Going Dutch
By Never teh BrideIt’s official — we’ll be spending half of the money we recently received on a patio set big enough (as y’all so rightly suggested) to accommodate guests and putting the other half toward a proper Dutch door.
For the curious among you, Dutch doors were originally used — and still are used — to keep farm animals in farmhouses while keeping wild animals out of farmhouses. They originated in the Netherlands, but it’s not hard to see why they became popular elsewhere! With a Dutch door, you can let light and air in, but toddlers and pets cannot escape.
Plus, they’re tremendously inviting. I’m imagining myself chatting with a neighbor or the mailman over the bottom half of my pretty new door. In this fantasy, I’m also wearing one of my aprons and the ::incredibly clean:: kitchen smells of freshly baked pie, but I’m no domestic goddess, so make of it what you will.
July 1st, 2008 at 9:56 am
Great call — I love Dutch doors! They’re wonderfully homey and inviting — and, in these parts, not at all common. Along with zillions of apartments, my area runs to postwar tract houses that weren’t usually built with such pleasant details in mind. But a Dutch door would be great in the late fall, when the evenings are cool and the summer flying critters are done for the year.
(Also, an energetic and enterprising cat can easily get over the lower half of a Dutch door, so one would still have to keep an eye on that indoor kitty. I’m sure my involuntarily indoor cat would sit on the edge of the door and taunt me.)
July 1st, 2008 at 10:27 am
My kitty can jump higher than that lower half door, so a Dutch door is not in the cards for me…but it’s so cool to look at.
I like your fantasy. Tell you what, I’ll come by and bake a pie or two and some bread and we’ll chat with the neighbors over your door together. How does that sound?
July 1st, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Both of my kitties are certified acrobats, so no delightful Dutch doors for us. Instead, we have to make do with the promise of the three very small beginnings of tomatoes I spotted on my plant last night.
Congrats on the patio furniture decision. I’m going to have to see if the set I like is on sale yet.
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:22 am
Bridey, Twistie, and Emily: I’ve found a few companies that make doors where the bottom panel is a bit larger than the top one! I’m sure some cats could make the leap, but those with shorter legs or a bit more around the middle would be stuck firmly indoors.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I think I have shared before my utter love of Dutch doors, so congratulations! I’m incredibly jealous. They are pretty expensive and I have to convince my very frugal Dutch husband that we should spend money to replace a perfectly good door with the Dutch door of my dreams. Then again, I might see if my father in law can just make me one.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Awww, that brings back memories of when I lived in Holland. Ladies (mostly the older ones) really DID lean over the top half to chat with neighbors who wandered by….
(I never realized there might be pie, or I would have stopped to say hello too!)