Lets talk about all things windows, doors and trim this week for building 101!! I will share with you my experience about deciding on our selections, and a few ways we saved money!

Building 101 – Windows

Windows aren’t something you first think about when you first start to build. There are other things that came to my mind before windows. When I asked my builder, what was the first things I needed to have picked out for him to order, he told me doors, and windows. I was like uhhhhhh I don’t have any idea about either of those. HA! I was hoping he would say something like, lighting, or flooring, because I already had ideas for those!

Let me just mentioned, we saved quite a bit shopping around for windows. The window company the builder suggested was extremely expensive for the style of windows we wanted. I wanted black on the outside, and white on the inside.

How We Saved Money on Our Windows

Jeremy did lots of research on windows, and he decided to go with a newer company called Elevate windows. They actually offered an oil rubbed bronze exterior, and white interior option. The oil rubbed bronze looked just like the black, but they were THOUSANDS cheaper! So we went with the oil rubbed bronze, with white interior. You literally can’t tell the difference, they look black!

All our bedroom windows and the windows in the playroom are 7X3. The boys room have double windows. A money saving tip that I hope can help you save money during your build, too!

The windows that open have a single line going down the center, and the windows in the back don’t have any panels. I didn’t want any lines going through the large windows in the living room, and the large window above the kitchen sink.

Building 101 – Doors

Our builder sent us to a local door company that he uses. There we picked out our interior doors and exterior doors. All of our interior doors are Masonite hollow doors in the style Logan. The Logan style is very similar to the shaker style doors, but the wood around the panels slants down. This helps out with the dust, because it falls off the slant instead of sitting on top of the door ledge of the panel.

Types of Doors and Sizes

The outside exterior doors to and from the garage are in the same style. We also have Bi-panel double doors leading to our master bathroom. The bi-panel doors are the same size as our other regular doors, just split in half!

All our doors are 8X3. We wanted the taller doors since we have 10 ft ceilings everywhere. We also have 9 pocket doors. Builders don’t like pocket doors because they are a pain to install, but honestly, they are huge space savers! The only time I shut our master closet door is when I take photos. Other than that, it stays open. Other places we have pocket doors- master toilet area, 1/2 bath, 3 in the boys bathroom, 2 french sliding doors for the playroom.

Front Doors

I’m going to dedicate a whole section to my front and back doors. My top two most asked questions on my Instagram are about my brick, and my front doors. Our front doors are custom made from the door company we purchased our other doors from. They are made of knotty alder wood, and stained with Minwax Golden Oak. Our front doors open in, and our back doors open out.

I know that having wood exterior doors means we will probably have to replace them later on just because of natural wear and tear. We will have to probably re stain the front doors next summer due to the Texas summer heat. That is why they are really dark at first, but you can see they are lighter now, which are the three images with the white peony wreaths below. The first photo is not stained, second is only one door stained.

Building 101- Trim Window and Door Casings

I included trim work with this topic, because it goes hand in hand with windows and doors! I won’t be covering all trim work, like small trim work details, the closet/pantry shelving, or any shiplap. This section will just cover window casings and door casings!

I never would have thought about window and door casings, If my two of my friends wouldn’t have just built before me. One of them didn’t think to ask for them, she didn’t realize it was an option. The other had it on her list from the start! So my plan ( to save money) was to case all the doors, and only windows that would been seen by guests. Which was the main great room. Well turns out to have to have window casings on shiplap walls in order for the shiplap to be “finished” off properly.

So we have window casings everywhere but the boy’s rooms. Which isn’t bad! Once we put up curtains, you can’t really tell. There is still a window seal, just not down the sides or on top. See pics below! The first image is of Blaine’s window in his room, and the second image is of the playroom window which is completely cased.

Research on window casings

I started to figure out what I liked for trim casings on doors and windows by researching. As always, I start with Google, and then go to Pinterest for inspiration. I found lots of good information on window casings on Pinterest. And ultimately I decide on the basic craftsman style trim casings. The image below shows several different styles of window and door casings. I chose number 4, but added a 1X2 between the horizontal and the vertical trim.

We have 1×4 vertically, then a 1×2, 1×6, and another 1×2. The baseboards are 1×8’s. See images below.

Next Topic

I hope you were able to find some helpful information in this post! It was a lot to talk about! Next up for building 101 is lighting fixtures! Such a fun topic, but also a stressful one since there are so many choices to choose from, places to buy, and finding all the best prices to stay in budget. So you can expect to see some helpful tips to get you through those tough decisions!

I know it’s been a while since I posted, but I am hoping that since I have a new computer I can finally get back in the game. Mine last MacBook was so old it wouldn’t even update!! Have a great week y’all!