Shaker Style Craftsman 5 Eq Panel - White - Swing

The design of this interior door is in keeping with the Shaker philosophy of favoring simple yet highly dependable functionality over complex structures with what the original craftsmen viewed as excessive ornamentation, inlays, embellishments, and so forth. Throughout history, simplicity has come back into fashion because there is only so much complexity the human eye can take without getting, well, weary of it.

Simplicity can be quite elegant, not to mention that it almost invariably costs less. This is true in architecture, fashion, and even science, and it is most certainly true when it comes to buying interior doors. Shaker craftsmen were well aware of this. In the middle of the Nineteenth Century, at the peak of their movement, when their influence was spreading rapidly westward from New England, it wasn’t for lack of funds that they stuck to their themes and ideas; it was a matter of principle with them.

Because this interior door falls into our Hi-Dur category, let’s talk a little about the finish. While our company does carry doors with traditional finishes (and, should you be inclined to explore that collection, please do so), the “wrap” method offers advantages that were unheard-of only recently.

Thanks to a number of very recent (and quite awesome) technological breakthroughs, “wrapping” is currently the industry leader. The process works on molecular level, fusing the materials by applying heat and pressure, and the resulting interior door is, in fact, superior to those produced traditionally in a number of aspects.

For instance. Humidity, which can be a problem for many wood products, is no match for our Hi-Dur interior doors: all of them are warp-proof.

Because of the wrapping method, this interior door is also fade-proof and will continue to look brand-new many years down the road.

Did we mention that, like all Almes Doors, this one features state-of-the-art hardware?

Like the Italian-made 3D-adjustable self-lubricating concealed hinges, utterly elegant in that you can’t see them from either side of the door when it is closed. Concealed. Duh. The self-lubrication will keep your interior door from creaking – forever. The adjustability makes the installation easy as the proverbial pie.

And then there’s the soundless magnetic lock, highly durable, and remarkably convenient. There’s no snapping of the latch against the strike plate, because there is neither a latch nor a strike plate.

The automatic sweep is activated each time the door is shut. The sound-proofing levels thus achieved are well above the industry standard. And let’s not forget the thermal insulation which is certain significantly to reduce your electrical bill.

The number 5 (we’re talking about the panels now) is one of the most intriguing, as well as inspirational, numbers ever. It is strikingly present in all cultures, religions, philosophies, and arts. It may have something to do with the fact that nearly all amphibians, reptiles and mammals which have fingers or toes have five of them on each extremity. Or would it be because we have five senses? In classical Greece, ether was viewed as the fifth element (the first four being, of course, water, air, earth and fire).

This is a bit tricky. Isn’t White the default finish that would look great on any interior door? Well, not quite.

W. is the color most often associated with perfection, honesty, cleanliness, newness, neutrality, and exactitude. The pigment has been known and used by humans since prehistoric times. In ancient Egypt, W. symbolized purity. Roman patricians paraded around in W. togas to distinguish themselves from the common folk. It was the color of choice of French monarchs. Architects of all epochs used W., with considerable enthusiasm, in various projects and for various reasons. In the United States, architects favored it when designing churches, capitols, and municipal buildings – which is, in fact, a tradition they inherited from classical and Renaissance architecture. According to some experts, most of the buildings in the celebrated Forum were either made of, or clad in, W. marble. In Taoism, it represents the yang or masculine energy, one of the two complementary natures of the universe. Many authors, both classical and contemporary, have referred to W. as a sign of purity, either physical (like William Shakespeare, whose treacherous usurper monarch wishes a heavenly rain would cleanse his blood-stained hand, washing it “white as snow”) or spiritual (like Tennessee Williams, who named his lead character Blanche (derived, incidentally, from the Germanic word blanc)) as a symbol of her innocent child-like spirit, perceptible from the moment she makes her first entrance (through the interior door stage-left).

Back in the Seventeenth Century, Sir Isaac Newton discovered that sunlight is composed of light with wavelengths across the visible spectrum which the human eye perceives as W. It is the lightest of the spectrum, and achromatic (hue-less) to boot, because it fully reflects and scatters all visible wavelengths of light, absorbing none. W. objects stand out in the dark. Depending on the surroundings, an interior door with W. finish might come off as emphatic or tactful, dominant or complementary. It blends seamlessly into most types of decor and, once the owner’s needs and disposition are taken into account, can symbolize - oh, so many different things, while bringing back a myriad memories: from those glorious snowy Alpine slopes and peaks to the fluffy tops of the wayward herd of cumulus cloud heap over the horizon on a balmy afternoon in the Caribbean. Tropical sand beaches are W. due to the high quantity of calcium carbonate they get from tiny bits of seashells ground to powder by the waves. In a number of cultures W. can also symbolize festivity, and be used lavishly to brighten up weddings, birthdays, and anniversaries. It is beautiful. Make sure it goes well with your interior door model, though.