Sustaining the Future: The Growth of Green Artisans

Great Openings: When a Door Becomes an Artful, Personal Statement

Various contractors and others involved in helping Carreras build his home approached him, impressed with his special door and asked him if they were available for others.

"And so I turned my hobby into my business," says Carreras.

That hobby-turned-business became Carreras Interiors Ltd., doing business as BC Mantel and Door.

While he carries Jel-Wen windows, doors and other home accessories like mantels, creating one-of-a-kind doors for clients is his artistic passion.



Medieval style door. This is the first door Augusto Carreras installed in the Okanagan. Custom-made, it has ash on the inside, poplar on the outside, with wrought iron embedded into the wood to keep it nice and straight. Extreme distressing, gouging and other rough treatment make it look Medieval. An iron half-moon piece from Cairo, Egypt graces its top.

The current trend in many renovated and new Okanagan homes is highly personal, signature design with careful, customized craftsman touches to finishes and details. And if it's possible to have a signature accents like a specially made door or doors, that's even better.

"People like to have a unique, artistic door up front, and inside, for the pantry, home theatre, wine cellar and sometimes for an office," says Carreras. "That's what I specialize in."

He says the style that's really popular in the Okanagan is the "old-meets-new," a mixture of traditional and contemporary, each influence weighted more towards the style of the house. The hacienda, Medieval or winery-style doors are particularly sought after in the vineyard-rich Valley.

Carreras' doors, whether manufactured or hand-crafted,are made of knotty alder, vertical and flat fir, yellow and white pine, mahogany and poplar, all acclimatized wood except the mahogany, which is better for interior doors.

He started hand-making custom doors from scratch, but not all clients could afford these works of art that require the countless crafting hours.

Carreras then decided to create "extreme makeover" doors - just as unique but a little more affordable - industrial-made doors with their facades changed, based on the requirements of clients and his own design.

"We stress them, gouge them, add wood and iron, imbed them with glass, wood and stone. They're original but a more affordable cost," he says.

These made-over doors are thinner - 1 3/4 inches or less - and lighter than hand-made doors, which are 2 1/4 " or more thick and use normal hinges as opposed to ball bearing hinges.

"Custom doors are heavy, sturdy and powerful," says Carreras. "For example, our shop door is 11 feet high, 42 inches wide and weighs 683 pounds. It's so heavy we had to install a piano hinge, 11 feet long, and lots of screws along the jam. You want to be out ofthe way when it closes, but you can move it with your pinkie finger."

These one-of-a-kind doors, whether built from scratch or made over, have different looks both outside and inside - different woods, designs, finishes, fixtures and stains.

"The inside of the door is cued to complement the tone of the home's interior. It's really unique."

Carreras likes to visit a client's home to feel its style before make a door. "I listen to what they want, I give my input and then we meet somewhere in between. For example. a hacienda-type door will not fit in a French-style house."



Modern Old Touch Door - It incorporates the techniques of an old handmade door but has a modern look. Sidelights made of rain style, tempered class let light into the house, but people can't see through. This door is finished with an old clavos knocker and an old style door handle.

He invites his customers to bring sample pictures of what they like before a hand-drawn original is rendered of what they would like to see. The future door owners are invited to view what the creation looks like halfway through, and then again after it is stained, according to previous samples, as every wood absorbs stain differently.

Carreras likes to ensure that each original door has a 'wow' factor. "After all, it sets the mood and shows personality when you go into a house."

Each of Carreras' custom-made or made-over doors have a pewter plaque of origin mounted on its shoulder and a certificate of authenticity.

"When people sell their houses, they re-install the original doors and take my custom-made doors with them," says Carreras, a sure sign that that these fine pieces are regarded by their owners as unique works of art.

Dona Sturmanis

Copyright © 2008 Wheat King Publishing and the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Okanagan Home are those of the writers and editors, and do not represent the official position of the Canadian Home Builders' Association, Central Okanagan, or of its members.