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I was going to split this entry into two parts because I had so many photos, but then I thought, it has been so busy around LPO, I will only have more photos later, so why not just go for it? I will begin where last I ended: a photo I took last week out by the hawks’ nest, shown above. Compare that to the photo at the end of my last post and you will see that we have had such smoke from fires! The Wallow and other fires in Arizona, a fire up north in Raton, and now a fire burning in the Santa Fe National Forest. The smoke is so thick there are days when you can’t see the mountains. Below is a pic I took yesterday, of the fire in the SF National Forest.
I am sure the smoke is not good for the little (ha!) baby bird lungs.
They are browning up, and soon, I am sure they will be flying. Ah, kids, they grow so fast! If you click on the picture, you will see the above baby in more detail. Not quite as cute as they were when they were fuzzy though. To be honest, I am not quite sure what is going on in the pic below. I think there are only two baby hawks. Now that they are browning up, it is harder to tell them from the mom & pop, but I think what this is is the whole family hanging out in the nest. That is living in close quarters!
The clavos that were in the middle of the finishing process in the last entry have been installed on what is to be a chapel door.
 The handle hardware is quite interesting, looking like a mechanism from the turn of the century.
 Custom-forged strapping completes the look. How perfect is that?
That dramatic and beautiful front entry that was nearing completion in the last blog post got hardware and clavos and custom art glass.
 There are many kinds of clavos, as you can see if you compare the smooth button-like clavos used in this door to the raised, chiseled-looking ones in the previous door. But no matter the style, there is something about them that, to me, seem to finish a door, whether used sparingly as accents, or in a regular pattern as adornment.
The two doors that were just beginning in the last entry are out of the shop and looking fine! It still amazes me the transformation each piece goes through, whether it is a door, a kitchen cabinet or a wine bar.
 This door had an interesting band at the middle, but otherwise did not look exceptional when I studied it on the work bench. Look at it now! From afar it looks rather elegant and understated and up close, the details are fascinating. The arch at the top of the door makes an interesting shadow.
 There are metal braces that are original to the antique door, the twists of metal coming through from the back for the chain on the back of the door, as well as a thick hanging chain that has etched its swing pattern into the wood over the years.
 That will make such a nice muted drumming when the door is opened and closed. And, speaking of clavos, there are many of the original antique star clavos at the top, middle and bottom of the door. The band near the bottom was most likely identical to the one across the middle of the door, but in the original door, this band was at the very bottom of the door and has been worn from years and years of use. I think what I like most about this door is that it is asymmetrical. As you will note in the picture of the door on the work bench in the earlier entry, the original antique door has the arch at the top, the two bands, and on the left side, there is a slim carved column. All of this is set into a frame of reclaimed Douglas fir.
 Though it would be possible to match the missing carved column (the guys are unparalleled at this kind of work), the door is celebrated intact, with the result being far more interesting.
Even the back of the door is fabulous, and I hope the door is placed where the back will be seen and not left facing a wall.
 The back of the door is rough hewn, with the original chisel marks visible. There are again the metal braces as well as the folded nails that hold the adornments to the front of the door, and the thin chain that was used as a handle to pull the door closed.
 The slabs that made up the original antique door, being hand chiseled, are not completely flat – they have a somewhat rounded surface and on this side, the reclaimed Douglas fir into which they are set is a slightly different color, functioning as a frame for the antique door.
The other door that was in its beginning stage in the last entry, with its inset carved panels, is also out of the shop. I believe these are to be master bedroom closet doors.
 In their unfinished state in the previous blog entry, you can see the different types of wood in use – the carved antique panels, the uncarved, but antique pieces, as well as the relatively newer reclaimed Douglas fir. Compare that photo to the finished doors and they are hardly recognizable.
 The hand-rubbed patinas are blended in such a way that there is no telling the antique woods from the newer woods. The colors are so skillfully blended that it is difficult sometimes to pick out the different colors that make up the finish – kind of like pixels in a photograph. Seen from afar they blend to make one color, but blown up, the pixels are all different colors. Here we have black and green and red and probably a bit of yellow. Those boys in finish, they take inspiration from the original colors in the antique material and run with it!
 When I watched the doors shown above going through production, I thought they were gates – very large gates, to be sure – I would guess they are about 8 feet tall when done – but turns out they are doors to a sunroom.
 The original antique Mexican doors are set into the reclaimed Douglas fir – I love all the nail details, and the tiny, tiny clavos on the peep doors.
 The original green and blue of the antique doors is matched on the newer wood framing. The back is painted a nice bright yellow. When I thought they were gates and I saw the back painted that energetic yellow, I picture them in the background of the soft sage green of all the chamisa we have here. Delectable!
 But now I picture the yellow as a backdrop to morning tea and toast, while reading the paper in the sunroom. My imagination just runs (perhaps a little too) wild when I look at some of the creations on the floor!
Wandering around after the guys had gone home the other day I came across this door frame in the wood shop.
 I had to go back the next day to ask about it because it seemed that knobby part sticking out of the arch must have a definite purpose. Turns out it is another pintle hinged door! I believe this is the first arched one we have done. The hinge needs a flat surface, so hence the little outcrop. The inset in the arch, shown below, is carved by hand (those narrow lighter pieces are temporary guides – not part of the frame).
 The corresponding receptacle at the floor of the frame is shown below.
 This client is getting two pintle hinged doors, the frame for the other, a rectangular door is shown behind the arched frame.
 When I was asking Owen, the crafter of these doors, about the outcropping in the door frame, we were talking about how pintle-hinged doors seem to be all the rage at LPO this spring. He said that the excitement was kind of lost on him until he went out to California to work on an installment for one of our clients who actually had one of the pintle-hinged doors. That was where he got it. He said it was just so grand and dramatic – really impressive. It had a greatness about it and he said he wouldn’t have been surprised if the house had had a moat. So, I suppose if your home is your castle, it is only logical to have a pintle-hinged door! I will post the progress of these doors in the weeks to come.
Fooled again! I thought the piece shown above was a kitchen cabinet, but it turns out that it is a media cabinet. I should have figured out that it wasn’t a kitchen cabinet from the fact that most kitchen cabinets go to the floor – they are not raised on feet. This cabinet is about 6 feet long and 3 feet high. The television will sit atop. The open doors are to get grillwork, to facilitate the use of remote controls. I love the use of and expansion on the original antique cabinet panel colors and that the sides are as elaborate as the front panels.
The corners are crafted from the legs of antique dowry chests.
If I may go off on a tangent, here are a couple of pics of hardware that caught my eye, as well as a couple of shots of the floor in the finish shop.
I will close with hopes that the wildfire threat is contained and photos of a masterpiece – check out this grand fireplace mantel! It is made with a giant antique carved corbel and antique carved columns. Spectacular!
Posted in Antique Columns, Antique Corbels, Antique Doors, Antique Mexican Doors, Clavos, Custom Hardware, Custom Media Cabinet, Door Handle Hardware, Doors, Exterior Doors, Fireplace Mantel, Front Entry, Hardware, Interior Doors
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Tagged Antique Doors, Antique Mexican Doors, Architectural Antiques, Exterior Door, Fireplace Mantel, Front Entry, Interior Door, Kitchen Pantry Doors, La Puerta Originals, Reclaimed Antique Material, Recycled Building Material
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 The big door is gone. And none too soon! It was outside, all wrapped up, when we had roaring winds and it is rather unbelievable that it wasn’t knocked over. When last we saw the door, in the “What’s New” entry, it was a mere (though ginormous) surround, unfinished, in the wood shop. Now, here it is, complete with door, in all its glory. How’s that for a front entry?
 I would guess it is at least 12’ tall. It has really cool cast hardware, and custom dimpled clavos on the door and the hardware.
 Here it is being crated:
 (you never think of the fact that you have to transport these things). The door is wrapped with sheets of styrofoam to protect the finish during shipping, then encased in a crate, which is then wrapped against the weather. Here you can see how it is bolted onto the truck bed:
 And up at the beginning of this posting, you can see it wrapped and ready to go! I think it went to Wyoming, so, unfortunately, I won’t be taking any installation pics of it any time soon.
 In the same entry, I posted a picture of a cabinet that turns out to be a kitchen island. I think the evolution of a piece is so interesting. In the picture above we see the final finish, with bits of blue added, and the nice heavy countertop. Although I personally like a kitchen island with overhang for seating (people always say they feel as though they are watching a cooking show, sitting at my kitchen island), it’s nice that the front of the island is not obscured by bar stools.
 The back is my favorite though, with the hardware and the detailing on the drawers.
 This picture a bit blurry, and only the island has a countertop, but here you can see the island in context with the other kitchen cabinets.
 Aside from the island, this is my favorite cabinet from this group of kitchen cabinets. It is a pantry cabinet. I like the heavy screen at the top and the swirl of the first antique carved panel.
 Also in the “What’s New” entry, I mentioned that I had not seen any activity at the hawks’ nest in the giant crane, but I just must not have been looking at the right times. I heard the babies before I saw them. I was out in the yard on Monday and I heard this thin kind of cross between squawking and cawing. Mom was up there with the two chicks, and I watched them for a little while.
 Then the dad came home:
 You can see below that his mouth is open. He was not happy that I was there and he kept screeching at me or about me.
 Whichever it was, the mom and the babies hunkered down and were no longer in view. On Thursday, a grey, overcast day, one of the chicks was really moving around. Kind of scary, since they are probably at least 50 feet off the ground.
Things are always being moved around in the raw material yard, as pieces are pulled to be incorporated into doors and cabinetry, or items are gathered for clients to choose elements they like. You never know what you are going to find out there, and Monday was no different.
 I have no idea the reason for this gathering of table, bench and chairs, but it amused me. And it was a really good cloud day:
 Sometimes I finally see things that have been there for a while. On Thursday I noticed this piece of Nuristani carving, mounted high at the top of a post. It looks like one of the big business signs on Cerrillos Road – advertising the raw material yard, I suppose.
The wood shop is the same, in that you never know what you are going to find, although there is more method to the madness there. I like to go in when the guys are at lunch, or after they have left for the day, partly because there is less sawdust in the air to interfere with pictures, but also because it is a little mysterious, like time has stopped. It is very quiet (normally it is quite loud – often from the distance of the front offices sounding like an angry hoard of bees) and pieces are on display in their unfinished state. Some are further along than others and it is obvious what they will become – a door, a kitchen or bath cabinet, etc. Others are at the beginning and I make a mental note to come back another time to see what they will become.
 This piece is kind of in between – it is obvious it will be a door (interior? exterior?) or a gate, but its final form is not clear – we will have to come back to see where it is going.
 When it was in the woodshop, I hurried passed the front entry shown above at a rough stage – after the antique material had been inlayed, but not refined – and made a mental note to come back to photograph it. The day got away from me and I forgot, and the next time I saw it, it had been refined and some of the finish applied. The transformation was dramatic, and I was really sorry that I had missed the opportunity to document the progress, particularly since it was a good illustration for a point made earlier in the “What’s New” entry, that antique wood takes the finish differently than newer wood. But, even though I missed the earlier shots and the door is almost finished, it deserves to be featured, since it is such a lovely door.
 It incorporates intricate floral carving from an antique surround and a carved panel in the lower half. The kick plate is adorned with clavos that are nicely balanced with two clavos on either side of the arch at the top of the door (you will probably have to click on the full door photo to see the clavos details). The grillwork has curls, but they not so elaborate as to distract from the carved inlay. The finish is going through some revision, and if the difference is significant, I will post a pic of the finished product.
 With the missed opportunity of that door in mind, I took this picture of a door in progress. If you click on the picture, you can see the detail of the different finishes on the antique material and the reclaimed Douglas fir. I will post pictures as the door progresses and you will be able to see the skill with which our finishers are able to blend and match patinas of these different woods of different ages. They really are amazing at what they do!
 Here we have another dramatic front entry nearing completion. Soon to come will be glass and hardware, and possibly some grillwork.
 It features some really nice antique material – carved columns, carved panels, fragments from elaborate door surrounds…a lot of history going on there…
 This exterior door is Margie, Scott’s assistant’s favorite door. It is a very tall door, at least 10 or 12 feet, with substantial custom forged iron strapping at the edges. The peep is covered with beautiful antique iron work of a circular pattern.
 The distinctive hand cast hardware complements the door. I love the details of the keyhole flap.
Speaking of hardware, I keep passing a door in the shipping area and I am always drawn to the handle. The door incorporates an antique Mexican door made of mesquite wood.
I don’t think the handle is antique, but it goes really well with the antique keyplate and other adornments on the door and it is just so solid! It has a slightly rough texture and is beefy. It is deceptively simple, working well with the solid mesquite of the door.
 This is a cool door, set to become even cooler. The antique arched door is set into a square panel, and it is soon to be decked out with custom finished clavos.
 Here they are, all lined up, drying in the first stage of finishing, a gold undercoat. Next they will get a distressed black finish, like the one on the right, shown below, and then be sealed.
 I can’t wait to see how the doors looks when the clavos are installed. I will post a pic.
I will leave you with a picture I took while waiting for the hawks to do something. I like the horizontal line the Rail Runner tracks impose on the landscape.
Posted in Antique Grillwork, Antique Mexican Doors, Antique Raw Material Yard, Clavos, Custom Grillwork, Custom Hardware, Custom Kitchen Cabinetry, Custom Kitchen Island, Custom Metal Work, Door Handle Hardware, Doors, Exterior Doors, Front Entry, Hardware, Interior Doors, Kitchen Cabinets, Kitchen Pantry Doors, Nuristani Carving, Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets
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Tagged Antique Doors, Antique Mexican Doors, Architectural Antiques, Custom Kitchen Cabinetry, Exterior Door, Front Entry, Hand forged iron work, Interior Door, Kitchen Cabinet, Kitchen Island Cabinet, Kitchen Pantry Doors, La Puerta Originals, Reclaimed Antique Material, Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets
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 No end to the wind, but things have finally started to green up this spring. And Wow!, has it been busy! I haven’t even had time to finish working on the rest of the installation pics for a “Visit part II” entry. This week though, I did work on the pictures of one of the doors from that day of shooting because I am going to use them for another purpose, and I thought I would share them (be sure to click on the photos to see the detail).
 In the first “Visit” entry, I said how fun it is to see a piece that I didn’t really give a second look out of the shop that looks so great when it is installed. These’d be one of those! I walked past these doors every day without giving them a thought. I think the finish got kind of washed out in the mix of lighting in the warehouse. But when I saw them installed up at the house, I was so taken with them. They are the doors to a large master bath and the client wanted the look to be feminine, without being frilly or frivolous. The finish is a subtle wash of green and pink that looks lovely and sophisticated, going so well with the soft green of the troweled walls in the bathroom. The hardware is cast bronze, with heavy crystal knobs – the feel in the hand is cool, smooth and sensuous. The shutters can be left open to brighten the bedroom hallway, and even when they are closed for privacy, the transom windows let the light in. This is an instance where everything works so well together.
I will have to wander around with my camera this week and put up more pictures. Some really great things are coming out of the shop! In my last entry I posted a shop pic of a surround being built for a giant door. The whole shebang has come out of the shop and hardware is being installed this week. The thing is HUGE!!! Very impressive. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures from the yard. I thought it was funny that there seemed to be spring colors all around the yard last week.
I have been seeing some of the items I mentioned in the “Wandering” entry come out of the shop, so I thought I would give an update on some of those, as well as what’s new here this windy, windy spring.
Number one, at least for me, would have to be the addition of a cat on the premises. LPO has always been pet friendly – we had a cat at our old location, Scott & Melissa bring their dog to work, clients very often bring their dogs to appointments, and all three of my dogs spent their puppyhoods coming to work with me. In late January I was out in the yard looking for one of the antique Nuristani doors that I wanted to photograph, and I heard a meow. Our new location is smack dab between highways 25 & 14, so a meow was rather unexpected, but there was a tiny black cat. I picked her up and she rode my shoulder as I walked the yard. She has since moved inside, made herself quite at home, and I don’t think she has been outside since! She lounges on Scott’s drawings (while he is working on them), makes the rounds to visit people, regardless of whether or not they are “cat people”, comes when called (!), answering to the various names people have given her (Midnight, Middy, Kitty…I don’t think any two people call her the same name) and is generally spoiled rotten.
 Staying on the animals, I have not noticed any action this spring on the giant crane in the back that has been home to a pair of red tailed hawks. Every year they have raised several chicks in their urban aerie. If I see anything happening I will bring my telephoto.
On the La Puerta Originals’ human family front, the Missus of our Senior Project Manager has launched a fabulous new website!
Check it out at www.hooplagallery.com. I am making notes for my gift giving (and, hopefully, receiving) pleasure. I love the whimsical nature and obvious quality of the pieces. Place your orders now!
I am always delighted when I am surprised by a finished product. Usually it is of the Land of the Giants sort – what I think from a photograph is a regular door turns out to be 15 feet high, or what I think is a giant door, turns out to be a small but elaborate window.
 As an example, when I came upon the front entry shown above in the loading dock, my jaw dropped. In the photos I had processed it had looked like a regular Dutch door, set into a large surround, but the thing was HUGE! Over 15 feet tall. If you click on the picture to see the detail, look at the left side of the photo and you can see the fingers at about shoulder level, of the guy holding the moulding in place. Even knowing that, it just does not look as massive in the photo as I know it was. So, I was delighted when I peeked into one of the back rooms and saw the giant curving beam!
It is not a ceiling beam, it is part of a huge trellis!
 Yummy, yummy, yummy – I can just see it dripping with wisteria, buzzing with bees.
Speaking of giant doors, check out this one coming to life back in the woodworking shop.
 I can’t wait to see how it will look when it’s finished – the color, oh, and I guess the actual door that will go in what is just a surround for now! I will post the pic when it is complete.
 More tin-clad work here on the interior door shown above. I don’t know what the core is made of, but the door has a nice solid feel that belies the delicate look of the antique tin.
 I believe this is a vanity (either that or a kitchen cabinet). Really nicely done – the understated finishes highlight the character of the antique wood and the carved antique panels.
Our favorite coffee table/step stool has been outfitted with really nice rubber-clad wheels – no clickety clack there! And, most importantly, they have brakes. Phew!
Check out these giant columns!
 I don’t think the antique columns were originally this massive. I believe they were expanded and fleshed out, which is no mean feat, not only construction-wise, but because the antique wood takes the color and finish differently than newer wood.
In the background of the columns you can see the transformer door. It got some really great hardware that I haven’t seen before. Nice and beefy.
The ghostly white door is done!
 The back got a nice rubbed finish and is much like the front we saw back in January, but the front has been newly adorned with hand-painted figures, with some of the details being etched into the wood.
 The darker center of the door is actually a large screen for the operable long inner window.
And, lastly, that antique green Indian gate that we saw on the work table has been transformed into this striking front entry.
 And it’s another pintle-hinged door! Once so rare that every time one came out I would have to look up the word to confirm the spelling, I now have it down and I think this is the 3rd or 4th one this year! I just love the back of the door – you would never guess the whole thing wasn’t ancient – and the way the gates are set into the back preserves the original pivots – a nice touch.
Posted in Antique Raw Material Yard, Coffee Table, Doors, Exterior Doors, Front Entry, Interior Doors, Nuristani Carving, Reclaimed Antique Tin, Vanity
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Tagged Antique Doors, Antique Gates from India, Antique Nuristani Door, Architectural Antiques, Coffee Table, Dutch Door, Exterior Door, Front Entry, Interior Door, La Puerta Originals, Reclaimed Antique Material, Reclaimed Tin, Recycled Building Material
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 A little over a week ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to photograph the recently completed home remodel of one of La Puerta Originals’ clients. I was worried because we had been having horribly cold weather that was accompanied by dark, forbidding skies – nice for moody art photography, not so great for indoor photography. But we were in luck – the day was clear and sunny, with a balmy high of 39 degrees predicted. Nestled in the mountains surrounding Santa Fe, the house was bright with skylights and really beautifully done. Unfortunately, I had not seen the house prior to the remodel, but, interestingly enough, it was a house La Puerta Originals had visited before. The entry gate and several interior doors were early LPO creations from over a decade ago.
We were graciously welcomed into the home and immediately struck by the pair of golden wings mounted in the entryway. They were a recent find at a local consignment shop, seemingly made for the space. LPO did not make them, but, as I have said here ad nauseam, La Puerta Originals can build anything, so you too can have a jaw dropping pair of wings adorning your entryway, or bedroom wall, or portal…
 After I got over the wings, I, of course, had to start in the kitchen. Amazingly, though obviously not planned, since it came first, the focal point of the kitchen is the gold-leafed stove hood surround – a nice bit of continuity with the wings. When I processed the finished product photos of the stove hood last summer, I remember thinking that I would really like to see the kitchen it was for, since I would never have thought to put gold leaf in my kitchen. It is a really beautiful accent, not a theme and the effect is rather whimsical.
 Created from an antique, plaster coated and gold-leafed piece of crown moulding, it was originally a bright gold.
 The finish was redone to include more of a copper coloring, making the finish more complex and quite elegant. Hmm…whimsical and elegant…quite a feat!
The wood flooring in the kitchen was done by LPO in a dark walnut stain. I would have thought that the contrast with the white-washed cabinets would have been too great, but the effect is that the floor just seems to disappear. The wood flooring is comfortable under foot and gives the room a more hushed quality than would tile.
 The kitchen island, shown here without the stools, has two surfaces. The seating area has a solid wood countertop in a finish similar to the flooring, while the work area of the island is fitted with a poured concrete countertop.
 The work side of the kitchen island is embellished with antique material – carved feet and decorative corner pieces. The solid wood cabinet and drawer fronts discretely conceal the inner workings –
 the cabinet on the left end holds double waste receptacles, here one holds garbage, the other recycling, that glide out for easy access, the middle cabinet is actually a solid wood panel that fronts the dishwasher, and the right end houses a wine cooler.
 Around the corner, at the end of the el, is a handy beverage refrigerator, again fronted with a solid wood panel, as well as an additional work surface.
 The refrigerator front is fitted with solid wood panels that match the kitchen cabinets, with space made for the ice dispenser and covers up top for the access panels.
 The matching kitchen pantry cabinet across the room lights up when opened, and, more importantly, shuts off several minutes after the doors are closed. It has shelving on the inside of the doors and rotating shelving that glides smoothly to reveal more storage at the rear.
 
Next to the pantry cabinet is an alcove for the espresso machine and the occasionally used microwave.
 The cabinet doors retract for more extended use of the espresso machine, and a handy shelf pulls out below the cabinet for an additional work/serving surface.
The kitchen cabinets on the cook wall are also decorated with antique carved finials as footing. To the right is the silverware drawer, inset with custom solid wood dividers.
 The spaces are deep for plenty of storage with the centers cut lower, making for easy access when supplies are low.
 Like many of the kitchen cabinets, the one below the silverware drawer is fitted with easy gliding shelves that bring the no man’s land of the back of the cabinet into plain view. I would definitely have had the lower shelf done in this manner as well – saves getting on your hands and knees to retrieve what’s at the back!
 On either side of the stove are easy glide, pull-out pantry cabinets, keeping herbs & spices and other supplies within easy reach.
And, ah, beautiful knife storage, so easy to access. With sharpeners and other related supplies in the cubby at the front of the drawer.
I haven’t finished adjusting all of the photos, but I wanted to start with and show off the kitchen pics sooner rather than later. It is great fun to see everything installed and in working order. I love those moments when I recognize a piece that I had admired when it came out of the shop. Or, seeing a piece that I hadn’t really thought much about, but that, once in place, makes you go, “Wow, that’s great!”. Opening and closing drawers and cabinets, you can really feel the difference in custom, solid wood kitchen cabinetry. The substantial feel and even the sound convey a quality not found in factory-made kitchen cabinets. (It was the difference in the sound that I really noticed when I was closing my own (uncustom) kitchen cabinets later that day – more of a hollow clang than a nice solid thump.) The hand-rubbed finishes, the customization, the special touches like the stove hood, really make every La Puerta Originals kitchen unique and so special. I will post more pics as I work on them, but for now, here’s that fab stove hood again!
Posted in Custom Kitchen Cabinetry, Custom Kitchen Island, Kitchen Cabinets, Kitchen Pantry Doors, Kitchen Remodel, Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets
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Tagged Custom Kitchen Cabinetry, Kitchen Cabinet, Kitchen Drawer Insert, Kitchen Island Cabinet, Kitchen Pantry Doors, Kitchen Remodel, La Puerta Originals, Reclaimed Antique Material, Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets
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 The winter light has been so vexing. Trying to take photos of finished product with the long shadows and harsh light has caused us to move around, trying different locations, in a vain attempt at improving the photographs. This is no small feat, when you consider how massive some of LPO’s creations are. A positive outcome from this was that I discovered several areas of La Puerta Originals that I never knew existed!
One is apparently where the metal work is done. I usually don’t go tromping through areas where people are working, and a lot of areas require hard hats and safety glasses, so there are bound to be areas unfamiliar to me.
Plus, you have to keep in mind that the built up part of La Puerta Originals is over 18,000 square feet, and the property is on more than 4 acres! It was a little eerie because the wind was howling outside and the shop had a kind of abandoned feel.
Having photographed that area, I thought I would continue to wander around, taking pictures of things that have been happening lately. (Don’t forget to click on the pictures so you can see them in more detail.)
I like the colors in this gate from India that was on one of the work benches. I will be interested to see the final form it takes (I’ll post a pic).
This is a funny item – it is a rolling coffee table (wheels yet to be installed) with stairs atop. It is for a small over-the-garage guest apartment. The intention is for the coffee table to be rolled over to the loft bed and the stairs used to access the bed! That is such a perfect example of the creative problem solving La Puerta Originals excels at – there is always a solution, and usually it is a fun one!
I call this door The Transformer. It is one of the more tricked out doors I have seen lately. It has louvered shutters and sidelites.
The door within a door shown below is not done yet, but I liked its ghostly appearance. I think it is going to end up being more opaque, and there is going to be carving added to the surround.
 I will post the finished product when it is done, but I wanted to take a picture of it now because I think the white wash is so beautiful.
Look at this massive, curving beam! Again, there are so many things that La Puerta Originals can do that are simply extraordinary.
These next two items are for the same custom kitchen design.
 The refrigerator panel was hand carved here on-site. Yummy.
 And the custom kitchen cabinets feature this beefy woven screen. That’s a nice contrast with the warm wood.
Speaking of custom cabinets, check out these built-in closet cabinets with lighting!
That must be some closet!
I have been periodically photographing this door for at least a month. No picture seems to capture its complex beauty, but I keep trying.
This is a door for the same client.
 I think it is the door for their media room.
  It is a barn slider, meaning it is mounted from a track above. This too has a really beautiful finish, with touches of red in it.
 My wandering coming to a close, for the finale, for the same lucky client, is this pintle hinged front entry. Check out how the arcing pieces continue into the sidelite panels. Fabulous!
Posted in Barn Sliding Doors, Coffee Table, Custom Kitchen Cabinetry, Custom Metal Work, Doors, Exterior Doors, Front Entry, Interior Doors, Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets, Uncategorized
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Tagged Antique Doors, Antique Gates from India, Architectural Antiques, Barn Sliding Door, Coffee Table, Custom Kitchen Cabinetry, Exterior Door, Front Entry, Hand forged iron work, Interior Door, Kitchen Cabinet, La Puerta Originals, Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets
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 La Puerta Originals was recently mentioned in an article in The Peak Magazine. As I read it, I kept wanting to look up the pictures of the items LPO made for the couple featured in the article. The next time I went in to LPO, I looked at the clients’ history and they had some really nice doors that I remembered admiring before they shipped. So, I thought I would feature some of them for my next entry. You can see the Peak Magazine article in the What’s New section of the website, which is in the dropdown menu from “Our Story” in the sidebar menu.
The front entry, shown above, is made with beautifully carved panels that originally adorned the doors to an antique cabinet, shown below.  A panel was constructed for the center of the door, incorporating two carved panels in the front and two in the back, with a peep door at the top. The rest of the panel was made with the remaining wood from the cabinet doors. The panel was then set into the base structure of the door, which was made with reclaimed Douglas fir. The peep was fitted with tempered glass and custom made grillwork.  The back of the door, shown above, features an iron pigtail latch for the peep door, and the handle hardware for the door is hand cast bronze with a deadbolt and thumb latch.
 In the article it says that the stair risers are pieces of antique doors found in Santa Fe. I don’t find record of any stair risers in their file, so I don’t think LPO made them. But here is an example of some fabulous stair risers we did for another client. Makes me wish I had stairs in my house!
I remember being shocked when I processed the door and surround shown below. So grand and elegant, I assumed it was a front door or a library entry. When I saw that it was doors to a pantry, I thought, “WOW”.  In the article the client says they wanted it to look like a piece of furniture, so it makes sense to me now. As with so many of La Puerta Originals’ doors, they really are more like a work of art, while also being functioning doors. They were constructed using antique Mexican doors, whose plain panels were enhanced with antique carved fragments, and an elaborately carved surround. Unfortunately, the picture I have of the doors is pretty grainy. We are working with the photographer to purchase his installation picture of the door (it wasn’t printed in the magazine), so I will add it when we get that image. In it you can see the hardware better, which is nice because the hardware goes so well with the carving and the black finish.
 The door shown above is a closet door that is on the wall adjacent to the pantry doors. The brown and tan of this door creates a nice contrast to the black wash of the pantry doors.
 The family room door, shown front and back above, went through a number of incarnations before the final finish was decided.
 The door was created with the antique door shown above, which was set into a base door constructed with recycled woods. You will have to trust me when I say that the door looks much better in person. There is something about the finish that doesn’t take well to being photographed. It does, however, serve well as an illustration of the finish process. When doing a project, finish samples are created on wood for approval. But, just as with swatches of wall paint, sometimes it doesn’t come out as you imagined. The pictures below show the evolution of the finish, starting with the yellow of the door being replaced with a kind of orange-pink color. Then it is refinished in a fashion very similar to the original finish of the antique door. The next versions involve removing more and more paint, exposing the wood. It is interesting to see the evolution.
There were a number of other doors that were not featured in the magazine. As mentioned in the article, the idea/story for the master suite was that it was an old cabin and the doors for this area reflect that.
  The master bedroom doors, shown front and back above, are very cool. They are rustic barn slider doors that are mounted on a track. Made from antique Mexican doors, appropriately enough, probably from a barn, shown below, they are finished with a rich aqua wash that exposes the grain of the wood.
 The master bath doors, shown front and back below, continue with that rustic feel – they were made with antique reclaimed barn woods and patched with antique tin.
Also made for the master bedroom was this kiva fireplace mantel crafted from an elaborately carved corbel.
 As you will note in the magazine, the clients opted to keep the kiva unadorned, so the mantel now resides in our showroom and is used as a shelf. It could be yours when we get the showroom sale page up and running!
 This bath door, shown above, has that rustic feel but a different construction and finish. I remember admiring the finish on these doors and I wish the photos better conveyed the subtle complexity. If you click on the photo you can see it larger and in more detail. The upper inset panel has a beautiful green and black patina which is continued to a lesser extent in the lower panel. The remainder has really nice, warm variations of deep wood finishes.
 The laundry room door, shown front and back above, is again constructed with recycled barn wood, patched with tin and finished with a warm hand cast bronze push plate that will develop a really nice patina with the wear of the years.
 I have a couple of photos of the next door. The final door, shown front and back above, was photographed indoors and is a bit grainy, but the doors always look more complete with the addition of the final hardware. I also include an outdoor photo, shown below, of the front of the door before the hardware was added, because it is clearer and the color a bit more true. The finish was not redone between the two photos, that is just the effects of the different lighting conditions. The patchwork of recycled woods and the hand rubbed finish are just yummy!
And finally, the piece de resistance is the master hallway door, shown below. Crafted with a single Nuristani carved panel from the early 1800’s operating as an inner door, this door truly is a functional work of art. The carvings of Nuristan are so distinct, and this one features two stylized horned goat heads which are pre-Islamic prestige symbols. The panel is carved from a single piece of wood – the goat heads are not carved and attached to a slab of wood. The back of the panel shows the individual rough cuts. Both sides are beautifully featured, with the remainder of the door functioning as a frame. There is quite a bit of history held in that door.
Posted in Antique Raw Material Yard, Barn Sliding Doors, Doors, Exterior Doors, Fireplace Mantel, Front Entry, Interior Doors, Kitchen Pantry Doors, Nuristani Carving
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Tagged Antique Doors, Antique Mexican Doors, Antique Nuristani Door, Architectural Antiques, Barn Sliding Door, Exterior Door, Fireplace Mantel, Front Entry, Interior Door, Kitchen Pantry Doors, La Puerta Originals, Reclaimed Antique Material, Recycled Building Material
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 When I was looking for photos for the previous “Grillin’” entry I came across some interesting things that were metal, but not grillwork. Some of the work was antique and some of the work was handmade by La Puerta Originals’ craftsmen, and some pieces were a combination of the two. The variety in the pieces that LPO creates continues to astound me. It really is true that if you can dream it, La Puerta Originals can build it!
A lot of the original metal work that LPO does is embellishment of doors and gates. These details enhance the finished product and make them distinct.
 On the driveway gates shown above, LPO created hand forged, heavy iron hinges decorated to match the clavos adorning these substantial wooden gates.
For the driveway gates shown below, the custom metal work is both decorative and structural (remember you can click on the photos to see them larger and in more detail).
 On the front of the gates we again have heavy metal hinges decorated with clavos that are slightly smaller than those featured on the gate.
 On the back of the gate you can see that the gates are fit into an iron frame, and that each side of the gate is fortified with a heavy iron strap.
 The entry gate shown above is not the final finished product. This piece is a good illustration of the effect of different techniques and finishes on the look and feel of the finished product. In this early version of the gate, the iron strapping has a rusted patina that is very similar to the deep mahogany finish used on the wood.
 Above, we have the final version of the gate. The strapping is new iron without the rusted patina, the horizontal pieces have been doubled and the finish on the wood is more of a dark honey color. The two versions don’t even look like the same gate. The final version looks much more beefy and three dimensional – it has a rather gothic feel to it.
 On this interior door, shown above, the embellishments are simple and clean. Small clavos are neatly placed on the door, with two large clavos that echo the disks in the hardware: the flip cover for the deadbolt and the escutcheon for the pull ring. The result is a beautiful, very understated door.
 For the grand front entry shown above, custom iron strapping, decorative hinges and enormous clavos were forged to enhance the finished product.
 The ruffled edge on the hinges reflect the Asian influence of the design.
 The iron work on the king sized bed shown above, is both structural and decorative. The bed is framed by four antique carved columns. The celestially-themed headboard is held in place with curving hand-forged braces
 and the remaining sides are firmly braced with bars set into diamond plates. Large clavos embellish the foot and headboards.
 On a rustic split log staircase, shown above, a beefy handrail is made with heavy iron including heavy iron pull rings added as decoration.
 A custom made screen for a kiva fireplace includes a heavy flower bud at the center of the action.
So, those were some examples of LPO’s original iron work. Now I will show some examples of pieces that use antique metal work.
 The base for the table shown above is an antique plow disk, the top, a wagon wheel. The surface will be a heavy, tempered round of glass that will extend beyond the top centerpiece by about 18″ on either side.
 For this garden table, shown above, once again wagon wheels were used. The base uses the whole wheel and for the top, just the wagon wheel rim forms a frame for the antique cast iron centerpiece.
 This table will also be topped with a heavy, tempered round of glass.
 The matching chair uses the same cast iron pieces, set into a hand forged chair base and back. It is so easy to picture this set tucked into the corner of a lush garden, looking as though it has been there for years.
For this next piece, the photo that shows the full door is awful (talk about a photo that doesn’t make the cut for the regular website!),
 but the detail is worth showing and the full door shot gives you the context. Earlier I did a blog entry on tin, but I wouldn’t have put this door there because that was about repurposing antique tin, and this door is an original antique panel that has been stabilized and placed into a door frame. The patina on the metals is so rich and the wear on the oversized nailheads quite beautiful. The panel has so much wear on it that it is amazing it has survived. And that is so much of what La Puerta Originals does – stabilize and preserve these antique treasures for generations to come.
Posted in Antique Grillwork, Custom Bed, Custom Grillwork, Custom Metal Work, Doors, Driveway Gate, Entry Gates, Exterior Doors, Front Entry, Interior Doors
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Tagged Antique Doors, Architectural Antiques, Custom Bed, Driveway Gates, Entry Gate, Exterior Door, Front Entry, Garden Gate, Hand forged iron work, Interior Door, Reclaimed Antique Material, Recycled Building Material
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 Walking through the shipping dock, where a lot of our photos are taken, I passed the piece of grillwork shown above. I went back to take a closer look because I noticed that there were flecks of color in the finish. If you click on the photos you will see the detail in the finish – the patina on this is amazing.
 There is moss that looks like barnacles and, combined with the rusted iron and the leavings of peeled away paint, it makes the most beautiful display. It could not be replicated – something like this takes so many, many years to develop. I went back inside to get my camera, and then wandered through the yard looking at other examples of grillwork.
 This is a detail from a pair of massive iron gates. They are so huge and heavy, the men could not move them, they had to use the forklift.
There is grillwork in a good portion of La Puerta Originals’ projects and the variety is incredible. Not only is antique grillwork employed, but LPO does a lot of custom iron work. This can be a piece that is directly based on or inspired by an antique design, or it can be an entirely new creation designed to fill a specific need, or designed by a client.
 Let’s start off with one of my favorite pieces of antique grillworks, shown above. This is from a Northern New Mexico jail. La Puerta Originals bought all of the grillwork when it was demolished. It is a fascinating piece of New Mexico history. There is graffiti and there are hatchmarks scratched into the surface of the paint and iron. This grillwork has been used in a variety of projects, such as door sidelites or gates, but it seems to be used most often for wine cellar doors, such as the one shown below.
Another type of grillwork is from window coverings from Ragistan. The grillwork is set into a wooden frame for the window that is much like a carved picture frame.
  Though these two pieces look similar at first glance, a closer inspection reveals that they are of different styles.
 The first I think of as a tire pattern, the second as a rope pattern.
 It is amazing to me that they look as though they are woven from something flexible, such as rope or rawhide. Often when grillwork from these windows is used, the spikes that hold the grill to the frame are clipped or utilized again to hold the grill in place, but in the door below, crafted from an antique Mexican door, they are left intact and give the door a rustic, rather medieval feel.
 
The grill below is yet another style of weave. Looking closely at the picture it is possible to see remnants of a painted flower design on the frame. This grill was incorporated into the front entry for the same client as the previous door. Custom iron strapping with large clavos edge the top and bottom of the door. The picture is rather deceptive in terms of showing the scale of the door – it is over 8 feet tall and almost 6 feet wide. There is also antique cast grillwork from fencing or grates to stoves (they make great door peep covers, as Scott jokingly illustrates below).
On the door shown below, made of reclaimed Douglas fir, several sections of cast iron grillwork are artfully combined over bubbled glass.
The grill used in the gate shown below is from an antique window grill of another sort.  They are frames from Colonial Egypt that extend out from a window several inches, swinging up on hinges, that are lined with mesh screening.  Above is one that ended up being made into a fireplace screen. With the mesh screening removed as it is incorporated in the gate, the grillwork feels surprisingly elegant, like the framework of a spider web. It works beautifully with the antique Mexican door that forms the basis of the gate.
The door below, made with carved panels and reclaimed Douglas fir, uses a delicate antique grillwork that I imagine almost disappears at a distance.
I love this grillwork. It is am trying to find out the period and place from which the doors hail.
 
As for doors for which LPO has crafted the grillwork, the styles are just as varied, from modest to ornate:
 Simple knobbed rods front custom bubble glass in this shuttered door that incorporates antique carved panels and reclaimed Douglas fir.  This door is comprised of an antique Mexican door, antique decorative edging and reclaimed Douglas fir. Small spirals grace the intersections of the iron bars that cover the non-operable peep.  While not metal, I love the use of wooden pegs for the "grillwork" in this transom. The door in constructed with carved panels originally from columns from a library that was entirely paneled in wood.  I will have to research the provenance of the materials used to make this pantry door, which I find so dear. Curling grillwork decorates the shutter.  Knobbed rods are used, again, with bubble glass, and scrollwork adorns the arched transom. This library entry is constructed with carved panels from a Pakistani cabinet from the '30's and reclaimed Douglas fir.  Getting a little more elaborate, the custom grillwork on these sliding doors is nicely framed with heavy reclaimed Douglas fir.  And wow! How beautiful is this? A front entry framed with carved columns and set with intricately carved inlay.  The scrolling grillwork is the crowning touch for this gorgeous door.  Cast iron grillwork finishes this transom constructed with elaborately carved sections of antique door surrounds and reclaimed Douglas fir.  The door, with transom, as seen from the exterior of the house.  The door with transom, as seen from the foyer of the residence. Grillwork has been used to nice effect in some of the custom kitchen cabinets that La Puerta Originals has created:
 Here carefully fitted grillwork adds interest to the back of the kitchen cabinets.  Fine grillwork with a rusted patina fronts this under sink kitchen cabinet. Here are some of the other items La Puerta Originals has created with a variety of grillwork:
 Cast grillwork is welded into a frame for this table base that will have a glass top.  Antique grillwork is welded into this balcony railing.  Custom scrolling grillwork is fitted into this table created with antique fragments and legs. A tempered glass top will complete the piece.  Antique scrolling grillwork is fitted into brackets for these shelving supports.  Antique grillwork is framed with antique wood to form this window that will be set into a garden wall.  This grillwork was custom made at La Puerta Originals for a stair railing and catwalk of a custom home in Colorado.  The railing curves all the way up to the second floor.  The catwalk connects two wings of the home.  Here grillwork is set outside this colorful shuttered window.  These grilled, curved windows were designed and built for The Scorpion Bar in Connecticut. If you look very closely you can see them and other items, including the bar La Puerta Originals built, in the virtual tour on their website (turn your sound down first!) And lastly, here are some antique doors from the yard that have some special grillwork. Like the elephant gates, I can’t wait to see how they are used! 
Posted in Antique Grillwork, Antique Raw Material Yard, Custom Grillwork, Custom Metal Work, Doors, Exterior Doors, Front Entry, Interior Doors, Kitchen Cabinets
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Tagged Antique Doors, Antique Mexican Doors, Architectural Antiques, Coffee Table, Custom Kitchen Cabinetry, Front Entry, Hand forged iron work, Interior Door, Kitchen Cabinet, Railing, Reclaimed Antique Material, Recycled Building Material, Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets, Wine Cellar Door
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 I am so intrigued by the architectural antiques in the yard. They are so much more than just recycled building material. It’s fun to compare the photographs of the antique material originally selected to the photographs of the finished product. It is a little like seeing a parent in the face of a child. Sometimes it is dramatically different and you can barely isolate the piece of raw material, and sometimes the finished creation looks just like the raw material, right down to the colors in the finish.
 These colonial doors from Egypt, shown above, were fashioned into an arched front entry. The doors were scaled down from the original towering panels by adding shorter panels, made from reclaimed Douglas fir, below the grillwork. The carved astragal was enhanced with additional antique material to extend the entire height of the door and floral carvings based on the flourishes below the grillwork were added at the top of each door panel. While the door is now painted brown, little bits of the original red peek through, giving the finish an additional dimension. 
As I studied it, I recognized that the door we did for Carter’s Furniture, shown below, was based on this door.  The feel of the original antique grillwork was beautifully recreated, hand-forged on-site at LPO.  (For installation photos of the Carter’s Furniture door, please see the Commercial Projects portfolio section on the website.)
 In this next case, the finished product was very much informed by the originals raw material – carved cabinet doors from 1930’s Pakistan, shown above.  The carved panels are integrated into the construction of a master bath vanity, and the original colors are recreated in the hand-rubbed finish. The decorative edging of the cabinet doors is used to frame the vanity drawers, and the piece is topped with a heavy piece of reclaimed Douglas fir.
This is an antique culinary mold from the San Blas Islands of Panama. 
It gave rise to the design of a coffee table.
 
Antique carved panels were incorporated into the sides of the table, whitewashed and iron strapping was added to the corners.   A thick piece of tempered glass completes the design.
 The romantic balcony shown above is made from beautiful carved fragments from an intricately carved Middle Eastern door surround.   Antique finials top each corner and the whole balcony rests on corbels made from reclaimed Douglas fir. 
 For the fireplace mantel shown above, once again, intricately carved fragments from door surrounds are blended to form the finished product.   You will note in the installation picture that this is not a free mounted fireplace mantel, but the finishing piece, topping off a stone fireplace surround.  The carved pieces are beautifully fit together, with the tassel-like carving in the column bases forming the corners of the mantel. It really gives a finished look to the fireplace surround.
(Mantel installation photos by Tom Coplen.)
 The carving on the antique door surrounds is so varied, even within one piece. As an example, here is a picture I took last week of just the top of one of the surrounds in the yard. There are a number of very different floral designs, geometric carvings, several types of ornamental edging, individual carved panels…the variety is astounding. And the styles vary from surround to surround. They are very rich sources of antique material for incorporation into kitchen cabinets, doors, vanities and other things that I have been showing here.
 In the installation shown above, we have more of the surrounds contributing to the designs of the custom kitchen cabinets, the stove hood and the kitchen island. The solid wood kitchen cabinets have incorporated antique carved panels and antique tin. They are finished in a hand rubbed patina reminiscent of redwood. The kitchen island and the stove hood panel are a contrast with their dappled cream finish inspired by the granite countertop.  The kitchen island ends have a centerpiece of joined geometric carvings, framed in a zigzag pattern. The top edging on the ends of the islands bows out, while the edging on the front and back of the island is flat so as not to interfere with the drawer handles. 
 The granite for the top (shown in the installation photos only) is cut fairly close with very little overhang so as not to obscure these details of the kitchen island cabinet.
 The stove hood panel incorporates a piece of surround with an abstract tree design and geometric carving. The finished panel retained several of the iron stars that decorated this section of the surround.
 The final piece we have here is really spectacular – a mesquite veneered dining table with a removable leaf.
It incorporates another intricate floral carving from a surround into the leaf and reclaimed mesquite in the form of an antique Mexican door, some ranch fencing and fragments.    The table is constructed from recycled heavy timbers and reclaimed Douglas fir. This is topped with veneer sheared from the antique material. Mesquite is such a handsome wood. It is incredibly heavy and develops a really beautiful patina. These are some of the pictures documenting the creation of the table.   
With the exception of the red tint on the carved centerpiece, this table celebrates the natural finish of the mesquite in all its variety. To me, it is very representative of what La Puerta Originals is all about: from the inspiration and design of the table, to the use of reclaimed building material, to the incredible craftsmanship and teamwork that went into the creation of the finished product.
Posted in Antique Grillwork, Antique Raw Material Yard, Coffee Table, Custom Grillwork, Custom Metal Work, Dining Table, Doors, Fireplace Mantel, Kitchen Cabinets, Vanity
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Tagged Antique Doors, Antique Mexican Doors, Architectural Antiques, Custom Kitchen Cabinetry, Dining Table, Exterior Door, Fireplace Mantel, Kitchen Cabinet, Kitchen Island Cabinet, Reclaimed Antique Material, Recycled Building Material, Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets
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The handle hardware is quite interesting, looking like a mechanism from the turn of the century.
Custom-forged strapping completes the look. How perfect is that?
There are many kinds of clavos, as you can see if you compare the smooth button-like clavos used in this door to the raised, chiseled-looking ones in the previous door. But no matter the style, there is something about them that, to me, seem to finish a door, whether used sparingly as accents, or in a regular pattern as adornment.
This door had an interesting band at the middle, but otherwise did not look exceptional when I studied it on the work bench. Look at it now! From afar it looks rather elegant and understated and up close, the details are fascinating. The arch at the top of the door makes an interesting shadow.
There are metal braces that are original to the antique door, the twists of metal coming through from the back for the chain on the back of the door, as well as a thick hanging chain that has etched its swing pattern into the wood over the years.
That will make such a nice muted drumming when the door is opened and closed. And, speaking of clavos, there are many of the original antique star clavos at the top, middle and bottom of the door. The band near the bottom was most likely identical to the one across the middle of the door, but in the original door, this band was at the very bottom of the door and has been worn from years and years of use. I think what I like most about this door is that it is asymmetrical. As you will note in the picture of the door on the work bench in the earlier entry, the original antique door has the arch at the top, the two bands, and on the left side, there is a slim carved column. All of this is set into a frame of reclaimed Douglas fir.
Though it would be possible to match the missing carved column (the guys are unparalleled at this kind of work), the door is celebrated intact, with the result being far more interesting.
The back of the door is rough hewn, with the original chisel marks visible. There are again the metal braces as well as the folded nails that hold the adornments to the front of the door, and the thin chain that was used as a handle to pull the door closed.
The slabs that made up the original antique door, being hand chiseled, are not completely flat – they have a somewhat rounded surface and on this side, the reclaimed Douglas fir into which they are set is a slightly different color, functioning as a frame for the antique door.
In their unfinished state in the previous blog entry, you can see the different types of wood in use – the carved antique panels, the uncarved, but antique pieces, as well as the relatively newer reclaimed Douglas fir. Compare that photo to the finished doors and they are hardly recognizable.
The hand-rubbed patinas are blended in such a way that there is no telling the antique woods from the newer woods. The colors are so skillfully blended that it is difficult sometimes to pick out the different colors that make up the finish – kind of like pixels in a photograph. Seen from afar they blend to make one color, but blown up, the pixels are all different colors. Here we have black and green and red and probably a bit of yellow. Those boys in finish, they take inspiration from the original colors in the antique material and run with it!
When I watched the doors shown above going through production, I thought they were gates – very large gates, to be sure – I would guess they are about 8 feet tall when done – but turns out they are doors to a sunroom.
The original antique Mexican doors are set into the reclaimed Douglas fir – I love all the nail details, and the tiny, tiny clavos on the peep doors.
The original green and blue of the antique doors is matched on the newer wood framing. The back is painted a nice bright yellow. When I thought they were gates and I saw the back painted that energetic yellow, I picture them in the background of the soft sage green of all the chamisa we have here. Delectable!
But now I picture the yellow as a backdrop to morning tea and toast, while reading the paper in the sunroom. My imagination just runs (perhaps a little too) wild when I look at some of the creations on the floor!
I had to go back the next day to ask about it because it seemed that knobby part sticking out of the arch must have a definite purpose. Turns out it is another pintle hinged door! I believe this is the first arched one we have done. The hinge needs a flat surface, so hence the little outcrop. The inset in the arch, shown below, is carved by hand (those narrow lighter pieces are temporary guides – not part of the frame).
The corresponding receptacle at the floor of the frame is shown below.
This client is getting two pintle hinged doors, the frame for the other, a rectangular door is shown behind the arched frame.
When I was asking Owen, the crafter of these doors, about the outcropping in the door frame, we were talking about how pintle-hinged doors seem to be all the rage at LPO this spring. He said that the excitement was kind of lost on him until he went out to California to work on an installment for one of our clients who actually had one of the pintle-hinged doors. That was where he got it. He said it was just so grand and dramatic – really impressive. It had a greatness about it and he said he wouldn’t have been surprised if the house had had a moat. So, I suppose if your home is your castle, it is only logical to have a pintle-hinged door! I will post the progress of these doors in the weeks to come.
