Ways to open the door to more remodeling sales

EIOMEOWNERS will spend approximately $56 billion llon home improve,ment this year. How many of these dollars will end up in your cash registers?

Exterior and interim doors, windows and skylights will account for a sizeable chunk of toal home improvement expenditures. Fashion decorators are suggesting decorative interior doors as a quick, affordable way to dress up a home. You can become part of this trend by inventorying elegant, ready-to-finish doors for every room in the house.

French doors are no longer just a passage to the patio or terrace. Avant-garde designers recommend using them between dining rooms and living rooms or to close off a den. The combination of wood and brass with beveled, grooved, etched and frosted glass panels adds flair while allowing light to flow between rooms. Doors with colored glass or mirror inserts, louvers or raised wood panels are also high style.

Decorative doons come in both bifold and single panel styles. The bifold, which has two panels hinged to each other, takes up less space and can give the appearance ofa decorative screen when left partially open. This style is especially effective when used in pairs for the large openings often found between a living room and dining room.

"Selling up with fashion is Oe only way to survive," emphasizes Bob Mickle, a former door buyer for a major retailer, now senior vice president" marketing and sales, at Wing Industries, Inc., Dallas, Tx. '"There is money to be made with interior doors. They're a totally neglected category which must be exposed to the consumer."

To make consumers more aware of decorative doors and what they can do to spice up decor, he suggests operating displays combined with large colored photographs of rooms using doos as fashion items. Display signs must include information about price, special orders and delivery time, which he recommends limiting to no longer than a week. Take-home literature describing all styles available and their uses is essential.

A video dranatizing fashionable ways to use decorative doors and their easy installation is another way to capture buyer attention, Mickle points out. Decorative door clinics can also "take the bi-fold out of the closet."

Retailers who display a vriety of price points can profit. Low end doors start at about $59 with high end products peaking close to $250. Because there is less competition for decorative doors, mark-up can be in the 35Vo -407o range, Mickle advises.

Sales people must be ready to make fashion doors intriguing to customers searching for a way to dress up their homes. "Recommend frosted glass panels to provide privacy while allowing more light to flow into a room," a decorator suggests. "Stress that decorative glass doors can create interesting textures in a long hallway. Point out that louvered doors allow air to circulate, especially when used to close off pantries or laundry rooms or to separate sections of a master bath."

Replacing dull closet doon with decorative glass or louvered or mirrored doors will make a room seem larger and brighter, decorators maintain. Divided lite French doors offer classic elegance and have a light, airy appeal when used to separate two rooms. Cafe doors are both practical and good looking ways to divide dining rooms and kitchens, dressing rooms and baths or hallways and family rooms.

Careful measuring before ordering is the trick to successfully installing a decorative door, Mickle warns reiailers. Customers must do this precisely if they are going to install tlte doors themselves. Installation requires only a screwdriver and an electric drill, but stores that offer installation service may find many homeowners want to hire the work done for them. Most interior doors come with glass pre-masked with plastic f,rln, ready for paint or stain.

Story at a Glance

How to sell fashion doors for remodeling glossary of interior door styles and suggestions for using them... ways to display, stimulate interest and sell measuring and installation tips.