We stripped out both doors and the flyscreen and rebuilt the entry around a single Meranti horizontal lite door with frosted glazing panels. The horizontal lites run across the face of the door, broken up by glazing that lets light through while keeping the entry private. Meranti is a reliable choice for entry doors — stable, clean to machine, and it takes paint or stain without drama.
A new timber mullion was built between the door and the sidelight. This defines the boundary between the two and gives the framing the structure it needs. The sidelight beside the door is frosted — matching the door’s glazing so the entry reads as one cohesive unit.
This was an off-the-shelf solution, not custom manufacturing. The Meranti door is a stock item, and the sidelight is standard panel. The skill is in the reconfiguration — getting the mullion right, setting the proportions correctly, and making the new entry look like it was always a single door. Our front door replacement work often involves rethinking what’s there, not just swapping like for like.
