When you stop to think about it, there are many doors used throughout a typical home. There is the entry door as well as a back door. There are cabinet doors, closet doors, as well as other interior doors used for bed and bathrooms. With all of these doors on display in a period home or other building, you will want to make sure that the antique door hardware used is the most beautiful and period appropriate that you can find. However, if you have a contemporary home, you can instantly add a period look to it with vintage door hardware as well.

Architectural door hardware can consist of several components. Exterior handles, pulls, door bells, knockers and mail slots, antique hinges and mortise locks as well as other pieces were commonly used to accent doors from decades past up to today.

Antique hinges are often quite large, and suited to grand entry doors. As such, the antique hinges you choose will have a big impact on the finished look of your door. The antique hinges usually consist of two plates, one that attaches to the door and the other to the door frame, and a hinge pin fits between them to connect them and provide the means for the door to move to the open or closed position.

The antique door handle is another important type of vintage door hardware. This style of antique door hardware is often made up of the handle, escutcheon or the plate that goes around the keyhole or lock, a deadbolt and the interior knob. The antique door handle and escutcheon are on display, and really function as door jewelry, because they add that finishing touch to an elegant vintage door.

There are so many beautiful pieces of antique door hardware, including door knockers. Perhaps made most famous by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, but nevertheless, the door knocker was an early form of door bell. There are many lovely and elaborate ones that can be used to dress up any entry door. Period door bells are another type of architectural door hardware that are not only ornamental but fully functional as well. The mail slot continues to be used, and this antique door hardware can have a name added to it, and often is crafted with detailed designs around the slot itself.

Architectural salvage websites have images of all of the aforementioned types of door hardware available that have been refurbished and are ready for use in your home today.