Door Furniture Guide

Door furniture is basically anything attached to a door! So it includes door knobs, door pulls, door knockers, finger plates, etc. When you are choosing door furniture, you need to consider not only how old, authentic and stylish it is, but also its usability for older, younger, and differently abled people. Door furniture is usually made of one of the following materials:

Brass	Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, typically it is 67 percent copper and 33 percent zinc. Sometimes other metals are included in the amalgamation.
Bronze	Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin and sometimes other elements. Bronze was the first high-tech alloy known to man.
Cast iron	Cast iron usually refers to grey cast iron, but can mean any of a group of iron-based alloys containing more than 2%.
Wrought Iron	Iron with low carbon content, malleable enough to be forged and welded into different decorative shapes.
Copper	A reddish metal (Cu). Since ancient times, one of the three main metals used for coins, along with gold and silver. Now commonly used to make wires and pipes.
Porcelain	Porcelain is a vitrified, fine white clay, quartz, and feldspar mixture that has a hard surface.
Crystal Glass	Glass is a transparent, relatively strong, hard-wearing, essentially inert, and biologically inactive material which can be formed with very smooth and impervious surfaces.
Enamel	In its simplest terms, all enamel is produced by fusing colored powdered glass to metal to produce a vitreous or glass-like, decorative surface.
Chrome & Nickel	Chromium (Cr) and Nickel (Ni), are hard, silvery-white metals that are often used in coins and magnets. These metals are very expensive, so are only used for plating a metal or brass items.

Before 1850 the most popular door furniture material was cast iron, which was later replaced by solid brass, polished but unlacquered. From 1900, cast iron started to be popular again, but in most cases it was painted black. The chrome and nickel plated door items started to be popular at that time.

Here are the door furniture items you might use

	Door Knocker	An item of door furniture that helps people outside a house to alert those inside to their presence. A door knocker consists of a strike plate attached to the door and a hinged weight (usually metal) that may be lifted and released to strike this strike plate, making a noise". Door knockers can be made in many different shapes.
	Center Knob	A centre knob is an item used for opening and closing external doors. It is generally a round shape which you grab with your hand and pull/push the door.
	Letter Plate	A flat piece of metal with a sprung cover, which allows your postman to deliver the letters when you are not at home and don’t have a letter box.
	Number Plate	It is a metal piece, cast in a form of number, which is usually mounted on the doors or not far from them. It is mainly a decorative piece, but a great help for mailmen and people trying to find you!
	Bell Push	A button that is pushed to ring a bell
	Hinges	Hardware used for doors and lids, allowing a relative motion between them.
	Escutcheon (keyhole cover)	Brass plate surrounding and protecting the edges of a keyhole - sometimes with a cap or cover on a pivot.
	Door Handle (door knob)	An item used for opening and closing a door. Internal door handles (door knobs) can be turned to operate a latching mechanism, which normally holds the door closed.
	Lever Handle	It has the same functionality as a door knob, but has a different appearance. A lever is longer and thinner, and its used with different kind of mortice locks.
	Finger Plate	It is a flat piece of metal or porcelain which is mounted on the doors. It protects the doors from wear and tear caused by people opening it with their hands.
	Door Bolt (latch)	A mechanical device which automatically keeps a door closed until a deliberate action is used to retract it.
	Lock	Mortise lock - it requires a pocket, or mortise, to be cut into the door where the lock is installed. Rim lock - it is mounted to the outer surface of a door.
	Door Pull	A grip applied directly to the surface of the door or a fixed handle applied on a plate used as a means of pulling a door open.