While most homes have their front doors centered on a flat wall, this home in Canada by Omer Arbel is entered through two solid walnut doors at the corner of the home.

Keyless Door Entry A keypad is a much safer way to lock your door than a key. And now you can hook it up to a remote control, or your phone, and lock or unlock it from anywhere.

An attentive sensitivity to site played into nearly every aspect of both the exterior andinterior spaces of the home. Architect Peter Rose collaborated with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, who worked to craft and maintain the wild, organic feel of the environs. Will Parry, a local builder, custom-fabricated all of the sustainably harvested Spanish cedar-and-glass windows and skylights throughout. Here, a vertical-swinging window at the end of the entry hallway opens directly to a lush expanse of vegetation.

The porte cochère is the main entry to the house. A mahogany-and-glass pivot door allows you to see through the Great Room to the back porch and the valley beyond.

Entry Door

Steel pivot entry door

Steel pivot entry door

Davor and August check out the yard from the living room. “The bifold Vistalite doors allow us to open the house up completely and enjoy the fresh, warm air,” Davor says.

The front door dissolves into the facade.

Gray-purple iron railings, a fuchsia and green wooden entry, and garage doors provide contrast to the white walls of this Santa Barbara home. Photo by Steven Holmes.

The highlight of the east wing entry is the oversize front door, fabricated by JIG Design Build, which swings open on a pivot hinge.

A glass slider and a stackable LG washer and dryer maximize space in the laundry area, which includes a small utility closet.

The ultimate luxury: a hot bath in the clawfoot tub, with the fiberglass door open wide to the woods.

The new volume houses the dining area, which includes stairs to the bedrooms. The table is from Blake Avenue and the walnut chairs are from Room & Board. “You don’t want bright colors to take away from that relationship between the interior and the exterior,” Walker says.

The subway tile-lined bathroom was kept as simple as possible, with Hansgrohe fixtures and cabinets made of vertical-grain Douglas fir above a top-mounted Duravit sink. Since installing a window was unfeasible given the bathroom's proximity to other properties, Storey added a skylight over the shower.

Timeless materials such as slate flooring, hardwood doors and windows define the home's entry.

A beloved Japanese tradition is to char exterior cladding to make it fire resistant. Here, the effect on the front door is likely more aesthetic than preventative—though you can never be too careful.

The sliding doors to a deck are by the Canadian company Dynamic Architectural Windows & Doors.

The focal point of the home’s modernized exterior is a custom, wood-and-steel entry gate designed by atelier KS and built by DeFauw Design + Fabrication, a local fabricator who also made custom closing hardware for the piece. Franz and Paré-Mayer paired angled cypress slats with an industrial metal frame to create the entryway. A few paces behind the gate, a large glass door provides direct access to the home, fulfilling the owners’ wish for an entry vestibule that would be separate from the street. The angled wood slats offer privacy from the exterior, while selectively allowing light to penetrate through.

A custom entry door by Creekside Millwork is positioned diagonally from the home’s rectilinear form.

The kitchen opens to the elements thanks to sliding doors from C.R. Laurence. The anigre in the kitchen is the same employed in the master bedroom.

The door to Eoghan Mahony’s office is set on a caster and has a hinge that runs the entire ten-foot height.

Homeowner Simon Doonan stands next to the front door. "We have flamboyance, and we’re not inhibited about anything. [Architect] Gray Organschi gave [the house] that intellectual rigor needed to make it beautiful. We were well matched."

At a seaside New Zealand house, the simple kitchen has strandboard cabinetry and an MDF island that conceals a fireplace at one end. The bright green cabinetry of the island are a happy pop of color that references the native greenery outside.

A calming vibe is immediately instilled at the entry.

The front door is tucked under a cantilevered terrace.

A palette of stone, concrete, and greenery greets guests at the home’s front entrance.

Front Entry

Sliding doors cast shadows across the concrete floor.

The entrance to the house.