If you’ve been thinking of treating your home to some new wooden front doors, you’ve probably already given some thought to the major details

The shape of your doors, the color, and the type of wood all need to be decided on early.

However, once you have a general idea of ​​how your new wooden front doors will look, you can begin to think about the smaller details and design elements that will truly make them your own.

Depending on the style of your home exterior, rustic and vintage design elements can make wonderful additions.

Such adornments usually bring iron or steel features that both contrast with and complement the already attractive natural wood finish. They also bring a real, tactile taste of the past to your 21st century home.

From gothic to farmhouse, and Victorian to Prohibition era, the rustic or vintage design elements you might install are limited only by your imagination.

Vintage doorknockers and handles

Unless you’re happy for anyone to enter your home whenever they like, your wooden front doors are going to need handles.

However, the style is completely up to you. Modern vintage or Victorian style door handles are available, and provide the security of state-of-the-art locking mechanisms with the classic look of the period.

Made of solid metal, they’ll enhance the look of your solid wooden front doors without compromising the security they give.

For those who wish to make a real statement, matching door knockers are also available. Although perhaps more of an ornamental feature than your handles, their unnecessary nature just adds to the decorative effect.

Speakeasy, hard as nails

Because wood has long been the best material to use for exterior doors, it’s on wooden front doors that many of the most iconic vintage design elements work best.

The mere mention of the word ‘speakeasy’ brings up images of a time long since past, and the inclusion of metal speakeasies on wooden front doors brings those images to life.

A forged iron grill hidden behind a small flap, speakeasies are seldom needed in the modern era. However, as a vintage design element, they bring a taste of the past that few other ornamental additions can.

Clavos are another purely decorative rustic metal addition to your external doors. Heavy duty nails, made from iron or steel, clavos can be round, square, or diamond-shaped. Whichever style you choose, the effect will be of a tough, rustic door with more character than most.

Gothic glass and vintage metal

Should you decide to add windows to your wooden front doors, vintage metal can again be used for a rustic or even gothic look.

Leaded glass windows can be made in almost any design to suit any home exterior or personal taste, and the windows themselves can be small and subtle, or the main feature of the door.

Black wooden front doors have an inherent vintage look, and it’s the smaller details that can direct this towards the Victorian or the gothic. Colors and shapes in the glass play a part in this; especially when combined with the right metal door handles and knockers.

However you decide to add rustic or vintage design elements to your wooden front doors, the right balance should be always found.

Combining a few of the elements here will have a bigger impact than using just one, but incorporating too many will be overkill.

Which to include is up to you, but choosing the right ones will give your wooden front doors a real touch of rustic, Victorian, gothic, or simply timeless vintage class.