

Industrial building shown in Rustica’s published company story, with mountains behind it.

Inside Rustica

From pizza-box sketches to custom doors.

Rustica began with Kate and Paul Allen’s design ideas, a family garage and a small basement showroom. Their published account traces the business from a dream of a mountain cabin to a focus on doors and hardware.

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Story 103 min read

A white Half X pocket door partly open beside a cabinet against a pale blue-green wall.

Make room

The door decisions to make before the walls are finished.

Before walls are closed, coordinate the door arrangement with framing, required support, wall services and the finished floor. Use the selected system’s instructions and an agreed drawing so each trade is planning the same opening.

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