woodgrain finish on exterior door

I need to make a decision on exterior doors for my house. I do not like the look of the painted metal on the inside. Anyone have experience with the woodgrain application for the inside. I will probably paint the exerior, but haven't decided that. Thanks

 

Wood grain or "solid wood" doors are fine for exterior use but make sure you buy an exterior door. They are typically 1 3/4" thick verses the interior thickness on 1 3/8". A wood door will require good care on a regular basis to keep it looking nice due to the weather. Paint color makes a big difference also. Dark colors will heat up more with the sun and make the paint wear out faster.

 

Hello juliem, My Sister's home has 3 steel exterior doors and she also disliked the "cold and forboding" (her description) of the painted look inside. She did a couple of things; a) on her front steel door, which opened inward into her living room, she bought a large sheet of a thin veneer, glued it on, trimmed the edges, and applied a nice stain to match her wood trim and moldings and then applied a cover coat of poly - it looks and feels like a real wood door, b) on the back steel door, which opens inward into her kitchen, she primed and painted it a cherry color to match her cabinets and then, while the paint was still very wet, she used a graining tool - one of those curved rubber-like pads that get dragged across the wet paint and leave a grain-like look - which doesn't look bad. I think her talent and over abundance of patience made it a success. I know I could never do it. and c) on the steel door which opens outward and leads out to the deck she used a thick flowery curtain-like material stretched between rods screwed to the top and bottom of the door. I like the idea, but hate her choice in fabric. All that said, a steel dor can be made to look like wood a couple of different ways, or covered to hide it. Good luck, NutAndBoltKing