Well, hey there neighbor! Jen Woodhouse here and I am so excited to share my DIY Dutch Door featuring the new Schlage Encode Smart Door Lock! Isn’t this Dutch door the most inviting thing ever? It makes me want to wear an apron and bake pies all day just so I can let them cool on the ledge! I mean, I don’t even own an apron, but now I’m going to have to get one! And guess what… this DIY Dutch Door is not a hard project, it’s surprisingly easy to do! Read on to see how I did it.
What is a Dutch Door?
A Dutch door is sometimes called a half-door or a stable door and basically, it’s a door that’s divided horizontally so that each part operates independently of each other. It can also be latched together so that it works like a traditional door. Dutch doors have been around since the 17th century and primarily served to let the fresh air and sunlight in, while keeping the farm animals that were usually milling about, out of the house. It’s such a charming old-world architectural detail. I love being able to watch my kiddos play in the yard and have my neighbors stop by to say hello – I just love it so much!
Buy vs. DIY
We recently built my detached workshop and I knew I wanted a Dutch door for it; however, store-bought, ready-made Dutch doors are ridiculously expensive. The ones I found online were around $1,500. No, thank you. I picked up a solid wood exterior door from The Home Depot for a little over $200 – just another reason why I love DIY!
A hollow core door doesn’t work as well for this project because when you cut it in half, you’ll have to fill that hollow space somehow. It’s still possible, but not ideal, especially for an exterior door, so if you can, try to use a solid door.
Standard doors typically have 3 hinges total, so if you’re converting an existing door to a Dutch door, you’ll need to add one more hinge so that both the top and bottom parts of the door are well-supported. Each part should have 2 hinges total.